Regency of Empress Dowager Liu

Timeline

1. 1022Imperial palace of Dongjing Kaifeng Prefecture · KaifengZhenzong's edict ordered the crown prince to ascend the throne, honored Consort Liu as empress dowager, and granted her provisional authority over major military and state affairs. Chancellor Ding Wei pressed to delete the word 'provisional' to concentrate power; Wang Zeng insisted on keeping it, and the system of provisional authority was finally settled, providing a legal basis for Empress Dowager Liu's rule.
2. 1022–1023Chuihong Hall, Dongjing Kaifeng Prefecture · KaifengEmpress Dowager Liu saw through Ding Wei's abuse of power and, together with Wang Zeng and others, had him dismissed and exiled. After Ding Wei's departure, she and the young Emperor Zhenzong jointly held court in the hall, formally deciding affairs behind a screen and opening an eleven-year period of female regency.
3. 1023–1033Dongjing Kaifeng Prefecture · KaifengDuring her regency, Empress Dowager Liu reformed the bureaucracy, repaired rivers and provided disaster relief, approved the establishment of a jiaozi bureau in Yizhou to issue official jiaozi, and improved the imperial examination and prefectural school systems. She died in March of Mingdao 2 (1033), ordering power returned to Renzong; the twenty-three-year-old emperor began to handle affairs personally, ending Northern Song female rule.