The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century

By: Stephanie Balkwill

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Synopsis: A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In the late fifth century, a girl whose name has been forgotten by history was born at the edge of the Chinese empire. By the time of her death, she had transformed herself into Empress Dowager Ling, one of the most powerful politicians of her age and one of the first of many Buddhist women to wield incredible influence in dynastic East Asia. In this book, Stephanie Balkwill documents the Empress Dowager’s rise to power and life on the throne against the broader world of imperial China under the rule of the Northern Wei dynasty, a foreign people from Inner Asia who built their capital deep in the Chinese heartland. Building on largely untapped Buddhist materials, Balkwill shows that the life and rule of the Empress Dowager is a larger story of the reinvention of religious, ethnic, and gender norms in a rapidly changing multicultural society. The Women Who Ruled China recovers the voices of those left out of the mainstream historical record, painting a compelling portrait of medieval Chinese society reinventing itself under the Empress Dowager’s leadership.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
Book Size:: 272 Pages
ISBN-13:: 9780520401822
Related ISBNs:: 9780520401815
Publisher:: University of California Press
Date of Addition:: 08/06/24
Copyrighted By:: Stephanie Balkwill
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction, Religion and Spirituality, Social Studies, Politics and Government
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.