Until now our understanding of marriage in China has been based primarily on observations made during the twentieth century. The research of ten eminent scholars presented here provides a new vision of marriage in Chinese history, exploring the complex interplay between marriage and the social, political, economic, and gender inequalities that have so characterized Chinese society.

Introduction, Patricia Buckley Ebrey Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period, Melvin P. Thatcher Imperial Marriage in the Native Chinese and Non-Han State, Han to Ming, Jennifer Holmgren Shifts in Marriage Finance from the Sixth to the Thirteenth Century, Patricia Buckley Ebrey The Marriage of Sung Imperial Clanswomen, John W. Chaffee Ch'ing Imperial Marriage and Problems of Rulership, Evelyn S. Rawski Grooming a Daughter for Marriage: Brides and Wives in the Mid-Ch'ing Period, Susan Mann Wives, Concubines, and Maids: Servitude and Kinship in the Hong Kong Region, 1900-1940, Rubie S. Watson Prostitution and the Market in Women in Early Twentieth-Century Shanghai, Gail Hershatter Marriage and Mobility under Rural Collectivism, William Lavely Women, Property, and Law in the People's Republic of China, Jonathan K. Ocko Afterword: Marriage and Gender Inequality, Rubie S. Watson