Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Contact Information
Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and History
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Office: THH 356R
Phone: 213-740-6660
E-mail: birge@usc.edu
Professor Birge researches law and gender in China and Inner Asia, focusing on the Song and Yuan periods (10th to 14th centuries). Her interests include women and Confucianism, property rights, comparative systems of marriage, and issues of gender, ethnicity, and status in traditional law. Professor Birge is currently working on a book that examines instabilities and contention over issues of gender, status, and identity in multi-ethnic Yuan society.
Education:
- M.A. History, Cambridge University
- Ph.D. Chinese History, Columbia College
- B.A. East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Research Specialties
premodern Chinese history, gender, law, ethnicity, Inner Asia
Publications
Book
- Birge, B. (2017). Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan: Cases from the Yuan dianzhang. Harvard University Press.
- Birge, B. (2002). Women, Property, and Confucian Reaction in Sung and Yüan China, 960-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Book Chapter
- Birge, B. (2017). "How the Mongols Mattered: A Perspective from Law.". How Mongolia Matters: War, Law, and Society pp. 87-104. Leiden: Brill.
- Birge, B. (2012). "Yuandai de shouji hun yü zhenjie guan de fuxing." In Xifang zhongguo funüshi yanjiu lunwenji (Western Studies on Chinese Women's History). Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chuban she.
- Birge, B. (2010). Sources of Law in Mongol-Yuan China (1260-1368): Adjudication in the absence of a legal code, In Festschrift in Honour of Francoise Aubin. Miscellanea Asiatica pp. 387-406. Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica.
- Birge, B. (2010). Meiguo de Yuandai yanjiu: lishi gaikuang, zhuyao gongxian, yiji dangqian de qushi (Yuan Studies in North America: Historical Overview, Contributions, and Current Trends). Chinese Studies in North America pp. 145-170. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
- Birge, B. (2008). Law of the Liao, Chin, and Yuan and its Impact on the Chinese Legal Tradition, in New Perspectives on Chinese History, Legal History: The Formation and Transformation of Traditional Chinese Legal Culture. pp. 443-503. Taipei, Taiwan: Academia Sinica.
- Birge, B. (2008). "Liao-Jin-Yuan falü ji qi dui zhongguo falü chuantong de yingxiang." In Zhongguoshi Xinlun: Falüshi. pp. 141-191. Taipei, Taiwan: Zhong Yanyuan, Jinglian.
- Birge, B. (2003). Women and Confucianism from Song to Ming: The Institutionalization of Patrilineality, in The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History. pp. 212-240. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
- Birge, B. (2003). Inheritance and Property Law from Tang to Song: The Move away from Patrilineality. pp. 849-866. Shanghai: Peking Univ. Tang Studies Series, Cishu chubanshe.
- Birge, B. (1989). Chu Hsi and Women's Education, in Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage. pp. 325-367. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Book Review
- Birge, B. (2010). Review of Peter K. Bol, Neo-Confucianism in History (Harvard East Asian Monographs, number 307.). American Historical Review. pp. 822-823.
- Birge, B. (2007). Review of "Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan. Journal of Asian Studies/Cambridge University Press. pp. 240-242.
Conference Proceeding
- Birge, B. (2007). Instabilities in Chinese Family and Marriage Law and the Significance of the Zhizhengtiaoge. In Academy of Korean Studies (Ed.), pp. 219-231. Seoul. Law and Society in the 13th-14th century East Asia-In Celebration of the Publication of the Zhizheng tiaoge.
Encyclopedia Article
- Birge, B. (2009). Chinese Law, History of: Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 – 1368), in Encyclopedia of Legal History. (Stanley N. Katz, Geoffrey MacCormack, et al., Ed.). Vol. NA. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Journal Article
- Birge, B. (2011). Mongol Khans and Legal Innovation in the Yuan Dynasty (1260-1368): The Use of Precedents as a Source of Law. Mongolica: AnInternational Annual of Mongol Studies. Vol. 25
- Birge, B. (2009). Sexual Misconduct in Mongol-Yuan Law, with some Observations on Chinggis Khan’s Jasagh. Mongolica: An International Annual of Mongol Studies. Vol. 22 (43), pp. 287-297.
- Birge, B. (2009). Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Nature of Local Sources and Understanding Regional History in Imperial China. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 52 (1), pp. 4-13. full text, pdf version
- Birge, B. (2007). Law and its Limits: Judicial Philosophy and Conflicting Verdicts in Song Dynasty Legal Cases. Chung-Hsing Journal of History. (18), pp. 185-192.
- Birge, B. (1995). Levirate Marriage and the Revival of Widow Chastity in Yuan China. Asia Major. Vol. 8 (2), pp. 107-146.
Honors and Awards
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, NEH Fellowship for University Teachers, 2013-2014
- Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Scholar Grant, 7/2011-6/2012
- Mellon New Directions Fellowship, 5/2006-10/2011
- USC Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund Award, Grant funds to aid Research, 2006-2008
- Presidential Medal from President of Mongolia for contribution to the understanding of Mongolian history, 8/2006
- USC Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award, Prize for creativity in research, 2005
- Fulbright Award, Research Fellowship to Beijing, China, 2003-2004
- Residency at the Institute for Advanced Study, Granted one-year fellowhsip/residency at IAS (offer declined), 2003-2004
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, Fellowship for University Teachers, 1996-1997
Service to the Profession
Editorships and Editorial Boards
- Western-language Editor, Bibliography of Chinese Legal History, 2006-
- English-language Editor, Journal of Chinese History (Chugoku shigaku), 2005-
- Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies, 2005-
Media, Alumni, and Community Relations
- Faculty lecturer for Educational tour of Mongolia: Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Vassar Alumni, -08/2008
Featured Articles
October 20, 2024
October 20, 2024
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 3:00pm
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 4:00pm
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.