In sixth-century China, a woman known to history as Empress Dowager Ling ruled over an empire called the Northern Wei.

The empress, like many other rulers at the time, legitimized her reign through Buddhism, portraying herself either as a ...

Even though the Empress Dowager Ling’s rule was problematic and short — resulting in her assassination — she laid the foundation for other, more successful female rulers across medieval East Asia.

another woman would rise to rule China independently, this time taking the title of “emperor.” That woman is known as Empress Wu, or Emperor Wu Zhao, and she is undoubtedly the most famous ...