Concubinage and Motherhood in Qing China (1644–1911)

Abstract

This article explores concubinage, a widespread form of quasi-marriage in Qing China (1644–1911), and its relationship with motherhood and social mobility. By examining legal codes and court records, this research challenges the academic paradigm, mainly based on literati writings, that portrays concubines as reproductive tools for their husband-masters and their husband-masters’ wives. It shows that bearing or raising sons or daughters helped concubines achieve upward social mobility recognized and protected by law and that motherhood remained the major source of power and security for concubines in the Qing. After household divisions, concubine-mothers gained lifelong custodial rights of property, which formally consolidated concubine-mothers’ upward mobility from daughters or widows in lower-class families to matriarchs in well-to-do households.