The Enlightened Judgments, Ch'ing-ming Chi

The first English translation of a selection of legal documents from Sung Dynasty China, this work provides a fascinating look at the legal, social, and economic history of that era.

The Enlightened Judgments introduces everyday life in thirteenth-century China. The Sung Dynasty author of the collection brought together a host of documents selected from local judicial decisions and official papers to provide insights into contemporary life and its problems. It introduces a wonderful cast of Chinese characters–soldiers, merchants, gamblers, fishmongers, farmers, prostitutes, officials, local clerks, boatmen, military officers, Buddhist monks, lowly members of the imperial clan, local strongmen, and landlords. Relatives support one another or argue bitterly over property, abuse one another physically and verbally, or stand together resolutely in the face of outside trouble. Marriages, divorces, adoptions, inheritances, and commercial dealings of various sorts provide the core topics of the judicial decisions. Petty crimes–assaults between fishmongers, extortions by fishermen, even dressing in drag–are mixed with brutal stories that touch on torture, homicide, and enslavement. No other work so vividly portrays the difficulties of daily life in China a millennium ago.

This work offers translations of the original texts, introductions that set these pieces in context, and headnotes to each entry which provide a brief guide to clarify the content of the selection.