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. In spite of all of her reforms and the prosperity she brought to the country, Wu was remembered mainly for her crimes against friends and family members - especially the murder of her daughter - and people did not think she was worthy of an inscription. unified China in 221 B.C. The Story Of Wu Zetian, China's First Female Emperor, The Demonization of Empress Wu by Mike Dash, The Karmic Retribution of Pei Huaigu by Kelly Carlton (University of Florida), Wu Zetian: China's One and Only Woman Emperor by Jim Down. 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. Her courtiers, however, hatched a plot and afterward forced her to abdicate in 705; she died later that year. So queens and empresses regnant were forced to rule like men, and yet roundly criticized when they did so. The three phases of the universe; These three phases were birth, existence, and destruction. Her patronage of Buddhism also expanded to other temples and sects, and much work was done on the cave temples at Longmen on her orders. When a mountain seemed to appear following the earthquake, this was also interpreted as nature itself revolting against the reign of Wu. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. The Chinese TV series Women of the Tang Dynasty (2013) featured the actress Hui Yinghong as Wu Zetian and was very popular, attesting to the continued interest in China's first and only female ruler. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Empress Wu proved to be a wise monarch, and in her reign of twenty years she continued many policies and practices of her predecessors. Books 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. In 605 the Qidan, who lived in Manchuria in the marginal areas between the open steppe and settled areas, invaded the Tang empire and gained a dramatic victory over Wus armies near the site of modern Beijing. Your Privacy Rights Wu Zetian is the only legitimatized Empress in Chinese history. The court followed Empress Wus example by creating an enormous statue of the Vairocana Buddha in gold and copper at the Todaiji monastery in Nara, Japans capital. Nationality/Culture Although the function of the concubine in China is almost always associated with sex, a woman in this position could have a number of non-sexual responsibilities, from daily tasks like taking care of the laundry to more specialized skills like conversation, poetry reading, and playing music. (3). Carved in limestone, the colossal statue is reputed to have been carved in Wus own likeness. When he fell out of favor, he burned the building to the ground. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Whether true or not, it is what people believed. Zhou Dynasty. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty . Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 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. 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! With her exceptional intelligence, extraordinary competence in politics, and inordinate ambition, she ruled as the "Holy and Divine Emperor" of the Second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) for fifteen years. 3, no. 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'). is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Empress Wu, the first and only female emperor of Imperial China. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. 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. True, Taizongan old warrior-ruler so conscientious that he had official documents pasted onto his bedroom walls so that he would have something to work on if he woke in the nighthad lost his empress shortly before Wu entered the palace. It is also generally accepted that Ruizongs wife, Empress Liu, and chief consort, Dou, were executed at Wus behest in 693 on trumped-up charges of witchcraft. 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. Ho-shen (1750-1799) was a high Manchu official in the government of the Ch'ing dynasty in China and a close associate of Emperor Ch'ien-lung.. When Taizong died, Gaozong became emperor, and Wu Zetian joined a Buddhist nunnery, as required of concubines of deceased emperors. across from her husband, the emperor. He refused to cooperate well with his mother and his wife, Lady Wei, assumed too much power. Every Chinese emperor had concubines, and most had favorites; few came to power, or stayed there, without the use of violence. 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. Kumarajiva's influence on Chinese Buddhist thought was crucial. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. When Gaozong died in 683, she became empress dowager and ruled on behalf of two adult sons, emperors Zhongzong (r. 684, 705710) and Ruizong (r. 685689, 710712). I always think that's the most interesting things about primary sources - the bias. Privacy Statement At one point, to the horror of her generals, Wu proposed raising a military corps from among Chinas numerous eunuchs. In 690 C.E., Zetian forced Li Dan to abdicate the throne to her, and declared herself the founding empress of the Zhou dynasty. She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Image taken from An 18th-century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. Modern popular novels and plays, in Chinese, Japanese, and English, also exaggerate the sexual aspect of her rule. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 21/11/2022. The primary and secondary sources on Wu Zetian are abundant and problematic, reflecting an almost exclusively male authorship that has portrayed her as a beautiful, calculating, brutal woman who ruled China as the only woman emperor in name and in fact. "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. 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 Zetian is believed to have been born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province around 624 CE. She then began to plot against Gaozongs consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wus infant daughter. Already in 674 she had drafted 12 policy directives ranging from encouraging agriculture to formulating social rules of conduct. 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. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. 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. In 690, she declared herself emperor after deposing her sons and founding her own dynastyZhou. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. World History Encyclopedia. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. No area of Chinese life was untouched by Empress Wu and her reforms were so popular because the suggestions came from the people. Removing the legitimate heir, she took the name of Emperor Zetian and founded the Zhou dynasty in 690, becoming the first and only female emperor in Chinese history. Wu Zhao embarked on religious life as a nun in a convent after Li Shimins death in 649. Han Emperor Wen, r. 180-157 BCE . To ensure the security of her new reign she had any members of the Tang Dynasty royal family imprisoned (including the future emperor Xuanzong) and proclaimed herself an incarnation of the Maitreya Buddha, calling herself Empress Shengsen which means 'Holy Spirit'. Tang China during the 7th century was a period of military strength and cultural attainments, its empire stretching into Central Asia and Southwest Asia and ruled by the Li-Tang imperial family from the capital city of Xi'an (Xian), Shanxi province. and turned the, Wang Mang (45 B.C.-A.D. 23) was a Chinese statesman and emperor. Wu Zhao (624-705), also known as Empress Wu Zetian, was the first and only woman emperor of China. By the fourth century CE, the Roman Empire was at the apex of its power and strength. She also reformed the department of agriculture and the system of taxation by rewarding officials who produced the greatest amount of crops and taxed their people the least. Such killings were not uncommon among emperors before and after her. 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. She gave titles of royalty to her own Wu family: her brothers and nephews became princes while her sisters, aunts, and nieces became princesses. Taizong was surprised that his latest concubine could read and write and became fascinated by her beauty and wit in conversation. 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. (February 22, 2023). 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. The Empress Wu Zetian (690-704 CE) is the only female ruler in the history of China. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. 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. Naples: Institute Universitario Orientale, 1976. In fact, the Tang Dynasty experienced a small interruption with the second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) established by the only female monarch in Chinese history-Empress Wu. This page titled 4.16: Links to Primary Sources is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Israel (University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials) . Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. The earliest sources on Wu Zetian already contained rumors of sex scandals in her court. China during Wu Zetian's ReignIan Kiu (CC BY-SA). Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Even though there were many important and influential women throughout China's history, only one ever became the most powerful political figure in the country. The empress responded with both diplomacy and force, concluding a marriage alliance with the Turks and defeating the Qidan in battle. Mutsuhito Unlike most young girls in China at this time, Wu was encouraged by her father to read and write and develop the intellectual skills which were traditionally reserved for males. 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. Barrett. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007; Dora Shu-Fang Dien, Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China. Favoring the power base in the Northeast, the royal family finally moved to Luoyang in 683. First, I'll beat it with the iron whip. Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. At these pilgrimage sites, rituals were performed which established a link between the standing Buddha and the ruler. Cookie Policy Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) 627-705 First female monarch Sources Rise to Power. Instead, it was left without any inscriptionthe only such example in more than 2,000 years of Chinese history. Jennifer W. Jay , Professor of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. In her last years Wu lost influence, although she remained energetic and cruel. Wu Zetian's first two sexual partners were emperors and related to each other as father and son. Forte, Antonino. She worked against the Confucian dictum that women must restrict their activities to the home and in the wildest imagination could not become emperors. Wu was forced to abdicate in favor of her exiled son Zhongzong and his wife Wei. Replacing the dynasty and imperial house through Confucian ideology still could not legitimize a woman on the throne. An official under the former Han dynasty, he took the Han throne and founded his own, CHARLEMAGNE 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. Luoyang was favorably located on the last stop of the river routes from the South, which greatly reduced the cost of shipping grains from the Southeast to the imperial capital. World History Encyclopedia. On a similar tone, she ordered that the mother of the Daoist sage Laozi (Lao Tzu, c. 600 bce) be honored. Given Tang Chinas rich history of inter-regional connections and communications with its East Asian neighbors, it is not surprising that Wus sponsorship of Buddhism resulted in a flurry of scholarly exchanges, and the construction of many new pilgrimage Buddhist sites. 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. Under Wus rule the government was expanded, and many of the new positions were filled through the examination system. Thank you! Emperor Gaozong had nothing to do with either of these events, although his name would have been attached to the campaigns against Korea. Rise to Power. When Gaozong died in 683 CE, Wu took control of the government as empress dowager, placing two of her sons on the throne and removing them almost as quickly. When she was an infant dressed in boy's clothes, Wu Zetian's potential for emperorship was predicted by an official. The only woman ever to rule as emperor of China, Wu Zhao (Wu ZeTian) was born in 624 C.E. Wu Zetian came to the throne when she was 67, making her the oldest person ever be crowned. Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century. She graduated from SUNY Delhi in 2018. Wu Zetian's father was a successful merchant and military official who reached ministerial ranks. Vol. Encyclopedia.com. She particularly supported Huayan Buddhism, which regarded Vairocana Buddha as the center of the world, much as Empress Wu wished to be the center of political power. Empress Theodora. (Issued by the Empress Dowager Cixi, 1835-1908) Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. 04 Mar 2023. 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. Buddhists Support.
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