Born in a government official’s family, Zhangsun was well educated at home in her childhood. She studied the classics and knew the rules of propriety. At the age of thirteen, she married Li Shimin. When Li Shimin mounted the throne and became Emperor Taizong, he set her up as empress. She showed respect for Wei Zheng for his recommendation about Princess Changle’s marriage. She succeeded in persuading Emperor Taizong to restore Fang Xuanling to his original post, who had been dismissed for a light slip. Well versed in writing, Empress Zhangsun wrote a thirty-volume book “Rules for Women”, which summed up women’s successes and failures in history. Emperor Taizong gave high acclaim to this book and regarded it as models for later generations after reading it. In the tenth year of Zhengguan, Empress Zhangsun died of illness. Feeling very sad, Emperor Taizong said to his ministers: “I’ve lost a worthy assistant!” After her death, Zhangsun was conferred the title of “Empress of Learning, Virtue and Complaisance.”