Nancy Park | California State University, East Bay (original) (raw)
Papers by Nancy Park
Late Imperial China, 2016
In late imperial Chinese law, torture (xing) referred to legally defined methods of inflicting pa... more In late imperial Chinese law, torture (xing) referred to legally defined methods of inflicting pain at the instigation or with the consent of a judicial official, in order to elicit information, a confession, or compliance from someone involved in a legal process. 1 This article compares official perspectives concerning torture, as presented in the codified law and administrative writings of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, with unofficial perspectives from the same period, as expressed in ledgers of merit and demerit, operas, ballads, proverbs, and popular customs. It finds that while official sources focused on the utilitarian
This article examines the laws governing the use judicial torture in Qing China, describing metho... more This article examines the laws governing the use judicial torture in Qing China, describing methods and rationale for inflicting torture and the legal consequences for its abuse.
T'oung Pao, Dec 31, 2020
This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the b... more This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the body of statutes, substatutes, and regulations pertaining to the organization and operations of the imperial Chinese bureaucracy. The general objective of the article is to draw attention to the law of officials and its significance within the Qing legal system. A more specific goal is to examine how official wrongdoing was defined, differentiated, and dealt with in Qing law, highlighting the crucial distinction between the two main categories of official wrongdoing: “public wrongdoing” (gongzui 公罪) and “private wrongdoing” (sizui 私罪). Part I analyzes the legal distinction between public and private wrongdoing; Part II examines the historical antecedents of the public-private distinction, as expressed in the philosophical writings and the codified law of earlier dynasties; and Part III analyzes the substantive and procedural consequences of the public-private distinction on Qing officials.
The Journal of Asian Studies, Feb 1, 2002
China Review International, 1995
Late Imperial China, 2008
Late Imperial China, 1993
Over the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in Qing law, a field that peaked ... more Over the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in Qing law, a field that peaked in the 1960s and early 1970s with the publication of several classic works on late imperial law and government.1 fascinating subject, branching off into the spheres of civil, administrative, and commercial law as well as continuing the more traditional focus on criminal law. The research potential of Qing law seems limitless, and the possibilities are enhanced by a wealth of virtually untapped primary and archival sources. The Number One Historical Archives of China (Zhongguo diyi lishi danganguan) in Beijing houses a rich trove of materials on Qing law and related topics in social and economic history.2 During the three-year period in which one or both of us worked at the Number One we handled many different types of legal documents, and in this article we would like to share with a larger audience what we learned about the types and uses of these materials. Although our survey is scarcely exhaustive, we have tried to describe some of the major archival sources for Qing law in order to bring them to the attention of other researchers. We have directed our remarks to scholars who are
T'oung Pao, Apr 10, 2014
Prisonniers de l’empire céleste: le désastre de la première ambassade portugaise en Chine, Récits... more Prisonniers de l’empire céleste: le désastre de la première ambassade portugaise en Chine, Récits & témoignage portugais et chinois: 1517-1524 (Editions Chandeigne, 2014) is a fascinating study of the first official contact between Portugal and China. Beginning with the arrival of the embassy in China in 1517 and ending with the execution of 23 Portuguese in 1524, the story of the embassy told through a diverse collection of first-hand and historical accounts, translated from the original Portuguese and Chinese into French.
The Journal of Asian Studies, Nov 1, 1997
Eighteenth-century chinese commentators were eloquent on the subject of official corruption, char... more Eighteenth-century chinese commentators were eloquent on the subject of official corruption, characterizing it as one of the greatest scourges on the Qing state and society. Xu Wenbi (n.d.), in an administrative handbook based on his experiences as magistrate of Yongchuan county in Sichuan province from 1764 to 1768, bemoaned the devastating effects of corruption on the Chinese populace, writing: “Wherever corruption manifests itself, there are a hundred stratagems to suck out the lifeblood of the people. How can one imagine that the wealth of the region would not be exhausted in the space of a few years?” (Xu n.d., 1:26a). Yin Huiyi (1691–1748), who served as Henan governor from 1737 to 1739, stated that avoiding corruption should be the primary goal of any provincial official. “An official who has been appointed to a post should, first and foremost, remain pure,” he wrote, adding, “No matter whether his rank is lofty or humble, in the end, incorruptibility should be his most precious jewel” (Yin 1940, 4–5). Using similarly strong language, the renowned official, essayist, and historian Qian Daxin (1728–1804) pronounced that “when a single individual is corrupt, an entire dynasty may erupt into chaos” (Qian n.d., 2:10a–11a, 1:124–25).
China Review International, 2000
Historian, 2001
Evelyn S. Rawski's newest work on China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), describes ... more Evelyn S. Rawski's newest work on China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), describes the political and social life of the Manchus, an ethnically non-Han people from Northeast Asia who swept south of the Great Wall in 1644 and brought an end to the Ming dynasty. Her approach is revisionist because the history of the Qing dynasty has traditionally been studied from the point of view of the conquered Han Chinese majority, and not the ruling Manchu minority.
Sino-Western Legal Scholarship on Traditional and Modern Issues -- Collection of Essays from the 1990 International Conference on Shen Jiaben Legal Thought 博通古今学贯中西的法学家--1990年沈家本法律思想国际学术研讨会论文集。张国华主编, 1990
Argues that a workable model of modern Chinese law should take into account longstanding values a... more Argues that a workable model of modern Chinese law should take into account longstanding values and norms. Presented as part of the 1990 International Conference on Shen Jiaben Legal Thought, Hangzhou, 1990.
The Historian, 1997
Review of James L. Hevia's Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy ... more Review of James L. Hevia's Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793, which explores the cultural and political consequences of the first embassy from Great Britain to the imperial court of China.
Journal of Asian History, 1999
Stephen Roddy examines the contours of literati identity in late imperial China--how did the lite... more Stephen Roddy examines the contours of literati identity in late imperial China--how did the literati view their role, what were their mores and how did they evolve over time, and how were the literati viewed by their contempories. By exploring the changing nature of literati identity and its fictional representations in three mid-Qing novels -- Wu Jingzi's Rulin waishi (c. 1750), Xia Jingqu's Yesuo puyan (c. 1780), and Li Ruzhen's Jinghua yuan (1821/1828), Roddy makes an important contribution to our understanding of Qing culture and the comparative role of the intelligensia.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2002
Lu Xiaobo addresses the nature and causes of corruption in China in the last half of the 20th cen... more Lu Xiaobo addresses the nature and causes of corruption in China in the last half of the 20th century, arguing that its proliferation was directly linked to weaknesses in the Chinese Community Party.
China Review International, 1995
Beatrice S. Bartlett examines the origins and development of the Grand Council, a powerful group ... more Beatrice S. Bartlett examines the origins and development of the Grand Council, a powerful group of advisors to the emperors of the middle and late Qing dynasty. She describes how the Grand Council grew to dominate the administration of the Chinese empire, gradually changing the central government decision-making process from direct monarchical control to ministerial administration, a development that she argues "enabled the dynasty to rise to greatness in its middle years and at the end prolonged its life."
T’oung Pao, 2020
This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the b... more This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the body of statutes, substatutes, and regulations pertaining to the organization and operations of the imperial Chinese bureaucracy. The general objective of the article is to draw attention to the law of officials and its significance within the Qing legal system. A more specific goal is to examine how official wrongdoing was defined, differentiated, and dealt with in Qing law, highlighting the crucial distinction between the two main categories of official wrongdoing: “public wrongdoing” (gongzui 公罪) and “private wrongdoing” (sizui 私罪). Part I analyzes the legal distinction between public and private wrongdoing; Part II examines the historical antecedents of the public-private distinction, as expressed in the philosophical writings and the codified law of earlier dynasties; and Part III analyzes the substantive and procedural consequences of the public-private distinction on Qing officials.
The Historian, 2018
Mark McNicholas considers the significance of forgery and impersonation in imperial China from 17... more Mark McNicholas considers the significance of forgery and impersonation in imperial China from 1700 and 1820, a time span commonly referred to as the "High Qing." Drawing on archival records, dynastic histories, and the codified law, he examines the crime and punishment of individuals who forged government documents or posed as agents of the state. Situating these crimes within the social and political environment of eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century China, the author analyzes who engaged in forgery and impersonation, what they hoped to achieve, and why the government treated them so harshly if they were caught.
Dragons, Tigers and Dogs: Qing Crisis Management and the Boundaries of State Power in Late Imperial China, eds. Robert J. Antony and Jane Leonard, 2002
This article examines two cases of corruption at the highest levels of imperial government during... more This article examines two cases of corruption at the highest levels of imperial government during the Qianlong reign. Drawing on a rich fund of Qing archival sources and legal compendia, the article shows that corruption was deeply pervasive throughout the Qing governing system and penetrated all levels of the political hierarchy, up to and including the emperor himself. In both cases, the Qianlong emperor (Hongli), using his prerogatives to intervene directly in the handling of emergencies, dispatched imperial commissioners to prosecute two high-ranking provincial officials, Jiang Zhou and Qian Du, for "miking" their official subordinates for excessive amounts of gifts, donations, and local tribute intended for the emperor and the Imperial Household. The irony was that it was precisely the Qianlong emperor's extravagance and encouragement of excessive gifts and tribute from provincial officials that led to the abuses. The article argues that the emperor used the vast coercive powers of imperium to intervene in these cases in order to defect criticism from his encouragement of such excesses and to avert the erosion of imperial credibility and the threat to dynastic legitimacy that this posed. the cases show the latitude in the Qing system for the chilling and arbitrary exercise of autocratic imperial power.
Late Imperial China, 2016
In late imperial Chinese law, torture (xing) referred to legally defined methods of inflicting pa... more In late imperial Chinese law, torture (xing) referred to legally defined methods of inflicting pain at the instigation or with the consent of a judicial official, in order to elicit information, a confession, or compliance from someone involved in a legal process. 1 This article compares official perspectives concerning torture, as presented in the codified law and administrative writings of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, with unofficial perspectives from the same period, as expressed in ledgers of merit and demerit, operas, ballads, proverbs, and popular customs. It finds that while official sources focused on the utilitarian
This article examines the laws governing the use judicial torture in Qing China, describing metho... more This article examines the laws governing the use judicial torture in Qing China, describing methods and rationale for inflicting torture and the legal consequences for its abuse.
T'oung Pao, Dec 31, 2020
This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the b... more This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the body of statutes, substatutes, and regulations pertaining to the organization and operations of the imperial Chinese bureaucracy. The general objective of the article is to draw attention to the law of officials and its significance within the Qing legal system. A more specific goal is to examine how official wrongdoing was defined, differentiated, and dealt with in Qing law, highlighting the crucial distinction between the two main categories of official wrongdoing: “public wrongdoing” (gongzui 公罪) and “private wrongdoing” (sizui 私罪). Part I analyzes the legal distinction between public and private wrongdoing; Part II examines the historical antecedents of the public-private distinction, as expressed in the philosophical writings and the codified law of earlier dynasties; and Part III analyzes the substantive and procedural consequences of the public-private distinction on Qing officials.
The Journal of Asian Studies, Feb 1, 2002
China Review International, 1995
Late Imperial China, 2008
Late Imperial China, 1993
Over the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in Qing law, a field that peaked ... more Over the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in Qing law, a field that peaked in the 1960s and early 1970s with the publication of several classic works on late imperial law and government.1 fascinating subject, branching off into the spheres of civil, administrative, and commercial law as well as continuing the more traditional focus on criminal law. The research potential of Qing law seems limitless, and the possibilities are enhanced by a wealth of virtually untapped primary and archival sources. The Number One Historical Archives of China (Zhongguo diyi lishi danganguan) in Beijing houses a rich trove of materials on Qing law and related topics in social and economic history.2 During the three-year period in which one or both of us worked at the Number One we handled many different types of legal documents, and in this article we would like to share with a larger audience what we learned about the types and uses of these materials. Although our survey is scarcely exhaustive, we have tried to describe some of the major archival sources for Qing law in order to bring them to the attention of other researchers. We have directed our remarks to scholars who are
T'oung Pao, Apr 10, 2014
Prisonniers de l’empire céleste: le désastre de la première ambassade portugaise en Chine, Récits... more Prisonniers de l’empire céleste: le désastre de la première ambassade portugaise en Chine, Récits & témoignage portugais et chinois: 1517-1524 (Editions Chandeigne, 2014) is a fascinating study of the first official contact between Portugal and China. Beginning with the arrival of the embassy in China in 1517 and ending with the execution of 23 Portuguese in 1524, the story of the embassy told through a diverse collection of first-hand and historical accounts, translated from the original Portuguese and Chinese into French.
The Journal of Asian Studies, Nov 1, 1997
Eighteenth-century chinese commentators were eloquent on the subject of official corruption, char... more Eighteenth-century chinese commentators were eloquent on the subject of official corruption, characterizing it as one of the greatest scourges on the Qing state and society. Xu Wenbi (n.d.), in an administrative handbook based on his experiences as magistrate of Yongchuan county in Sichuan province from 1764 to 1768, bemoaned the devastating effects of corruption on the Chinese populace, writing: “Wherever corruption manifests itself, there are a hundred stratagems to suck out the lifeblood of the people. How can one imagine that the wealth of the region would not be exhausted in the space of a few years?” (Xu n.d., 1:26a). Yin Huiyi (1691–1748), who served as Henan governor from 1737 to 1739, stated that avoiding corruption should be the primary goal of any provincial official. “An official who has been appointed to a post should, first and foremost, remain pure,” he wrote, adding, “No matter whether his rank is lofty or humble, in the end, incorruptibility should be his most precious jewel” (Yin 1940, 4–5). Using similarly strong language, the renowned official, essayist, and historian Qian Daxin (1728–1804) pronounced that “when a single individual is corrupt, an entire dynasty may erupt into chaos” (Qian n.d., 2:10a–11a, 1:124–25).
China Review International, 2000
Historian, 2001
Evelyn S. Rawski's newest work on China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), describes ... more Evelyn S. Rawski's newest work on China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), describes the political and social life of the Manchus, an ethnically non-Han people from Northeast Asia who swept south of the Great Wall in 1644 and brought an end to the Ming dynasty. Her approach is revisionist because the history of the Qing dynasty has traditionally been studied from the point of view of the conquered Han Chinese majority, and not the ruling Manchu minority.
Sino-Western Legal Scholarship on Traditional and Modern Issues -- Collection of Essays from the 1990 International Conference on Shen Jiaben Legal Thought 博通古今学贯中西的法学家--1990年沈家本法律思想国际学术研讨会论文集。张国华主编, 1990
Argues that a workable model of modern Chinese law should take into account longstanding values a... more Argues that a workable model of modern Chinese law should take into account longstanding values and norms. Presented as part of the 1990 International Conference on Shen Jiaben Legal Thought, Hangzhou, 1990.
The Historian, 1997
Review of James L. Hevia's Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy ... more Review of James L. Hevia's Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793, which explores the cultural and political consequences of the first embassy from Great Britain to the imperial court of China.
Journal of Asian History, 1999
Stephen Roddy examines the contours of literati identity in late imperial China--how did the lite... more Stephen Roddy examines the contours of literati identity in late imperial China--how did the literati view their role, what were their mores and how did they evolve over time, and how were the literati viewed by their contempories. By exploring the changing nature of literati identity and its fictional representations in three mid-Qing novels -- Wu Jingzi's Rulin waishi (c. 1750), Xia Jingqu's Yesuo puyan (c. 1780), and Li Ruzhen's Jinghua yuan (1821/1828), Roddy makes an important contribution to our understanding of Qing culture and the comparative role of the intelligensia.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2002
Lu Xiaobo addresses the nature and causes of corruption in China in the last half of the 20th cen... more Lu Xiaobo addresses the nature and causes of corruption in China in the last half of the 20th century, arguing that its proliferation was directly linked to weaknesses in the Chinese Community Party.
China Review International, 1995
Beatrice S. Bartlett examines the origins and development of the Grand Council, a powerful group ... more Beatrice S. Bartlett examines the origins and development of the Grand Council, a powerful group of advisors to the emperors of the middle and late Qing dynasty. She describes how the Grand Council grew to dominate the administration of the Chinese empire, gradually changing the central government decision-making process from direct monarchical control to ministerial administration, a development that she argues "enabled the dynasty to rise to greatness in its middle years and at the end prolonged its life."
T’oung Pao, 2020
This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the b... more This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the body of statutes, substatutes, and regulations pertaining to the organization and operations of the imperial Chinese bureaucracy. The general objective of the article is to draw attention to the law of officials and its significance within the Qing legal system. A more specific goal is to examine how official wrongdoing was defined, differentiated, and dealt with in Qing law, highlighting the crucial distinction between the two main categories of official wrongdoing: “public wrongdoing” (gongzui 公罪) and “private wrongdoing” (sizui 私罪). Part I analyzes the legal distinction between public and private wrongdoing; Part II examines the historical antecedents of the public-private distinction, as expressed in the philosophical writings and the codified law of earlier dynasties; and Part III analyzes the substantive and procedural consequences of the public-private distinction on Qing officials.
The Historian, 2018
Mark McNicholas considers the significance of forgery and impersonation in imperial China from 17... more Mark McNicholas considers the significance of forgery and impersonation in imperial China from 1700 and 1820, a time span commonly referred to as the "High Qing." Drawing on archival records, dynastic histories, and the codified law, he examines the crime and punishment of individuals who forged government documents or posed as agents of the state. Situating these crimes within the social and political environment of eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century China, the author analyzes who engaged in forgery and impersonation, what they hoped to achieve, and why the government treated them so harshly if they were caught.
Dragons, Tigers and Dogs: Qing Crisis Management and the Boundaries of State Power in Late Imperial China, eds. Robert J. Antony and Jane Leonard, 2002
This article examines two cases of corruption at the highest levels of imperial government during... more This article examines two cases of corruption at the highest levels of imperial government during the Qianlong reign. Drawing on a rich fund of Qing archival sources and legal compendia, the article shows that corruption was deeply pervasive throughout the Qing governing system and penetrated all levels of the political hierarchy, up to and including the emperor himself. In both cases, the Qianlong emperor (Hongli), using his prerogatives to intervene directly in the handling of emergencies, dispatched imperial commissioners to prosecute two high-ranking provincial officials, Jiang Zhou and Qian Du, for "miking" their official subordinates for excessive amounts of gifts, donations, and local tribute intended for the emperor and the Imperial Household. The irony was that it was precisely the Qianlong emperor's extravagance and encouragement of excessive gifts and tribute from provincial officials that led to the abuses. The article argues that the emperor used the vast coercive powers of imperium to intervene in these cases in order to defect criticism from his encouragement of such excesses and to avert the erosion of imperial credibility and the threat to dynastic legitimacy that this posed. the cases show the latitude in the Qing system for the chilling and arbitrary exercise of autocratic imperial power.
Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History, edited by Victor Cunrui Xiong and Kenneth J. Hammond, 2019
Overview of the external and internal challenges facing the Qing dynasty from 1800 to 1911, focus... more Overview of the external and internal challenges facing the Qing dynasty from 1800 to 1911, focusing on the nature, causes, and effects of Sino-Western trade and diplomacy; domestic rebellion and foreign wars; and reform and revolutionary movements that preceded the fall of imperial China.
Officials and Chinese Justice: Public and Private Wrongdoing in Qing Law, 2020
This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the b... more This article examines the law of officials during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), focusing on the body of statutes, substatutes, and regulations pertaining to the organization and operations of the imperial Chinese bureaucracy. The general objective of the article is to draw attention to the law of officials and its significance within the Qing legal system. A more specific goal is to examine how official wrongdoing was defined, differentiated, and dealt with in Qing law, highlighting the crucial distinction between the two main categories of official wrongdoing: “public wrongdoing” (gongzui 公罪) and “private wrongdoing” (sizui 私罪). Part I analyzes the legal distinction between public and private wrongdoing; Part II examines the historical antecedents of the public-private distinction, as expressed in the philosophical writings and the codified law of earlier dynasties; and Part III analyzes the substantive and procedural consequences of the public-private distinction on Qing officials.