By shedding light on a long-forgotten epigraphic genre called "genealogical steles" that flourished in North China during the Mongol Empire, or Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Genealogy and Status explores the ways the conquered Chinese people understood and represented the alien Mongol ruling principles and kinship through their own cultural tradition.

Tomoyasu Iiyama is Professor in the Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at Waseda University.