New book by Stephanie Balkwill explores women in power in 6th-century China

Peggy McInerny | October 14, 2024

A new work by Stephanie Balkwill explores the life and rule of Empress Dowager Ling, one of the first Buddhist women to wield incredible influence in dynastic East Asia, against the broader world of imperial China under the rule of the Northern Wei dynasty.

“The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism and Governance in the Sixth Century” (UC Press, open access), was published in August. Balkwill is an associate professor of Asian languages and cultures, and director of the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies.

“‘In The Women Who Ruled China,’ I use predominantly Buddhist sources — canonical texts, art historical pieces and archeological remains — to argue that China’s early medieval period was a high point for the diversity of roles available to women, even if normative historiography considers the period a sort of historical dark age,” Balkwill said.

Building on largely untapped Buddhist materials, the book reveals Dowager Ling’s story as one of reinvention — of religious, ethnic and gender norms — in a rapidly changing multicultural society.

“The only woman from medieval China who is commonly discussed in both academic and popular communities is the famous Empress Wu Zhao, who ruled China from 690 to 705 CE, whereas the women I wrote about for my Ph.D. had done very similar things as Empress Wu Zhao, but they did so almost 200 years earlier,” Balkwill said. “To me, it mattered to tell a story that commonly used sources in the study of medieval China do not adequately tell.”

This article was adapted from a story published by the UCLA International Institute.