Abstract:Research on feminine consciousness in traditional China is mostly based on analysis of Chinese traditional literary works. But actually, strong feminine consciousness could also be found in real political practice of many female figures in traditional China. Lady Liu, the Empress of Song Renzong in Northern Song, was a famous female master in Song Dynasty, who held the supreme power at the beginning of Renzong's reign more than 11 years. In this period, she demonstrated that she was as capable as an emperor, through naming the title of reign, raising her ritual standards and issuing decrees. She attended ritual ceremonies in order to deepen the political sense of the so-called Two Saints, her and the emperor, together ruling the country. She argued for the husband and wife to be a whole with one complementing the other. She even wanted to extend the co-ruling of empress and emperor to her future generations. Though her attempts failed, they still reflected that she was representative of female political figures with strong feminine consciousness of equal abilities between the sexes in traditional China.
刘广丰. 北宋女主政治中的女性意识*——以对刘太后的考察为中心[J]. 妇女研究论丛, 2014, 0(6): 72-78.
LIU Guang-feng. Feminine Consciousness in the Woman Dominated Politics of Northern Song Dynasty: Based on the Study of Empress. , 2014, 0(6): 72-78.