Politics, Philosophy, and Patriarchy in the Reign of Empress Wu: Analysis of Tang Dynasty Religious and Gender Imagery in Elite-Sponsored Buddhist Caves at Mogao Grottoes, China
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The topic of how women in societies with patriarchal ideologies and systems can break through the social hierarchy to establish power and influence, and what role religion plays in these types of political issues has been relevant for millennia and is still relevant today. In China and much of ancient East Asia, traditional structures of belief and power tended to be patriarchal, which made it difficult for female leaders to rise to positions of authority. Despite this social system, some women in imperial Chinese history rose above the system to become authority figures. One of these women was Empress Wu Zetian (624-705) of the Tang dynasty, who rose to power to become the sole emperor of China in 690 CE. This thesis examines iconography in Mogao Caves 96 and 321 in Dunhuang, Gansu, two caves constructed by the elite Yin family of Dunhuang under Empress Wu’s reign. Using iconographic and archaeological methods, I analyze the murals and statues within the two Yin family caves to understand how Empress Wu and powerful families of this period leveraged popular Buddhist stories and imagery to assert and legitimize authority. These two caves both featured imagery of several Buddhist teachings supporting female authority, suggesting that Buddhist concepts and infrastructure, as well as the ambitions of elite families, was utilized to demonstrate and cultivate political authority throughout her empire.
Author: Howard, Ashley
Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7033445057