But is the empress unfairly maligned? Seen from this perspective, Wu did in fact fulfill the fundamental duties of a ruler of imperial China; Confucian philosophy held that, while an emperor should not be condemned for acts that would be crimes in a subject, he could be judged harshly for allowing the state to fall into anarchy. Thank you! The term Confucianism is derived from Confucius, the convention. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. (He would camp out in the palace grounds, Clements notes, barbecuing sheep.) Cheng-qian was banished for attempted revolt, while a dissolute brother who had agreed to take part in the rebellionso long, Clements adds, as he was permitted sexual access to every musician and dancer in the palace, male or femalewas invited to commit suicide, and another of Taizongs sons was disgraced for his involvement in a different plot. The remaining Li-Tang family who survived the murders, including Wu Zetian's own son on whose behalf she was serving as empress dowager, begged to take the surname of Wu to replace their birth surnames of Li. Empress Wu is the only female to have ever ruled in her own name in China. First emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Quin Shi Huang-di (259 B.C.-210 B.C.) While Confucian historians condemned her usurpation, extravagance, and scandal, Wu Zhao has been credited for providing strong leadership and ruling during an age of relative peace and prosperity. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. In 705, Wu Zetian's grandson, the later Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712756), slaughtered the Zhang brothers in spite of Wu Zetian's protest and forced her to return the Li-Tang imperial family to power. Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. The famed imperial mosaics in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna depict the sixth-century Byzantine empress. When Gaozong suffered a stroke in 660, the empress made herself the ruler. The reversal of gender roles was nowhere more objectionable than Wu Zetian's sexuality, in the eyes of the traditional historians. Wu Zhao: Ruler of Tang Dynasty China - Association for Asian Studies After this event Wu became Empress and shared Imperial power equally with her emperor. The historians always portray Wu as ruthless, conniving, scheming, and bloodthirsty, and she may have been all of these things, she may have even murdered her daughter to gain the throne, but any of these claims should only be accepted after considering their source. She replaced Zhongzong with her second son, who became Emperor Ruizong. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating womens intellectual development and sexual freedom. Web. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. 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. Han Emperor Wen, r. 180-157 BCE . However, despite establishing an autocratic and centralised state, Emperor Wu adopted the principles of Confucianism as the state philosophy and code of ethics for his empire and started a school to teach future administrators the Confucian classics. Her mother ne Yang was of aristocratic birth with mixed Chinese and Turkic blood, the result of generations of intermarriage when five nomadic tribes overran north China and founded dynasties in the 4th to 6th centuries. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) When her mother was distressed about losing her to an uncertain life fraught with intrigues in the emperor's harem, she firmly reassured her: "Isn't it a fortune to attend the emperor! Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! She was the daughter of a minor general called Duke Ding of Ying, and came to the palace as a concubine in about 636an honor that suggests that she was very beautiful, since, as Jonathan Clements remarks, admission to the ranks of palace concubines was equivalent to winning a beauty contest of the most gorgeous women in the medieval world. But mere beauty was not sufficient to elevate the poorly connected teenage Wu past the fifth rank of palace women, a menial position whose duties were those of a maid, not a temptress. She also dealt ruthlessly with a succession of rivals, promoted members of her own family to high office, succumbed repeatedly to favoritism, and, in her old age, maintained what amounted to a harem of virile young men. Emperor Wu of Han - Wikipedia New Capital. According to Anderson, servants. The China that Wu Zetian was born in was the Tang Dynasty (618906), a strong and unified empire after four centuries of political discord and foreign interaction. One explanation for Wus success is that she listened. "Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu," in Denis Twitchett, ed. In 674 CE, Gaozong took the title Tian Huang (Emperor of Heaven) and Wu changed her own to Tian Hou (Empress of Heaven). The story of Wu's murder of her daughter and the framing of Lady Wang to gain power is the most infamous and most often repeated incident of her life but actually there is no way of knowing if it happened as the historians recorded it. Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. Changing the dynasty was the easier task and was accomplished by securing the approval of the Confucian establishment. To enhance her position as a woman, in 688 she constructed a "hall of light" in the eastern capital of Luoyang to serve as a cosmic magnet to symbolize the harmony of heaven and earth and the balance of male (yang) and female (yin) forces. But in 705, when she was 81 years old, the combined forces of the Li-Tang family took advantage of her weakening grip on the state and removed her from power. 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. Ancient China: Empress Wu Zetian Biography - Ducksters When she died, she was laid to rest in an elaborate tomb in the countryside about 50 miles north of the then capital, Xian. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984. She was also able to re-open the Silk Road, which had been closed because of the plague of 682 CE and later raids by nomads. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. They came to power, mostly, by default or stealth; a king had no sons, or an intelligent queen usurped the powers of her useless husband. Empress Wu (Zhaolie) - Wikipedia How Did Empress Wu Influence The Tang Dynasty Essay Controversial ruler of Tang China who dominated Chinese politics for half a century, first as empress, then as empress-dowager, and finally as emperor of the Zhou Dynasty (690705) that she founded . There must also be some doubt as to whether Wu really was guilty of some of the most monstrous crimes that history has charged her with. However they rose, though, it has always been harder for a woman to rule effectively than it was for a manmore so in the earlier periods of history, when monarchs were first and foremost military leaders, and power was often seized by force. Traders from the Mediterranean and Persia also came from both the overland and maritime trade routes, where Buddhism and Central Asian culture, dress, and music reached China. Wu Zetian. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. The Fall of Kaifeng [ edit] In 1126, Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son, Emperor Qinzong, the elder brother of Gaozong. Recent revisionist reappraisals have focused on the feminist slant of her rule and her record as an emperor rather than a woman, but no new primary sources have appeared to resolve conflicting information and gaps in her biography. C.P. Wu Zhao listened to her minister and considered his argument and then, Rothschild writes, "Wu Zhao, with no intention whatsoever of 'leading the quiet life of a widow', rejected this interpretation and promptly exiled the man to the swampy, disease-ridden, Southland" (109). During her Tang Dynasty reign, the practice of Chinese Buddhism is known to have reached its height and influence. Barrett. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007; Dora Shu-Fang Dien, Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China. Missions from Japan, Korea, and Vietnam arrived at Xi'an bearing tribute and seeking education in Buddhism and Confucianism. Empress Wu is one of the most controversial leaders in Chinese history for her method of rule and the means she likely used to rise to power. The practice of an emperor having young women as concubines was customary but when an empress decided to entertain herself with young men it was suddenly scandalous. https://www.worldhistory.org/Wu_Zetian/. Chapter 2 SOURCES FOR THE LIFE AND CAREER OF WU TSE-T'IEN The chief primary sources for the life of the Empress Wu are her annals in the two dynastic histories of the T'ang, her biography in the New T'ang History, and the numerous references to her in Ssu-ma Kuang's Comprehensive Mirror.^ In some of the large official compilations of later ages, Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Guisso says, that empowered informers of any social class to travel at public expense. She also maintained an efficient secret police and instituted a reign of terror among the imperial bureaucracy. Cold, ruthless, and ambitious, the Han dynasty dowager murdered her rival,. Your Privacy Rights For example, at the statues eye opening ceremony which dedicated the monument, the ruler was ritualistically seen to have been given the right to rule through the divine mandate of the Buddha icon. Encyclopedia.com. Mary Anderson. Wu's rise to power was ruthless and her reign no less so, as she continued to eliminate rivals and opponents using tactics that were sometimes brutal. Though Wu was unusually well-read and self-willed for a mere concubine, she had only one real advantage over her higher-ranked rivals: Her duties included changing the imperial sheets, which potentially gave her bedroom access to Taizong. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Please support World History Encyclopedia. Palace ladies of the Tang dynasty, from a contemporary wall painting in an imperial tomb in Shaanxi. Even today, Wu remains infamous for the spectacularly ruthless way in which she supposedly disposed of Gaozongs first wife, the empress Wang, and a senior and more favored consort known as the Pure Concubine. Two brothers, known as the Zhang Brothers, were her favorites and she spent most of her time in closed quarters with them. Vol. One critic, the poet Luo Binwang, portrayed Wu as little short of an enchantressAll fell before her moth brows. These criteria no doubt favored the aristocratic families. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Yet it was this series of events that cleared the way for Gaozongs, and hence Wus, accession. 6, no. Chu Hsi (1130-1200) was one of the greatest Chinese scholars and philosophers. ." The poet Luo Binwangone of the Four Greats of Early Tang and best known for his Ode to the Gooselaunched a virulent attack on the empress. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1989, pp. Empress Dowager. Agricultural production under Wu's reign increased to an all-time high. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) Mutsuhito (also known as Meiji Tenno; 1852-1912) was a Japanese emperor, who became the symbol for, and encouraged, the dramatic, Quin Shi Huang-Di Lady Wu played the role of the shy, respectable emperor's wife well in public but, behind the scenes, she was the actual power. On the question of succession after her death, Wu Zetian entertained notions of an heir from a Wu and Li marriage. "Empress Wu Zetian." Although she gave political clout to some women, such as her capable secretary, she did not go as far as challenging the Confucian tradition of excluding women from participating in the civil service examinations. She had the mountain named Mount Felicity and claimed it had risen to honor her and her reign. Empresas ICA Sociedad Controladora, S.A. de C.V. Empresa Brasileira de Aeronutica S.A. (Embraer), Emporia State University: Narrative Description, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/empress-wu-wu-zhao. This is very similar to the story of the Empress Lu Zhi (l. 241-180 BCE) of the Han Dynasty who got rid of her rival Qizi in the same way (although Qizi was drowned in a pigsty and had her eyes gouged out as well). The most spectacular are the stone temples and statues chiseled into grottoes at Longmen, near her capital. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. Neither of these boys was a threat to Lady Wang or Lady Xiao because Gaozong had already chosen a successor; his chancellor Liu Shi was Lady Wang's uncle, and Gaozong appointed Liu Shi's son, Li Zhong, as heir. Picking through the bias to try to get to the real story is always fascinating and - in my mind - fun. 145154. The insurrections had received little popular support and in the years that she dominated politics as empress, empress dowager, and finally as emperor, there were no widespread military unrests. Name variations: Wu Ze-tian; Wu Chao, Wu Hou, or Wu Zhao; Wu Mei or Wu Meiliang; Wu Tse-t'ien, Wo Tsetien, or Wu Tso Tien; Wu of Hwang Ho or Huang He; Empress Wu, Lady Wu. Wu Zhao embarked on religious life as a nun in a convent after Li Shimins death in 649. After suppressing this revolt, the empress dowager began to purge her opponents at court. Creating overpowering statues, like the one at Longmen, was important. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Mark, Emily. The earliest sources on Wu Zetian already contained rumors of sex scandals in her court. Zhou Dynasty. Wu (she is always known by her surname) has every claim to be considered a great empress. History 100 Flashcards | Quizlet Hong Kong: Cosmos, 1994. 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. Although Carlton's observation is accurate, the box also did provide Wu with a number of ideas for reform which came directly from the people, not government officials who would have profited from them, and which Wu implemented efficiently. 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). 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. Historians have documented Wu Zetian's resort to slander, torture, and murders to reinforce the propaganda of omens. (Issued by the Empress Dowager Cixi, 1835-1908) The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. Among a raft of other allegations are the suggestions that she ordered the suicides of a grandson and granddaughter who had dared to criticize her and later poisoned her husband, whovery unusually for a Chinese emperordied unobserved and alone, even though tradition held that the entire family should assemble around the imperial death bed to attest to any last words. When Taizong died, Gaozong became emperor, and Wu Zetian joined a Buddhist nunnery, as required of concubines of deceased emperors. Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Carved in limestone, the colossal statue is reputed to have been carved in Wus own likeness. Last modified February 22, 2016. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Last modified March 17, 2016. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, "Wu Zetian (624705) The empress even promoted what might loosely be termed womens rights, publishing (albeit as part of her own legitimation campaign)Biographies of Famous Women and requiring children to mourn both parents, rather than merely their father, as had been the practice hitherto. Wu decreed that the workmen sculpt the face of the largest of these statues to resemble her and also persuaded the monks of the sanctuary at Luoyang to forge the Big Cloud Book to substantiate her claim as Maitreya. 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. Reign of Terror. 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. Empress Theodora, rhetoric, and Byzantine primary sources Examination System. Wu Zetian came to the throne when she was 67, making her the oldest person ever be crowned. Replacing the dynasty and imperial house through Confucian ideology still could not legitimize a woman on the throne. These characters were supposed to replace between 10 and 30 of the older characters and were Wu's attempt to change the way her people thought and wrote. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. But already in 666 when Wu Zetian was empress to the reigning Gaozong, she had prepared for her imperial ambitions by defying tradition and mockery as she led the unprecedented procession of imperial ladies to sacrifice to earth, believed to be a female deity. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Her reign was peaceful and prosperous; she introduced the meritocratic system of entrance examinations for the imperial bureaucracy that survived into the 20th century, avoided wars and welcomed ambassadors from as far away as the Byzantine Empire. Mike Dash Still, this did not mean the women were not jealous of the favor the emperor showed Wu now that she had given birth to two sons in a row. Born: February 17, 624 Lizhou, China Died: December 16, 705 in Luoyang, China Reign: October 16, 690 to February 22, 705 Best known for: The only woman to be Emperor of China Biography: Empress Wu Zetian by Unknown [Public Domain] Growing Up Wu Zetian was born on February 17, 624 in Lizhou, China. From 697 onward she found it so diffi-cult to win support that she attempted to return the throne to her son Zhongzong. "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Her spy network and secret police stopped rebellions before they had a chance to start and the military campaigns she sent out enlarged and secured the borders of the country. 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 652 CE, Wu gave birth to a son, Li Hong, and in 653 CE had another son, Li Xian. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. When she was an infant dressed in boy's clothes, Wu Zetian's potential for emperorship was predicted by an official. Paul, Diana Y. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) Taizong forced the abdication of his own father and disposed of two older brothers in hand-to-hand combat before seizing the throne. Historical Significance: Empress Wu was very significant in the Tang Dynasty. She then began to plot against Gaozongs consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wus infant daughter. One of the brothers, she declared, had a face as beautiful as a lotus flower, while it is said she valued the other for his talents in the bedchamber. . The empress responded with both diplomacy and force, concluding a marriage alliance with the Turks and defeating the Qidan in battle. Image taken from An 18th-century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. 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. The story of Wu's murder of her daughter and the framing of Lady Wang to gain power is the most infamous and most often repeated incident of her life but actually there is no way of knowing if it happened as the historians recorded it. ." Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. 04 Mar 2023. Her reign witnessed a healthy growth in the population; when she died in 705 her centralized bureaucracy regulated the social life and economic well-being of the 60 million people in the empire. She later volunteered to tame Taizong's wild horse with an iron whip, hammer, and knife. emperor angelfish (Pomecanthus imperator) See CHAETODONTIDAE. Even her gravesite is remarkable. had been organized in a systematic way by the year 669. The Tang empire in 700, at the end of Wus reign. Although this system opened government positions to a wider group than ever before, in the final stages of the process candidates continued to be judged on their appearance and speech. License. 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. However, when Li Zhi became emperor and took the name Gaozong, one of the first things he did was send for Wu and have her brought back to court as the first of his concubines, even though he had others and also a wife. Meanwhile, the Turks invaded Gansu, and the Tibetans posed a threat to Chinese possessions in Central Asia. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1994, pp. Although these characters were removed after her reign they still exist as a Chinese dialect in written form. The emperor believed her story, and Wang was demoted and imprisoned in a distant part of the palace, soon to be joined by the Pure Concubine. On the Korean peninsula Empress Wu supported the unification movement under the state of Silla. These monumental statues, like the one carved into the mountain at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, which was destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, alerted the populous to the dominance of Buddhism. Download Full Size Image. 3, no. The military exams were intended to measure intelligence and decision making and candidates were personally interviewed instead of just being appointed because of family connections or their family's name. Encyclopedia.com. While serving as his concubine, she risked a death penalty in engaging in an incestuous affair with the crown prince and her stepson, the later Emperor Gaozong (r. 649683). Attaining that position first required Wu to engineer her escape from a nunnery after Taizongs deaththe concubines of all deceased emperors customarily had their heads shaved and were immured in convents for the rest of their lives, since it would have been an insult to the dead ruler had any other man sullied themand to return to the palace under Gaozongs protection before entrancing the new emperor, removing empress Wang and the Pure Concubine, promoting members of her own family to positions of power, and eventually establishing herself as fully her husbands equal. Having been raised by her father to believe she was the equal of men, Wu saw no reason why women could not carry out the same practices and hold the same positions men could. Although modern historians, both east and west, have revised the ancient depiction of Wu Zetian as a scheming usurper, that view of her reign still persists in much that is written about her. She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. Under the administration of Empress Wu, Tang territory expanded through constant fighting with other peoples, particularly the Tibetans. 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. Appears In World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. But if she is observed in the context of the sexuality of male rulers, then the number of her favorites is insignificant. 181. She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective and controversial monarchs in China's history. In 683 CE, when Wu began manipulating events as a man would, one Confucian scholar wrote that nature had been reversed by the 'usurping woman' and "throughout the empire in every prefecture hens changed into roosters, or half changed" (Rothschild, 108). She installed a series of copper boxes in the capital in which citizens could post anonymous denunciations of one another, and passed legislation, R.W.L. Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. Wu Zetian Biography, Facts & Quotes | Who was Empress Wu? | Study.com How did a woman with such limited expectations as Wu emerge triumphant in the cutthroat world of the Tang court? Her Buddhist supporters interpreted the Madamegha (Great Cloud) sutra to predict a maitreya Buddha (Buddha-to-come) in female form, presumably Wu Zetian herself, who would embody the concept of the cakravartin (wheel-turner, universal emperor, or the ideal man who is king). 242289. and to pray for permanent world peace. Mark, Emily. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. Mutsuhito For centuries she was excoriated by Chinese historians as an offender against a way of life. The Confucian dynastic system of government, based on the mandate of heaven, or the claim of heaven-sanctioned military conquest and benevolent rule, was first propounded by the Zhou Dynasty in 1045 bce and perpetuated by subsequent dynasties until 1911. She maintained a stable economy and a moderate taxation for the peasantry. Historian Kelly Carlton writes: Wu had a petition box made, which originally contained four slots: one for men to recommend themselves as officials; one where citizens might openly and anonymously criticize court decisions; one to report the supernatural, strange omens, and secret plots, and one to file accusations and grievances. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. This opposition was formidable; the annals of the period contain numerous examples of criticisms leveled by civil servants mortified by the empresss innovations. Wu Zetian died within a year. The baby was strangled in her crib and Wu claimed that Lady Wang had killed her because she was jealous. First, I'll beat it with the iron whip. False: In fact, the Roman Empire was in decline at this time. Cookie Policy The woman who believed she was as capable as any man to lead the country continues to be vilified, even if writers now qualify their criticisms, but there is no arguing with the fact that, under Wu Zetian, China experienced an affluence and stability it had never known before. Encyclopedia.com. Mutsuhito Why should you weep for me?" As we know, the truth is somewhere in the middle. She was painted as a usurper who was both physically cruel and erotically wanton; she first came to prominence, it was hinted, because she was willing to gratify certain ofthe Taizong emperors more unusual sexual appetites. Anyone she suspected of disloyalty, for any reason, was banished or executed. With a heart like a serpent and a nature like that of a wolf, one contemporary summed up, she favored evil sycophants and destroyed good and loyal officials. A small sampling of the empresss other crimes followed: She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother. In her seventies, Wu showered special favor on two smooth-cheeked brothers, the Zhang brothers, former boy singers, the nature of whose private relationship with their imperial mistress has never been precisely determined.
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