Question

How did the roles of women compare to the roles of men during the Tang and song dynstys in China?

Answer 1

 Most women would expect to marry, raise a family and run a household. Spinning and weaving were activities that many women engaged in, textile production has generally been one of the main areas of employment for women. Peasant women would expect to do things like caring for livestock, working in the fields etc. 

Upper class women could attain positions of influence as wives or concubines of powerful men. For example, the emperior Xuanzong was increasingly influenced by concubine consorts. In the early 740s he became infatuated with one of his sons' wives, Yang Guifei, and she, eavling her husband, entered the palace as a Daoist priestess. Hailing from a Sichuan family renowned for its beauties, Yang was witty and accomplished, sharing the emperor's love of music and dance. The 60--year-old Xuanzong was soon completely under her sway. 

The most famous powerful woman of the Tang dyansty is the empress Wu Zetian, who began her career as a royal concubine of Emperor T'ai Tsung, and later was the favourite of his son Kao Tsung, finally being named Empress. She used her position to ruthlessly eliminate rivals and poltical enemies, and consolidate her power. She was the virtaul ruler of China for 32 years, ruling in the name of the sickly emperor Kao Tsung. 

There were some notable women poets in the period. The courtgesan Xue Tao was a scholar and poet whose fame survived far past her own time. About 450 of her poems were extand until the 1300s. About 90 poems are known today. Yu Xuanji was a Taoist adpet and teacher who wrote poetry as part of the literary circle of her time.  

Upper class women like upper class men, enjoyed horse riding. There are many statues from the period of women riding horses, often at full gallop. Women also seem to have played polo as well, and hunted.