Su Fei. Born into Privilege: A Prosopographical Study of Princesses during the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties

McGill University, 2017. — 134 p.My thesis is a prosopographical study of the princesses of Han times (206 BCE – 220 CE) as a group. A "princess" was a rank conferred on the daughter of an emperor, and, despite numerous studies on Han women, Han princesses as a group have received little scholarly attention. The thesis has four chapters. The first chapter discusses the specific titles awarded to princesses and their ranking system. Drawing both on transmitted documents and the available archaeological evidence, the chapter discusses the sumptuary codes as they applied to the princesses and the extravagant lifestyles of the princesses. Chapter Two discusses the economic underpinnings of the princesses' existence, and discusses their sources of income. Chapter Three analyzes how marriage practices were re-arranged to fit the exalted status of the Han princesses, and looks at some aspects of the family life of princesses. Lastly, the fourth chapter investigates how historians portray the princesses as a group and probes for the reasons why they were cast in a particular light.