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

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IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Arguably the most powerful empress in ...

(THE CONVERSATION) In sixth-century China, a woman known to history as Empress Dowager Ling ruled over an empire called the Northern Wei. Historians do not know her birth name or in what year she was ...