Yujie Pu

 My research examines the intersection of medical and legal practices in the construction and regulation of madness during the Qing dynasty in China. The primary focus of this project is to understand how madness was institutionalized and how the state, through its judiciary system, regulated and shaped perceptions of madness. I argue that the imperial state gradually came to recognize the authority of medical assessments in insanity trials. It was a bottom-up process involving bureaucrats in the Ministry of Justice, local officials, doctors, and various social groups negotiating terminology, treatment efficacy, and legal responsibilities related to "mad" convicts. Ultimately, these negotiations led to new understandings and approaches to adjudicating "mad" convicts before the introduction of Western psychiatry and related laws.