明代賦役改革前的婦女與戶籍簿冊登記

Women and the Household Registration System in Ming China

Women have been ignored in the research of household and population control in Ming China. Recently, some household registration records from the Yuan and Ming dynasties have been discovered. Scholars could use this new evidence to do research on women in the household system. This paper aims to undertake a long-term investigation of how women were included in the state governance over a long period in the Ming dynasty, using household registration records, local gazetteers, etc., as the main source materials. The author wishes to challenge the past researches on the history of Chinese political and economic institutions, which simply overlooked the existence of women. Also, it will offer the study of gender history a new approach, from the institutional perspective.
The Yellow Register of the Ming dynasty continued to use the registration form of the Household Register of the Yuan dynasty, categorizing family members by gender, rather than by the hierarchical order. Moreover, it subdivided women into“old”and“young”, and canceled the registration of maidservants. The distinction between the“old”and“young”women was based on whether they were married or 15 years old, and their registration could be used as a reference for the salt rationing tax in the household accounts. In order to evade taxes, the women population could be hidden from the registration. In addition, the official registration of the women population clearly recorded the name and age of each woman. Perhaps it may be seen as a personal identification and control of women in Ming China, but at the same time it offered a sort of recognition, since the registered women could provide evidence for subsequent judicial judgments.