This is the first book on childhood in early China, covering a period that Anne Behnke Kinney dates from the beginnings of Chinese written culture until the end of the Han dynasty. She starts out with the contention that in China childhood was, in the sense of Philippe Ariès, “discovered” in Han times and that we do not find many representations of children in earlier periods. The book is divided into six chapters: “The Discovery of Childhood in Early China,” “The Precocious Child,” “The Aristocratic Child,” “Infant Abandonment,” “Girls,” and “The Magical Manipulation of Childhood.” The conclusion is followed by an appendix on “The Rules of Succession in Early China.” Kinney's sources are predominantly traditionally received texts such as the histories Shiji and Hanshu, as well as philosophical texts such as the Han Fei zi, Mencius or Wang Chong's Lun heng, but also excavated materials, although archeological...

You do not currently have access to this content.