Books like Precious records by Susan Mann


*Precious Records* offers the first comprehensive study of gender dynamics in the Lower Yangzi region during the High Qing dynasty (c. 1683–1839). By centering women’s experiences, Susan Mann demonstrates how gender relations influenced economic, political, social, and cultural developments of the era. The work expands the usual literary focus to include women’s roles in household agriculture, courtesan entertainment, and religious observances, showing how women’s poetry—drawn from early anthologies compiled by a female author—provides insight into literary sensibilities, personal emotions, and political, moral, and social judgments. Mann’s analysis illuminates the female life course and argues that histories cannot ignore women's contributions.
First publish date: 1997
Genre: History/Modern History
Authors: Susan Mann
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 0.0 (0 community ratings)

Precious records by Susan Mann

How are these books recommended?

The books recommended for Precious records by Susan Mann are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.


Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.

Books similar to Precious records (9 similar books)

Shanghai girls by 6803950|Lisa See book cover

📘 Shanghai girls
 by Lisa See

In war‑torn 1937 Shanghai, sisters Pearl and May Beware find their lives turned upside down when their father’s debts force them into marriage and migration to Los Angeles, where they confront love, identity, and the clash between old traditions and new freedoms.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (9 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The woman warrior by 6513641|Maxine Hong Kingston book cover

📘 The woman warrior

The Woman Warrior is Maxine Hong Kingston’s lyrical memoir of her Chinese‑American upbringing in California, juxtaposing her mother’s folk tales of fierce women with the everyday sexism she faces.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (7 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Bonesetter's Daughter by 6537678|Amy Tan book cover

📘 The Bonesetter's Daughter
 by Amy Tan

Eighty‑year‑old LuLing recalls her childhood in rural China while her daughter Ruth, a San Francisco ghostwriter, discovers the story of their family’s past and the secrets of a mute nursemaid tied to an ancient curse.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.7 (7 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress by 5501955|Dai Sijie book cover

📘 Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress
 by Dai Sijie

In the backdrop of Mao's Cultural Revolution, two boys discover a stash of 19th‑century Western novels, reshaping their worldviews and opening a bridge between East and West.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
China men by 6513641|Maxine Hong Kingston book cover

📘 China men


★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Leftover in China by 11880547|Roseann Lake book cover

📘 Leftover in China


★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Bound feet & Western dress by 8860154|Pang-Mei Natasha Chang book cover

📘 Bound feet & Western dress

A biographical portrait of a pioneering Chinese woman, born in 1900 and dying in 1988, who broke traditional customs, gained an education, and rose to prominent roles in banking and commerce, embodying China’s shift from bound‑feet to Western influence.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Zhongguo hao nü ren by 5567470|Xinran book cover

📘 Zhongguo hao nü ren
 by Xinran

When I finished reading-I felt my soul had been altered' Amy TanFor eight groundbreaking years, Xinran presented a radio programme in China during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast every evening, Words on the Night Breeze became famous through the country for its unflinching portrayal of what it meant to be a woman in modern China. Centuries of obedience to their fathers, husbands and sons, followed by years of political turmoil had made women terrified of talking openly about their feelings. Xinran won their trust and, through her compassion and ability to listen, became the first woman to hear their true stories. This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, the women's voices confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets for the first time. Their stories changed Xinran's understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Women writers of traditional China by 13173725|Kang-i Sun Chang book cover

📘 Women writers of traditional China

"This anthology of Chinese women's poetry in translation brings together representative selections from the work of some 130 poets from the Han dynasty to the early twentieth century.". "These poets include empresses, imperial concubines, courtesans, grandmothers, recluses, Buddhist nuns, widows, painters, farm wives, revolutionaries, and adolescent girls thought to be incarnate immortals. Some women wrote out of isolation and despair, finding in words a mastery that otherwise eluded them. Others were recruited into poetry by family members, friends, or sympathetic male advocates. Some dwelt on intimate family matters and cast their poems as addresses to husbands and sons at large in the wide world of men's affairs." "The primary purpose of this anthology is to put before the English-speaking reader evidence of the poetic talent that flourished, against all odds, among women in premodern China."--BOOK JACKET.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0

Some Other Similar Books

Dragon Sea by Simon Windsor
Dreaming in Chinese by Martin J. Yam
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the Water by Yang Erche Ngan

Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!

Please login to submit books!