Man Xu, Tufts University, explores the complexities of elite and non-elite women’s everyday lives during the Song Dynasty, from 960 to 1279. Drawing upon a wide range of previously untapped sources, including archaeological reports, epitaphs, museum collections, paintings, poetry, and excavations of women’s tombs to recover the diversity of women’s experience of the life course, from childhood socialization to death, and the artifacts that women produced.

Image courtesy of interviewee