“Women in Charge” and Empires in Change – the Lives of Ordinary Women during the Qin-Han Transition

Abstract This article uses “women in charge” mentioned in the Shuihudi daybook as a thread to explore the lives of ordinary women during the Qin and Han transitional period. By examining different genres of excavated and transmitted texts, this article demonstrates how ordinary women could take in and abandon husbands, establish their own households, and manage family property. This article situates this phenomenon in the social context of empire building and argues that the chaotic and unstable transitional period gave women more freedom and authority in the household and their personal lives, and led the state to explicitly and legally acknowledge the contributions of women.