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Hall of Chinese Emperors & Sages
Wu Zetian
Only woman to rule China as emperor (690–705)
- 624 – 705 CE
- Chinese Emperors & Sages · 5 of 10
Hall of Chinese Emperors & Sages
Only woman to rule China as emperor (690–705)
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Emperor Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705 AD), personal name Wu Zhao, was the only undisputed female sovereign in the history of China. She had previously held power as the empress consort of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang dynasty from 660 to 683 and as empress dowager during the reigns of her sons, Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, between 683 and 690. She was the sole ruler of the self-styled Zhou dynasty from 690 to 705.
In her early life, Wu served as a concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor, Emperor Gaozong, becoming empress in 655. Wu exercised substantial political influence even before her elevation and gradually came to dominate court affairs. After Gaozong suffered a debilitating stroke in 660, she effectively administered the empire on his behalf until his death in 683. Breaking with precedent, Wu then consolidated power and prevented her sons from ruling. In 690, she proclaimed the Zhou dynasty in place of the Tang and crowned herself emperor.
During her 45-year de facto rule over China, Wu institutionalized the use of informants and enforced stringent legal measures, purged members of the Tang royal house and veteran officials from earlier administrations, reformed the civil service system to promote merit, patronized Buddhism as well as literature and the arts, and conducted military campaigns against Turkic and Tibetan incursions. Her rule formed part of the High Tang period, a historic peak in China's political power and cultural influence. In her later years, her governance became increasingly autocratic and extravagant. She was removed from power in the Shenlong Coup, which abolished the Zhou dynasty and restored the Tang, and she died a few months later.
In Chinese history and literature, Wu Zetian (Mandarin pronunciation: [ù tsɤ̌.tʰjɛ́n]) was known by various names and titles. Mention of her in the English language has only increased their number. A difficulty in English translations is that they tend to specify gender (as in the case of "emperor" versus "empress" or "prince" versus "princess"), whereas, in Classical Chinese, words such as hou (后, "sovereign", "prince", "queen") or huangdi (皇帝, "imperial supreme ruler", "royal deity") are of grammatically indeterminate gender.
In Wu's time, women's birth names were rarely recorded. She changed her name to Wu Zhao after rising to power, often written as 武曌 (曌 has also been written as 瞾 on occasion, and both are derivatives of 照, which may be her original name, with 瞾 being one of the characters invented by Wu). Wu was her patronymic surname, which she retained, according to traditional Chinese practice, after marriage to Gaozong, of the Li family. Emperor Taizong gave her the art name Wu Mei (武媚), meaning "glamorous". Thus, Chinese people often refer to her as Wu Mei or Wu Meiniang (武媚娘) when they write about her youth, as Wu Hou (武后) when referring to her as empress consort and empress dowager, and as Wu Zetian (武則天) as her posthumous title, given only after her death.
Because her family name, Wu (武), is a homophone for the second character in 'parrot' (鹦鹉), there are many stories and jokes that make use of imagery of a parrot to communicate about Wu and her clan. In particular, Emperor Gaozong's family name, Li (李), is a homophone with a type of cat 狸貓 (raccoon) – so a story circulated about a cat eating a parrot at court.
During her life, and posthumously, Wu was awarded various official titles. Both hou (后) and huangdi (皇帝) are titles (modifications, or added characters to hou are of lesser importance). Born Wu Zhao, she is not properly known as "Wu Hou" (Empress Wu) until receiving this title in 655, nor is she properly known as "Wu Zetian", her regnal name, until 690, when she took the title huangdi.
Legend:
Various Chinese titles have been translated into English as "empress", including "empress" in both the sense of empress consort and empress regnant. Generally, the monarch was male and his chief spouse was given a title such as huanghou (皇后), often translated as "empress" or more specifically "empress consort". Upon the emperor's death, the surviving empress consort could become empress dowager, sometimes wielding considerable political power as regent during the minority of the (male) heir to the position of emperor.
Since the time of Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC), the Emperor of China using the title huangdi (皇帝, translated as "emperor" or "empress (regnant)" as appropriate), Wu was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title huangdi. Her tenure as de facto ruler of China and official regent of the Tang dynasty (first through her husband and then through her sons, from 665 to 690) was not without precedent in Chinese history, but she broke precedent when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou (周) (interrupting the Tang dynasty), ruling personally under the name Sacred and Divine Huangdi (聖神皇帝), and variations thereof, from 690 to 705.
Wu Zetian and Empress Dowager Liu of the Song dynasty are said to be the only women in Chinese history to have worn a yellow robe, ordinarily reserved for the emperor's sole use, as a monarch or co-ruler in their own right.
The Wu family clan originated in Wenshui County, Bingzhou (an ancient name of the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi). Wu Zetian's birthplace is not documented in preserved historical literature and remains disputed. Some scholars argue that Wu was born in Wenshui, some that it was Lizhou (利州) (modern-day Guangyuan, Sichuan), while others insist she was born in the imperial capital of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an).
Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Tang. In the same year, a total eclipse of the sun was visible across China. Her father, Wu Shiyue, worked in the timber business and the family was relatively well-off. Her mother was from the powerful Yang family, distant relatives of the imperial family of the Sui dynasty. During the final years of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan, the future Emperor Gaozu of Tang, stayed in the Wu household many times and became close to the Wu family while holding appointments in both Hedong and Taiyuan. After Li Yuan overthrew Emperor Yang, he was generous to the Wu family, giving them grain, land, clothing and wealth. Once the Tang dynasty was established, Wu Shihou held a succession of senior ministerial posts, including the governorship of Yangzhou, Lizhou, and Jingzhou (荊州) (modern-day Jiangling County, Hubei).
Wu was encouraged by her parents to read books and pursue her education, an uncommon situation for the women at the time. She read and learned about many topics, such as music, calligraphy, literature, history, politics, and other governmental affairs. At age 14, she was taken to be an imperial concubine (lesser wife) of Emperor Taizong of Tang. At Emperor Taizong's palace, Wu took on a secretarial role. This opportunity allowed her to continue to pursue her education. She was given the title of cairen (才人), the title for one of the consorts with the 5th rank in Tang's nine-rank system for imperial officials, nobles, and consorts. When she was summoned to the palace, her mother, the Lady Yang, wept bitterly when saying farewell to her, but she responded, "How do you know that it is not my fortune to meet the Son of Heaven?" Lady Yang reportedly then understood her ambitions, and therefore stopped crying.
But Consort Wu did not appear to be much favored by Emperor Taizong, though it appears that she did have sexual relations with him at one point. According to her own account (given in a rebuke of Chancellor Ji Xu during her reign), she once impressed Taizong with her fortitude:
Emperor Taizong had a horse with the name "Lion Stallion", and it was so large and strong that no one could get on its back. I was a lady in waiting attending Emperor Taizong, and I suggested to him, "I only need three things to subordinate it: an iron whip, an iron hammer, and a sharp dagger. I will whip it with the iron whip. If it does not submit, I will hammer its head with the iron hammer. If it still does not submit, I will cut its throat with the dagger." Emperor Taizong praised my bravery. Do you really believe that you are qualified to dirty my dagger?
When Taizong died in 649, his youngest son, Li Zhi, whose mother was the main wife Wende, succeeded him as Emperor Gaozong. Li Zhi had had an affair with Wu when Taizong was still alive.
Taizong had 14 sons, including three by his beloved Empress Zhangsun (601–636), but none with Consort Wu. Thus, according to the custom by which consorts of deceased emperors who had not produced children were permanently confined to a monastic institution after the emperor's death, Wu was consigned to Ganye Temple (感業寺) with the expectation that she would serve as a Buddhist nun there for the remainder of her life. After Taizong's death, Gaozong met her at the death anniversary of Taizong when he was offering incense. At the time, Consort Xiao and Empress Wang were fighting for the favour of Gaozong, and Wang asked Gaozong to bring Wu back into the palace, hoping to divert Gaozong's attention. Gaozong agreed and gave Wu the title Lady of Bright Deportment (昭儀). Soon, Gaozong became enamored with Wu, and both Wang and Xiao lost favor.
By early 650, Consort Wu was a concubine of Emperor Gaozong, and she had the title Zhaoyi, the highest ranking concubine of the nine concubines in the second rank. Wu progressively gained immeasurable influence over the governance of the empire throughout Emperor Gaozong's reign. Over time, she came to control most major decisions made. She was regarded as ruthless in her endeavors to grab power, and was believed by traditional historians to have killed her own children. This was later proven false, as these rumors seem to have surfaced 400 years after her death. This was likely due to the belief in ancient China that a woman was not suited to hold the power of the emperor.
Gaozong became emperor at the age of 21. He was not the first choice, as he was inexperienced and frequently incapacitated with a sickness that caused him spells of dizziness. Gaozong was made heir to the empire only due to the disgrace of his two older brothers.
On or after the anniversary of Emperor Taizong's death, Gaozong went to Ganye Temple to offer incense to Buddha. When he and Consort Wu saw each other, they both wept. This was seen by Gaozong's wife, Empress Wang. At that time, Gaozong did not favor Wang. Instead, he favored his concubine Pure Consort Xiao. Furthermore, Wang had no children while Xiao had one son (Li Sujie) and two daughters (Princesses Yiyang and Xuancheng).
Wang, seeing that Gaozong was still impressed by Wu's beauty, hoped that the arrival of a new concubine would divert the emperor from Xiao. Therefore, she secretly told Wu to stop shaving her hair and later welcomed her to the palace. (Some modern historians dispute this traditional account. Some think that Wu never left the imperial palace and might have had an affair with Gaozong while Taizong was still alive.)
Wu soon overtook Xiao as Gaozong's favorite. In 652, she gave birth to her first child, a son named Li Hong. In 653, she gave birth to another son, Li Xián. Neither of these sons was in contention to be Gaozong's heir, because Gaozong, at the request of officials influenced by Wang and her uncle (the chancellor Liu Shi), had designated his eldest son Li Zhong as his heir. Li Zhong's mother, Consort Liu, was of lowly birth. Wang did this in order to receive Liu's gratitude.
By 654, both Wang and Xiao had lost favor with Gaozong, and these two former romantic rivals joined forces against Wu, but to no avail. For example, as a sign of his love for Wu, Gaozong conferred posthumous honors on her father, Wu Shiyue. In the same year, Wu gave birth to a daughter. But her daughter died shortly after birth, with evidence suggesting deliberate strangulation. The evidence include allegations made by Wu herself, and she accused Wang of murder. Wang was accused of having been seen near the child's room, with corroborating testimony by alleged eyewitnesses. Gaozong was led to believe that Wang, motivated by jealousy, had most likely killed the child. Wang lacked an alibi and was unable to clear her name.
Scientifically credible forensic pathology information about the death of Wu's daughter does not exist, and scholars lack concrete evidence about her death. However, scholars have many theories and speculations. Because traditional folklore tends to portray Wu as a power-hungry woman unconcerned about whom she hurt or what she did, Wu was often portrayed as killing her own child in order to accuse Wang, the details of the child's death becoming only more detailed in non-contemporary sources after Wu's death. Other schools of thought argue that Wang indeed killed the child out of jealousy and hatred of Wu. The third argument is that the child died of asphyxiation or crib death. The ventilation systems of the time were nonexistent or of poor quality, and the lack of ventilation combined with using coal as a heating method could have led to carbon monoxide poisoning. In any case, Wu blamed Wang for the girl's death, and as a result, tried to remove Wang from her position.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Wu Zetian”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.