The Women: A Portrait Gallery of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties

This book traces the history of the Two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, with remarkable women from each era as its focus. Spanning from the Western Jin to the early Sui, it details the sweeping changes of more than three centuries of division and reunification, while also highlighting the lives of outstanding women from a period in Chinese history marked by the most frequent changes of regime. It draws out their most distinctive qualities and offers interpretations of their lives from a female perspective. Among them are Jia Nanfeng, the Western Jin’s ugliest woman, who wielded power over the empire; Lüzhu, the Western Jin’s most beautiful woman, who leapt from a tower for love; Xie Daoyun, the Eastern Jin’s foremost female talent; Empress Dowager Feng of Northern Wei, who championed reform and strength; Li Zu’e, Northern Qi’s leading empress, who gave herself to her younger brother-in-law; and Feng Xiaolian, Pan Yunu, and Zhang Lihua, three favored consorts whose frivolity helped bring their kingdoms to ruin...