Title

Alternative Marriage Practices of Wartime Urban China in Discourse and Practice (1937-1949)

Authors

Charlotte Cotter, Yale University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 5-31-2018

Abstract

A 2017-2018 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Charlotte Cotter (Grace Hopper College '18) for her essay submitted to the East Asian Studies Program, "Alternative Marriage Practices of Wartime Urban China in Discourse and Practice (1937-1949)” (Peter C. Perdue, Professor of History, advisor).

Charlotte Cotter’s thesis, “Alternative Marriage Practices of Wartime Urban China in Discourse and Practice (1937-1949)” is an excellent study of how women in Shanghai during wartime explored different modes of intimate life, including alternate forms of marriage, when the upheaval of war tore apart families and disrupted personal relations. Throughout her essay, Cotter uses original Chinese sources of a variety of genres to provide glimpses of personal lives, an especially challenging task. In doing so, she makes a real contribution to our knowledge of family relations in Shanghai. In the end, Cotter has succeeded in crafting a well-conceived and well-documented study.

Recommended Citation

Cotter, Charlotte, "Alternative Marriage Practices of Wartime Urban China in Discourse and Practice (1937-1949)" (2018). Student Work. 8.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ceas_student_work/8