Historians of China have long found it useful to speak of a "nei-t'ing" or "inner court", an inner circle of advisers which regularly took shape around Chinese emperors throughout the imperial era. The power of the various members of this circle derived from their proximity to the emperor and their consequent ability to influence his decisions. Of all the groups which belonged to this inner court, the women of the imperial household have been the least studied.; The thesis provides an account of palace women in the Ming period, based on a comparative, chronological study of primary texts from the Ming and early Ch'ing dynasties. These include archaeologically excavated inscriptions, books written by and for imperial women during the course of the dynasty, works on ritual, official accounts of imperial women and unofficial histories. These sources are used to illumine the normative and ritually prescribed roles of imperial women and to investigate the practical questions of their selection and organization, the wealth and status which were conferred on their families, their literacy and their access to political power.; The thesis describes the fragmentation of the roles of imperial women as a result of the Ming founder's instructions to his descendants on the selection of women for the palace and on the designation of the heirs to the throne. It argues that there was a direct, causal link between the Ming policy of recruiting imperial women from families of little social importance and the weakness of Ming imperial women in contrast to those of earlier and later dynasties. This policy, unique to the Ming, led to remarkably high social mobility, both up into and down out of the highest ranks of society.
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