The market in concubines in Jiangnan during Ming-Qing China

The traffic in concubines flourished in Ming-Qing Jiangnan as a result of large scale interactions of political and socioeconomic contexts. How women were situated within the system is central to this study, which revolves around two major arguments. First, the traffic in concubines as a means for disaster relief during difficult times was legitimized as a benevolent policy. Second, women were not necessarily the victims of the commercialized market in concubines. To study concubinage in general and individual concubines in the market system in Jiangnan, the following issues command attention: the political and socioeconomic conditions fostering concubinage, the market system of women, the roles of brokers, the value indicators and resultant prices, the transaction procedures for the sale of women with specific contents of contracts, the effects of the market system on the concubines' lives, and the regulations of law and the judicial practice in penal cases.