Gender;Religion;Power

Northern Wei is a feudal and centralized empire having developed from minority tribes. In its history, in order to get rid of the tribal traditions and strengthen monarchical power, Northern Wei had unintentionally done the breeding ground for the household politics; in order to achieve the transition from Hu to Han by means of advocating Confucian culture as a rule, it had also unintentionally given Buddhism the opportunity to spread. Mahayana Buddhism, whose development relies on the monarch, which should have been a cultural phenomenon, had been inevitably involved in politics. When these elements encountered with household politics, and with the female perspective, Northern Wei had shown the relationship between gender politics and Buddhism, which is difficult to detect.The Northern Wei Dynasty in the tribal village had strong female controls, but the intercourse of the household politics and Buddhism began from Chang's, Zhao Empress, Emperor Wencheng's nurse. Chang's became "the mother of kings" for "A security Emperor" and, under her protection, Emperor Wencheng smoothly ascended the throne. At the beginning of Emperor Wencheng's ruling, Chang's used to control all the power because of her merit of protection. She got rid of political dissidents, maintained primogeniture, and solved the imperial differentiation problem caused by Crown Prince's controlling in the late years of Emperor Taiwu. She took the lessons from the experience of storming among Confucianism, Buddhism and other non-Tuoba local cultures from Daowu to Taiwu and decisively gave the order to revive Buddhism to maintain the imperial power, which established the political and cultural patterns of "the Dominant Confucianism, supplemented by Buddhism and Taoism". Chang's, Zhao Empress, is a crucial figure who helped the Northern Wei Dynasty to promote the transition from Military-Power period into Political-Power period of.Feng's, Empress Wenming, had no heirs, but she followed the example of Chang's and raised Xiaowen, the Imperial grandson and Crown Prince. The investment of female parental love (generalized) maintained and expanded her political power as empress dowager. After she took the power, she continued her husband's will, spread Buddhism and dealt with Buddhist events using political skills. She pacificated the Shamenxiu rebellion, which connected with the change of bureaucratic structure and historic problems of Pingqin people. She also made Sengxian the Shamentong, which was involved with the struggle for power between the Emperor and the Empress, and the change of Pingcheng Buddhist culture. Wenming, the Queen Mother, took the Buddhist events as an opportunity to adjust the allocation of the power structure and advance the reform process of the Northern Wei.Hu's, Empress Ling, gave birth to a prince, to solve the urgent problem of royal descent, which is the largest capital that helped her board the Northern Wei political arena. In the struggle of the imperial clan and the powerful minister, by the pacification of the Mahayana rebellion, as the imperial spokesman she won luckily, in the contention with Gao's, Emperor Xuanwu's first wife Queen, she murdered Gao's, buried her as a nun, and deprived her Queen's Title. Thus she established her legal status of Emperor's first wife Queen. After she took the power, Hu's pursued the national policy of "Dominant Buddhism and undervalued Confucianism", which is especially shown in her dumping the national financial resources to build things Yongning Temple in disregard of the opposition. Her enthusiasm for Buddhism reversed early Northern Wei's "the Dominant Confucianism, supplemented by Buddhism and Taoism" political and cultural structure, established by Chang's, Empress Zhao, eventually leading to the Northern Wei's collapse in Buddhist blessing for merit.In Chinese history, although the household Regent has appeared since the Han Dynasty until the late Qing Dynasty, which is not an accidental phenomenon, it is very rare that household Regents controlled the political arena one after another and affect the political field continually like Northern Wei. The phenomenon of active household Regents is closely related to the background of social unrest, ethnic integration, and cultural exchanges of that period. This social phenomenon generated by the agitation of the two heterogeneous cultures seems particularly prominent. namely the interaction of gender, politics and Buddhism rendered by the intercourse of household regents of minorities and exotic Buddhist culture. The "gender" "belief", "power" perspective of the relationship of household politics and Buddhism is a new path to explore the Northern Wei history.The household politics and Buddhist studies involve a variety of disciplines. In addition to women's history, political history and the history of Buddhism, the perspective of art history is also a perspective to probe into this topic. The picture of the emperor and the empress kneeling in front of the Buddha that were found in the imperial cave of the late Northern Wei Dynasty reflected the real scene. We can connect the picture with the room of the cave and get some knowledge of the scenes of the emperor and the empress coming out the palace and kneeling in front of the Buddha. At the same time, the strict hierarchy in the picture showed the penetration of Confucian Etiquette into Buddhism. The emperor and the empress kneeling in front of the Buddha at the same time is the image evidence that can reveal the relationship between Gender Politics and Buddhism.