Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Since candidates normally tried to win favor with an examiner prior to the tests, some could use their family connections to send samples of their verse in an effort to impress the men who held the keys to government positions. It is not likely Wu was involved in the disgrace of Taizongs unpleasant eldest son, Cheng-qian, whose teenage rebellion against his father had taken the form of the ostentatious embrace of life as lived by Mongol nomads. Zizhi tongjian [Comprehensive mirror as guide to history]. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. An active imagination produced pornographic novels in the 16th century focusing on her alleged sexual practices. Vol. After Wu's death, Zhongzong reigned but only in name; real power was held by Lady Wei who used Wu Zetian as a role model to manipulate her husband and the court. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. Pronunciation: Woo-jeh-ten. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. No-one knows what secrets it holds, for like many of the tombs of the most celebrated Chinese rulers, including that of the First Emperor himself, it has never been plundered or opened by archaeologists. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. Jiu Tangshu [Old history of the Tang]. Her reforms and policies lay the foundation for the success of Xuanzong as emperor under whose reign China became the most prosperous country in the world. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Two brothers, known as the Zhang Brothers, were her favorites and she spent most of her time in closed quarters with them. She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother, the chronicles say. During her Tang Dynasty reign, the practice of Chinese Buddhism is known to have reached its height and influence. 22 Feb. 2023 . She whispered slander from behind her sleeves, and swayed her master with vixen flirting and insisted that she was the arch manipulator of an unprecedented series of scandals that, over two reigns and many years, cleared her path to the throne. Encyclopedia.com. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007; Dora Shu-Fang Dien, Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China. Her supposed method, moreoveramputating her victims hands and feet and leaving them to drownsuspiciously resembles that adopted by her most notorious predecessor, the Han-era empress Lu Zhia woman portrayed by Chinese historians as the epitome of all that was evil. At the age of fourteen, she was selected as a palace maid to Gaozong, then a Prince, and his first spouse and primary consort Xing, who had recently married. It is the only known uncarved memorial tablet in more than 2,000 years of imperial history, its muteness chillingly reminiscent of the attempts made by Hatshepsuts successors toobliterate her namefrom the stone records of pharaonic Egypt. The term Confucianism is derived from Confucius, the convention. Wu eliminated all the bureaucracy by establishing a direct line of communication between herself and the people. World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. Sima, Guang. This was a common practice after the death of the emperor. Each dynasty was considered a new beginning and when Wu changed the name from Tang to Zhou she was following this tradition but went further to make it clear that she was the beginning of a completely new era by calling her reign Tianzhou ('granted by heaven'). When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Creating overpowering statues, like the one at Longmen, was important. In preparing for the legitimacy of her emperorship, she claimed the Zhou Dynasty (1045256 bce) and its founders among her own ancestors. During her reign she ordered the erection of temples in every province to explain the Dayunjingy which predicted the emergence of a female world ruler seven hundred years after the passing of the Buddha. The odds that a girl of this low rank would ever come to an emperors attention were slim. One of these served as her new personal name, Zhao, which articulates the fundamental Buddhist notion of universal emptiness. Buddhists Support. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) A brother or a clan grandson at times ascended the throne during usurpation or when the emperor died without issue, but female succession through descent from a daughter was never permitted. Any historian who has written on Lady Wu has followed the story set down by the later Chinese historians without question, but these historians had their own agenda which did not include praising a woman who presumed to rule like a man. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. Of all these female rulers, though, none has aroused so much controversy, or wielded such great power, as a monarch whose real achievements and characterremain obscured behind layers of obloquy. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca.1500 BC till 1644 AD. Omens were extremely important to the people of ancient China and played a significant role in Tang politics. Nevertheless, the legitimation was not without problems, and there was continued resistance from among the high officials who collaborated with the Li-Tang crown princes, princes, and princesses to get her dismissed as empress in 674 and dethroned as de facto ruler in 684, but both events failed. Patronage of Buddhism. Princess Taiping put an end to her plans when she had Wei and her family murdered and put her brother Ruizong on the throne. At the same time, another political faction formed around Wu's other son, Ruizong, who was supported by Wu's daughter, Taiping. Wills, John E., Jr. "Empress Wu," in Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. Lineage At a nunnery she established, Empress Komyo sponsored the creation of a statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon which, like Wu Zetians statue at Longmen, was felt to be done in her likeness. Justinian. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. Wu was given the privileged position of first concubine even though by law she should have been left in the temple as a nun. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. 145154. Empress Wu proved to be a wise monarch, and in her reign of twenty years she continued many policies and practices of her predecessors. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. Empress Wu Zetian ruled as Chinas only female emperor. Mary Anderson. Related Content Her experience reflected a reversal of the gender roles and restrictions her society and government constructed for her as appropriate to women. She was in very poor health anyway by this time and died a year later. "Wu Zetian." Born ne Wu (first name at birth not known) in 624 in Taiyuan, Shanxi province; died in 705 in Luoyang, Henan province; daughter of a high-ranking official, Wu Shihuo, and his aristocratic wife; married Emperor Taizong (r. 626649), in 640 (died 649); married Emperor Gaozong (r. 650683), in 654; children: (second marriage) Crown Prince Li Hong; Crown Prince Li Xian; Emperor Zhongzong; Emperor Ruizong; Princess Taiping ; another daughter (died in infancy). She first entered the imperial harem at the age of 13 as a lowly ranked concubine to Emperor Taizong (r. 626649), who has been praised as the most capable ruler of the Tang period and hailed as the "heavenly khan" by Central Asian states. She was the daughter of Wu Shihuo, a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty. Thus the Wu family was now elevated to the imperial house. Empress Wu rose to power through ruthless tactics to move her from the emperor's concubine, to the emperor's consort, and eventually to the position of empress of China. For Wu Zetian, the rise to power and consolidation involved manipulations, murders, and support of the intellectual and religious establishments. World History Encyclopedia. Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) Wu Zetian turned to the Buddhist establishment to rationalize her position. When she saw she would not be able to control the court as her mother did, she killed herself and Xuanzong decreed that no member of Wu's family would be allowed to hold public office because of their ruthless scheming and underhanded politics. After Mount Felicity appeared, and Wu claimed it as an omen favoring her, one of her ministers wrote: Your Majesty, a female ruler improperly has occupied a male position, which has inverted and altered the hard and soft, therefore the earth's emanations are obstructed and separated. Wu Zetian was one of the longest-lived monarchs (82 years old) in Chinese history. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. She did not ask any man's permission to lead these women to Mount Tai; she felt she knew what was best and did it. Web. Wuplayed here by Li Lihuawas depicted as powerful and sexually assertive in the Shaw Brothers 1963 Hong Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien. To entrench her biological family as the imperial house, she bestowed imperial honors to her ancestors through posthumous enthronement and constructed seven temples for imperial sacrifices. Paul, Diana Y. In defiance of convention Emperor Gaozong started an affair with her, and she bore him a son in 652. From 655, when she became the empress of Emperor GaoZong of Tang (son of Emperor TaiZong), until 683 . Wu placed her first son on the throne who took the royal title Zhongzong. But she changed the composition of the ruling class by removing the entrenched aristocrats from the court and gradually expanding the civil service examination to recruit men of merit to serve in the government. Wu also learned to play music, write poetry, and speak well in public. by Unknown. They are regarded as important by historians because they show how far Wu went in trying to create a new world in China under her reign: she even wanted to change the words they used. Wu was now raised to the position of first wife of Gaozong and empress of China. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) Wus memorial tablet, which stands near her tomb, was erected during her years as empress in the expectation that her successors would compose a magnificent epitaph for it. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, "Wu Zetian (624705) In the largest cave there is a statue called the Grand Vairocana Buddha. Unknown, . unified China in 221 B.C. Wu Zetian's SteleI, (GJGY.com) (CC BY-SA). Her daunting task was convincing the Confucian establishment about the legitimate succession of a woman who was the widow of the deceased emperor and the mother of the currently legitimate ruler. In death, as in life, then, Wu remains controversial. Van Gulik, Robert. The most serious charges against Wu are handily summarized in Mary Andersons collection of imperial scuttlebutt, Hidden Power, which reports that she wiped out twelve collateral branches of the Tang clan and had the heads of two rebellious princes hacked off and brought to her in her palace. Privacy Statement She carefully eliminated any potential enemies from the court and had Lady Wang and Lady Xiao killed after they had gone into exile. If Wu Zetian is judged by the traditional female virtues of chastity and modesty, then she falls short of expectations. How did a woman with such limited expectations as Wu emerge triumphant in the cutthroat world of the Tang court? . She herself would thus be seen as a restorationist of the Zhou Dynasty, with the Wu family replacing the Li-Tang family. World History Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. She did not hold that title but she was the power behind the office and took care of imperial business even when pregnant in 665 CE with her daughter Taiping. Under Wus rule the government was expanded, and many of the new positions were filled through the examination system. RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 0.1 percent World History Encyclopedia, 22 Feb 2016. "Empress Wu and the Historians: A Tyrant and Saint of Classical China," in Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross, eds., Unspoken Worlds: Religious Lives of Women. Changing the dynasty was the easier task and was accomplished by securing the approval of the Confucian establishment. As early as 660 CE, Wu had organized a secret police force and spies in the court and throughout the country. Historical Significance: Empress Wu was very significant in the Tang Dynasty. Wu also reformed the military by mandating military exams for commanders to show competency, which were patterned on her imperial exams given to civil service workers. The first thing she did was change the name of the state from Tang to Zhou (actually Tianzhou or Tiansou). ." Not until 705, when she was more than 80 years old, was Wu finally overthrown by yet another sonone whom she had banished years before. She ordered the executions of several hundred of these aristocrats and of many members of the imperial family of Li. Her success in the campaigns against Korea inspired confidence in her generals and Wu's decisions on military defense or expeditions were never challenged. All in all, Wus policies seem less scandalous to us than they did to contemporaries, and her reputation has improved considerably in recent decades. Wu Zetian established her dynasty - the Zhou dynasty. Even though many at court congratulated her on being favored by the gods, many others did not. Gaozong's wife, Lady Wang, and his former first concubine, Xiao Shufei, were jealous of each other but even more envious of the attention Gaozong paid to Wu. These historians claim that Wu ordered Lady Wang and Lady Xiao murdered in a terrible way: she had their hands and feet cut off and they were then thrown into a vat of wine to drown. disadvantages of food transportation. Cookie Settings, I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too., as we have already had cause to note in this blog, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars. Emperor Gaozong had nothing to do with either of these events, although his name would have been attached to the campaigns against Korea. Her usurpation marked a significant social revolution, the rise of a new class, which the empress tried to use in her struggle against the traditionalist, northwest nobility. Wu Zhao embarked on religious life as a nun in a convent after Li Shimins death in 649. It may be helpful to consider that there were in effect two empressesthe one who maintained a reign of terror over the innermost circle of government, and the one who ruled more benignly over 50 million Chinese commoners. Cite This Work After this event Wu became Empress and shared Imperial power equally with her emperor. No contemporary image of the empress exists. Yet it was this series of events that cleared the way for Gaozongs, and hence Wus, accession. emperor angelfish (Pomecanthus imperator) See CHAETODONTIDAE. Although Wu's account claims that Lady Wang murdered her daughter, later Chinese historians all agree that Wu was the murderer and she killed her child to frame Lady Wang. The cambridge history has a fascinating take on this period - the author of the chapter on Wu's reign keeps reminding the reader that the imperium was peaceful; the economy was booming; government was rational, efficient and effective; and a parade of highly qualified top officials presided. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. The scholar N. Henry Rothschild writes, "The message was clear: A woman in a position of paramount power was an abomination, an aberration of natural and human order" (108). This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Favoring the power base in the Northeast, the royal family finally moved to Luoyang in 683. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Consort Wu, Wu Hou, Wu Mei Niang, Mei-Niang, and Wu Zhao, l. 624-705 CE, r. 690-704 CE) was the only female emperor of Imperial China. 04 Mar 2023. (February 22, 2023). Vol. In sum, within the social and political context of her time, Wu Zetian was a leader who went beyond the traditional roles of submissive wife and home-bound mother to emerge as ruler, lawmaker, and head of state and society while her second husband, lovers, and sons were relegated to less powerful positions than traditionally expected. 181. These began in 666 with the death by poison of a teenage niece who had attracted Gaozongs admiring gaze, and continued in 674 with the suspicious demise of Wus able eldest son, crown prince Li Hong, and the discovery of several hundred suits of armor in the stables of a second son, who was promptly demoted to the rank of commoner on suspicion of treason.