SOURCE: Chung, Ling. “Li Ch'ing-chao: Another Side of Her Complex Personality.” Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association 10, no. 3 (October 1975): 126-36.

In the following excerpt, Chung explores several elements of Li Ch'ing-chao's poetry, including her ability to convey feelings implicitly, her use of delicate metaphors and natural imagery, her mysticism, and her satirical views on contemporary politics, remarking that these aspects of Ch'ing-chao's poetry have not been explored by many scholars.

In the voluminous Sung shih, the official History of the Sung Dynasty, there are only twenty-four characters referring to the greatest Chinese woman author, Li Ch'ing-chao (1084-1151). The section of biography in Sung shih, as far as women are concerned covers only queens, princesses, and women of virtuous, filial deeds, not those with literary talents. Serious writings such as shih poetry, essay and memoirs were exclusively practiced by the male gentry after the Han Dynasty. This passage of...