The history of China in the nineteenth century usually features men as the dominant figures in a chronicle of warfare rebellion and dynastic decline. This book challenges that model and provides a different account of the era history as seen through the eyes of women. Basing her remarkable study on the poetry and memoirs of three generations of literary women of the Zhang familyTang Yaoqing her eldest daughter and her eldest granddaughterSusan Mann illuminates a China that has been largely invisible. Drawing on a stunning array of primary materialspublished poetry gazetteer articles memorabiliaas well as a variety of other historical documents Mann reconstructs these womens intimate relationships personal aspirations values ideas and political consciousness. She transforms our understanding of gender relations and what it meant to be an educated woman during Chinas transition from empire to nation and offers a new view of the history of late imperial women.
