Flourishing from the last quarter of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) to the first fifth of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), Li Qingzhao (1084–ca. 1155) was the most celebrated woman writer of imperial China, which produced thousands of talented women throughout its history of more than two millennia. She was especially accomplished in and renowned for writing the ci, or song lyrics, a major genre of classical Chinese poetry. The interests and achievements in collecting, preserving, and identifying ancient books and antiques shared between her and her husband, Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129), characterized their marriage, which has been considered the most eminent exemplar of companionate marriage, an ideal valued by both male and female Chinese literati. Although her individual collections were lost, some of her writings have been widely circulated to this very day. At least ten of them are still recited and quoted repeatedly by contemporary Chinese readers of varying educational backgrounds, including even those who can hardly be called literary enthusiasts.