SOURCE: Minru, Yang. “Li Qingzhao, a Poetess of the Song Dynasty.” Chinese Literature (April 1981): 94-106.

In the following essay, Minru explores the complexities of Li Ch'ing-chao's life and interests and the influence these on her poetry.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was a period of cultural growth and economic development. Especially during the first hundred years after its establishment, talented writers and poets were particularly prominent, among whom was a most gifted poetess, Li Qingzhao. Though born in feudal times, when women suffered both oppression and discrimination, and though her biography was not recorded, she nevertheless occupies an outstanding place among the Song-dynasty literati and her few poems, which are still extant, are among the treasures of Chinese classical literature. In that male-dominated literary society, her position was extremely rare.

Li Qingzhao (1081-1155?), also known as Li Yi'an, was born in Ji'nan, Shandong Province. Her father Li Gefei, once...