Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China (Sinica Leidensia, V. 37)

Although outcasts have not traditionally been associated with traditional Chinese society, this book shows that some Chinese were in fact treated as outcasts or semi-outcasts. They include the boat people of South China and certain less well-known groups in different regions, including the "musicians' households" and the "fallen people". This book examines the reason for their inferior status and perceived impurity. It also explores the intent behind a series of imperial emancipation edicts in the 1720s and 30s. This edict proved an escape route from inferior legal status but failed to put a quick end to customary social discrimination.