Sharing and Preserving Traditional Chinese Watercolor Art

A digital experience brought to you by master artist Xiang Li and D-ID, a generative AI company

Speaking Portraits

Explore our speaking portraits created with Xiang Li’s watercolor paintings and D-ID generative AI.

Empresses by Dynasty

Learn more about different dynasties in China and the stories of these powerful women in history

Han Dynasty: 206 to 220

Modified and consolidated the foundation of the imperial order. Confucianism was established as orthodoxy and open civil service examinations were introduced. Han power reached Korea and Vietnam. Records of the Historian, which became the model for subsequent official histories, was completed.

Eastern Jin Dynasty: 266 to 420

The Jin dynasty or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the Sima Jin (司馬晉) or the Two Jins (兩晉), was a Chinese dynasty traditionally dated from 266 to 420 AD. It was founded by Sima Yan, eldest son of Sima Zhao, who was made the King of Jin and posthumously declared one of the founders of the dynasty, along with Sima Zhao’s elder brother Sima Shi and father Sima Yi. It followed the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD), which ended with the conquest of Eastern Wu, culminating in the reunification of China proper.

Wei Dynasty: 386 to 534/535

Wei dynasty, Chinese in full (Pinyin) Bei Wei or (Wade-Giles romanization) Pei Wei, English Northern Wei, also called Tabgatch or (Pinyin) Tuoba, (386–534/535 CE), the longest-lived and most powerful of the northern Chinese dynasties that existed before the reunification of China under the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Tang Dynasty: 618 to 907

A time of cosmopolitanism and cultural flowering occurred. This period was the height of Buddhist influence in China until its repression around 845. Active territorial expansion until defeated by the Arabs at Talas in 751.

Song Dynasty: 960 to 1279

Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279)

An era of significant economic and social changes: the monetization of the economy; growth in commerce and maritime trade; urban expansion and technological innovations. The examination system for bureaucratic recruitment of neo-Confucianism was to provide the intellectual underpinning for the political and social order of the late imperial period.

Yuan Dynasty: 1271 to 1368

Yuan dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Yüan, also called Mongol dynasty, dynasty established by Mongol nomads that ruled portions and eventually all of China from the early 13th century to 1368. Mongol suzerainty eventually also stretched throughout most of Asia and Eastern Europe, though the Yuan emperors were rarely able to exercise much control over their more distant possessions.

Explore the Chinese Empresses Collection

Shop Our Merch

Find art prints, wearable art, and more! Help preserve the stories of Chinese empresses, decorate a corner of your sacred space, and share a story with your friends and loved ones.

Merchandise

New merchandise to get you outside growing.

Our Mission

Art is love. Spread more love.

We believe art is love. Let’s make art accessible and enjoyable to more people.