Practices and Judgements of False Accusations during the Late 18th Century and Early 19th Century

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: During the late 18th century and early 19th century, false accusation (wugao) was an illegal but prevalent customary practice that people used to escalate their disputes to the local courts. In archival materials, local residents usually used female chastity, the importance of which was repeatedly emphasized by the Qing state, to falsely accuse others of adultery and rape (wujian) with the aims to obtain financial gains or to take revenge on their enemies. In most cases, female chastity was a manipulable weapon taken by males, while female voices were often muted. In some cases, women also took the initiative to falsely accuse others of raping them. However, many women framed others for rape because their illicit sex was caught by the accused; they resorted to wujian as the last option in desperation to cover their affairs. Wujian cases, like other types of false accusation cases, were usually adjudicated as minor matters at the local level. Nevertheless, some circumstances that offended patriarchy and challenged the ruling supremacy of the Qing would transform false accusations from minor matters to severe cases.

Type of resource	text
Date created	December 2020

Author	Ye, Shiyun
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Stanford Global Studies, Center for East Asian Studies
Primary advisor	Sommer, Matthew

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/pm607xc5506

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Ye, Shiyun. (2020). Practices and Judgements of False Accusations during the Late 18th Century and Early 19th Century. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/pm607xc5506

Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Thesis Collection

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