On Deng Sui 鄧綏, A Complex Figure

Abstract

Study of the early rhetoric commenting on the reign of Empress Deng Sui 鄧綏 (in supreme power, 106–121) should cause us to rethink the stereotypes some have long entertained about successful female rulers, such as Wu Zetian 武則天 (r. 690–705) and Cixi Taihou 慈禧太后 (regent, 1861–1908), which do not reflect the Han gender norms. The essay argues that Deng Sui, in her own self-conscious and independent way, managed still to adhere faithfully to the Eastern Han gender norms of her time, while refusing to bow to inconvenient court conventions. Like many other learned women of her time—that her confidant and advisor was Ban Zhao 班昭 (45–116) is hardly coincidental—she knew how to deploy classical learning to achieve her own goals; and her reign, like that of Dowager Empress Lü 呂 (d. 180

) of Western Han, won high praise for its capable governing of the realm.