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

Review

by Bradford Lee Eden
published on 19 March 2025

This book provides an intriguing and fascinating account of the rise and fall of a powerful woman in early medieval China. While the author’s conclusions are theoretical at best given the minimal amount of reliable information available on Ling, bringing to light what knowledge is available on her is an incredible accomplishment and an interesting read.

This book provides detailed information on early medieval China related to the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century and its political and cultural influences in that part of the world. During this transformational time, a woman was able to rise to power and influence during the Northern Wei reign (386-534 CE) who up until now has been lost to history: Empress Dowager Ling (d. 528 CE). Ling’s aunt Shi Sengzhi (d. 516 CE), an influential Buddhist nun at the court of Emperor Xuanwu, brought Ling to the imperial court as a teenager where she became the favorite concubine of the emperor. Her son, Xiaoming, succeeded Xuanwu as a child emperor with his mother Ling as regent until his coming of age, at which time Ling had him murdered so that she could continue to reign. Ling’s own murder in 528 as well as the many twists and turns of her regime are documented in this book.

Chapter One describes the historical and social contexts around the Northern Wei dynasty and its capital city of Luoyang in the Yellow River valley related to the rise of Ling and Buddhism in the region. Chapter Two provides a translation of the biography of Ling as contained in the Book of Wei (Wei Shu), compiled between 551 to 554 CE and written approximately twenty-five years after Ling’s death. The political biases in this text are discussed as well, especially on women holding political power and how this text is an unreliable witness to her life. Chapters Three to Five then document her life as known, from her humble beginnings and the rise of Buddhism in the region to her aunt’s ascension in the imperial court as an advisor to the emperor. The author also argues that Ling’s aunt knew exactly what she was doing when bringing Ling to court using precedence in Buddhist texts for rule by women as well as recounts the various plot dynamics and cultural shifts that Ling enacted that eventually brought about her murder. As a last resort to save herself, she shaved her head and became a Buddhist nun, but this did not stop her downfall along with the deaths of thousands of her courtiers and the raping of nuns in the imperial nunnery. The Northern Wei dynasty did not long survive Ling’s murder. In the Conclusion, the author brings together the various threads of historical and cultural information which survive around Empress Dowager Ling related to the influence of Buddhism, women, and gendered politics and how Ling’s legacy might have provided a model for the most famous woman in Chinese history, Emperor Wu Zetian (624-705 CE).

Stephanie Balkwill is Assistant Professor of Chinese Buddhism at UCLA. Her book provides an intriguing account of the rise and fall of a powerful woman in early medieval China. Two charts provided at the beginning of the book are extremely helpful: one contains short biographical information on all of the dramatis personae mentioned; the other is a genealogical chart of all the relationships of the main characters. While the author’s conclusions are theoretical at best given the minimal amount of reliable information available on Ling, bringing to light what knowledge is available about her is an incredible accomplishment and an interesting read.

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