Asian Art

Empress Yang (Song dynasty)

Empress Yang (30 June 1162 – 18 January 1233), formally titled Empress Gongsheng and also known as Yang Meizi, was a Chinese empress consort whose political acumen enabled her to serve as de facto empress regnant for years. She is considered "one of the most powerful empresses of the Song dynasty and...[possibly] the Southern Song dynasty's most powerful Empress." Yang is generally described as intelligent, ruthless and, at times, malicious, while outwardly maintaining a saintly and liberal image. She was the second Song empress after Empress Dowager Liu to come from a humble background and, like Liu, was an astute wielder of power both at court and in the palace. Her later claim to be from a distinguished military family is believed by modern historians to be a fabrication for political reasons. Recent historiography uncovered a connection between Empress Yang and an artist named Yang Meizi, who were believed for centuries to have been two different people. This discovery has led to the reappraisal of previous narratives involving both names. Yang Meizi, hitherto dismissed as concerned chiefly with romance and beauty, was granted a dimension of leadership and political acumen. Empress Yang, already respected, gained an aspect of humanity which was formerly foreign to her image.

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See also

• ▸Assyrian conquest of Egypt
• ▸Arsen Avakov
• ▸History of science and technology in China

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.