Benn, Charles. “Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty.” Greenwood Press, 2002.
This thorough exploration of the aspects of everyday life in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) provides a fascinating insight into a culture and time that is often misunderstood, especially by those from western cultures. The answers to questions like “How was their society structured, how did they entertain themselves, and what sorts of food did they eat?” are provided in full detail. Based mainly on classical translations from the Chinese themselves, each chapter addresses a specific aspect of daily living in the voices of those who lived during the time. A myriad of interesting details are provided to help readers discover, among other things, what life was like in the city, what homes and gardens were like, how the roles of men and women differed, and the many rituals in which people participated.
Ho, Norman P. “Confucian Jurisprudence in Practice: Pre-Tang Dynasty Panwen (Written Legal Judgments).” Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal Association, 2013.
Most scholarship on Chinese legal philosophy has neglected the study of
Confucian jurisprudence in practice. As a result of this incomplete portrayal, scholars predominantly view the premodern Chinese Confucian legal tradition as lacking a rule of law system, which has led to blaming Confucianism for much of China’s modern and historical rule of law problems. This article seeks to complicate this view by examining Confucian jurisprudence in practice: specifically, the development of pre-Tang dynasty written legal judgments (panwen). Through analysis of specific panwen from various Chinese primary sources, the article shows that even in Chinese antiquity the legal system was not solely marked by codification or the lack of the rule of law, but was far more complex and diverse than most scholars have portrayed. I will use this article to build an understanding of the use of cases and the role of panwen in China’s legal past.
Ho, Norman P. “Law, Literature, and Gender in Tang China: An Exploration of Bai Juyi’s Selected Panwen on Women.” 8 July 2009.
From the beginning, scholars working in the West have primarily focused their attention on the analysis of legal issues in American and European literary masterpieces. More recently, academics have begun to explore the intersections between law and literature in the literary traditions of late imperial and modern China. However, very little scholarly attention, in both English and Chinese, has analyzed premodern literature and law. It would be a mistake to suggest the reason for such scholarly neglect is lack of ―law‖ in premodern China. It is now widely agreed among Chinese and Western scholars that China had a sophisticated legal system throughout much of its history, its apex marked by the promulgation of the Tang Code in the mid-seventh century, which became the fundamental basis for legal systems in other East Asian kingdoms during that time.
