 | Forgery and Impersonation in Imperial China: Popular Deceptions and the High Qing State Subjects: China -- History -- Qing dynasty 1644–1912; China -- Officials and employees; False personation -- China -- History; Forgery -- China -- History; Public administration -- China -- History; Fraud -- China -- History; Across eighteenth-century China a wide range of common people forged government documents or pretended to be officials or other agents of the state. This examination of case records and law codes traces the legal meanings and social and political contexts of small-time swindles that were punished as grave political transgressions. Mark McNicholas is associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College. |
