How did jailing function in Ming China? This talk, based on my book, rethinks the patrimonial bureaucratic system through the lens of vulnerability and dependence. It explores how bureaucrats’ experiences of jailing revealed the state's reliance on the patriarchal family, their complex relationships with lower classes, and how women used these crises to assert agency. By integrating comparative prison studies and family history, I examine the social impact of jailing and the role of patriarchy in the Chinese bureaucratic empire.