Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. 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. 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. provided her with a string of virile lovers such as one lusty, big-limbed lout of a peddler, whom she allowed to frequent her private apartments. A woman in the most powerful position in government threatened the traditional patriarchy and the court counselors, ministers, and historians claimed Wu had upset the balance of nature by assuming a power which belonged to a man. She appears in influential plays as a feminist and champion of the lower classes while her male rivals are shown to be aristocrats, landlords, and conservatives against the tide of history. Most historians believe Wu became intimate with the future Gaozong emperor before his fathers deatha scandalous breach of etiquette that could have cost her her head, but which in fact saved her from life in a Buddhist nunnery. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. 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). 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. Her extravagant construction projects and expensive frontier campaigns had exhausted the treasury, which led to a financial crisis. Wu Zetian established her dynasty - the Zhou dynasty. 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. Wang was the last person seen in the room and had no alibi. 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. She then began to plot against Gaozongs consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wus infant daughter. Why should you weep for me?" Related Content 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. Wu (she is always known by her surname) has every claim to be considered a great empress. She later volunteered to tame Taizong's wild horse with an iron whip, hammer, and knife. According to Anderson, servants. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 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. Replacing the dynasty and imperial house through Confucian ideology still could not legitimize a woman on the throne. When Taizong died, Wu and his other concubines had their heads shaved and were sent to Ganye Temple to begin their lives as nuns. She was the power behind the throne from Gaozong's death in 683 CE until she proclaimed herself openly in 690 CE and ruled as emperor of China until a year before her death in 705 CE, at the age of 81. 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. Vol. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Kannon embodies compassion, and when seen as female is venerated as a patron of motherhood and fertility. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. 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. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, "Wu Zetian (624705) Historians remain divided as to how far Wu benefited from the removal of these potential obstacles; what can be said is that her third son, who succeeded his father as Emperor Zhongzong in 684, lasted less than two months before being banished, at his mothers instigation, in favor of the more tractable fourth, Ruizong. and to pray for permanent world peace. Creating overpowering statues, like the one at Longmen, was important. She began her life at court as a concubine of the emperor Taizong. Having risen to be empress in Wangs stead, Wu ordered that both womens hands and feet be lopped off and had their mutilated bodies tossed into a vat of wine, leaving them to drown with the comment: Now these two witches can get drunk to their bones., As if infanticide, torture and murder were not scandalous enough, Wu was also believed to have ended her reign by enjoying a succession of erotic encounters which the historians of the day portrayed as all the more shocking for being the indulgences of a woman of advanced age. 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. disadvantages of food transportation. 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. Your Privacy Rights 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). 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). Terms of Use 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. 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. In 690, she declared herself emperor after deposing her sons and founding her own dynastyZhou. Empress Wu was buried in a tomb in Qian County, Shanxi Province, alongside Gaozong. 1996-2021 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. Liu, Xu. Sunzi/Sun Wu, Eastern Zhou Period (770-221 BCE) Selections from the Sunzi: Art of War [PDF] Agriculture, Han Period. In the last three decades, Marxist historiography on Wu Zetian in Mainland China has yielded a positive but unreliable and ideologically charged reappraisal. Princess Taiping put an end to her plans when she had Wei and her family murdered and put her brother Ruizong on the throne. (108). 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. Mutsuhito 6, no. C.P. 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. Just how accurate this picture of Wu is remains a matter of debate. 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). New Capital. Her one mistake had been to marry this boy to a concubine nearly as ruthless and ambitious as herself. How to evaluate such an unprecedented figure today? She herself would thus be seen as a restorationist of the Zhou Dynasty, with the Wu family replacing the Li-Tang family. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. Sources about Wu Zetian's life are a hodgepodge, which some condemning her as the devil himself and others testifying she was an absolute angel. Empress Wu proved to be a wise monarch, and in her reign of twenty years she continued many policies and practices of her predecessors. Wu Zetian was one of the longest-lived monarchs (82 years old) in Chinese history. The Tang Dynasty also witnessed significant military, political, and social changes, as reflected in the transformation of an aristocracy into a meritocracy from the 7th to the 10th centuries. Encyclopedia.com. She carefully eliminated any potential enemies from the court and had Lady Wang and Lady Xiao killed after they had gone into exile. Wu Zetian. She ruled China with complete authority and no one dared to challenge her when she was in control. The Analects of Confucius Primary Source Activity - Google Drive - Print & Digital. Wu placed her first son on the throne who took the royal title Zhongzong. Wu Zetian was in effect taking the unprecedented step of transforming her position from empress dowager to emperor. To further separate her Zhou Dynasty from the Tang, she created new characters for the Chinese writing system which are known today as Chinese Characters of Empress Wu or Zetian Characters. When Wu could no longer tolerate her daughter-in-law's antics and disrespect, and her son's refusal to discipline her and obey Wu's dictates, she had him charged with treason and banished along with his wife. Wuplayed here by Li Lihuawas depicted as powerful and sexually assertive in the Shaw Brothers 1963 Hong Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien. But 28 other consorts still stood between her and the throne. As early as 660 CE, Wu had organized a secret police force and spies in the court and throughout the country. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Pronunciation: Woo-jeh-ten. Not only do we pay for our servers, but also for related services such as our content delivery network, Google Workspace, email, and much more. But if she is observed in the context of the sexuality of male rulers, then the number of her favorites is insignificant. Rise to Power. She worked against the Confucian dictum that women must restrict their activities to the home and in the wildest imagination could not become emperors. In 690 C.E., Zetian forced Li Dan to abdicate the throne to her, and declared herself the founding empress of the Zhou dynasty. 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. Empress Wu used the intelligence she gathered to pressure some high-ranking officials who were not performing well to resign; others she simply banished or had executed. Wu is said to have potentially killed her own. Rothschild describes a confrontation which reflects the feelings of majority of those at court. Cookie Policy In promoting Buddhism over Confucianism and Daoism as the favored state religion, the Empress countered strongly held Confucian beliefs against female rule. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. . womeninworldhistory.com. R. W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-ten and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978). 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. Buddhists Support. Still, Xuanzong continued many of Wu's policies, including keeping her reforms in taxation, agriculture, and education. Originally published/produced in China, 18th century. From 655, when she became the empress of Emperor GaoZong of Tang (son of Emperor TaiZong), until 683 . She shocked the Chinese officialdom by arranging to send male grooms to the daughters and aunts of the tribal chieftains at the empire's borders, although it was customary to send female brides. In Chinese mythology , Huang-Di (pronounced hoo-arng-DEE), also k, Ho-shen (February 23, 2023). . In the reign of Empress Wu, persons who entered government through the examinations were able for the first time to occupy the highest positions, even that of chief minister. The Empress Wu Zetian (690-704 CE) is the only female ruler in the history of China. World History Encyclopedia, 22 Feb 2016. Alternate Names Empress Wu is the only female to have ever ruled in her own name in China. Picking through the bias to try to get to the real story is always fascinating and - in my mind - fun. You're hard-pressed to find any historical documents that don't have some sort of bias, especially when dealing with a controversial figure like Wu Zetian. Historians have documented Wu Zetian's resort to slander, torture, and murders to reinforce the propaganda of omens. 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. Vol. 31, no. In 674 CE, Gaozong took the title Tian Huang (Emperor of Heaven) and Wu changed her own to Tian Hou (Empress of Heaven). Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. . Moreover, Wu exhibited one important characteristic that suggests that, whatever her faults, she was no despot: She acknowledged and often acted on the criticisms of loyal ministers, one of whom dared to suggest, in 701, that it was time for her to abdicate. World History Encyclopedia. 181. Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Lu Zhi was an instantly recognizable villain to the people of China, and linking Wu with her through the murders worked to destroy Wu's reputation. Cite This Work Wu, characteristically, admired the virtuosity of Luos style and suggested he would be better employed at the imperial court. In 710 CE Zhongzong died after being poisoned by Wei who hid his body and concealed his death until her son Chong Mao could be made emperor. Became concubine to Emperor Taizong (640); entered Buddhist nunnery (649); returned to the palace as concubine (654), then as empress (657) to Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong; became empress dowager and regent to her two sons (68489); founded a dynasty (Zhou, 690705) and ruled as emperor for 15 years. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Nevertheless, court intrigues still greatly influenced the recruiting of civil servants. No contemporary image of the empress exists. 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). 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. Missions from Japan, Korea, and Vietnam arrived at Xi'an bearing tribute and seeking education in Buddhism and Confucianism. World History Encyclopedia, 17 Mar 2016. Cold, ruthless, and ambitious, the Han dynasty dowager murdered her rival,. 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. Taizong was surprised that his latest concubine could read and write and became fascinated by her beauty and wit in conversation. 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). Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism (625-705 C.E.) Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. the empress, greatly weakened by infirmity and old age, would allow no one but the Zhang brothers by her side. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Reign of Terror. 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. At the time of the murder, it was Lady Wu's word against Lady Wang's, and later historians decided to side with Lady Wang against Wu; but this does not mean they chose the right side. 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. 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. Thus Wu Zetian's experience might have caused some redefinition of gender in her time, but this direction has not translated into enduring gains in the society and political organization that she left behind. Forte, Antonino. Whether true or not, it is what people believed. She changed the compulsory mourning period for mothers who predeceased fathers from the traditional one year to three yearsthe same length as the mourning for fathers who predeceased mothers. World Eras. The answer was to proclaim another dynasty, not by military conquest, but by interpreting omens that favored her to carry out a change of dynasties and become enthroned as a woman emperor. 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. Fitzgeraldwho reminds us that Tang China emerged from 400 years of discord and civil warwrites, Without Wu there would have been no long enduring Tang dynasty and perhaps no lasting unity of China, while in a generally favorable portrayal, Guisso argues that Wu was not so different from most emperors: The empress was a woman of her times. (3). 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. 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. Hauppauge : Nova Science Publishers, 2003; Richard Guisso, Wu Tse-Tien and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China. Emily Mark studied history and philosophy at Tianjin University, China and English at SUNY New Paltz, NY. Twitchett, Denis, and Howard J. Wechsler. 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. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. 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 . World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. Mary Anderson. Sima, Guang. 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. Web. Thank you for your help! 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. A 17th-century Chinese depiction of Wu, from Empress Wu of the Zhou, published c.1690. Image taken from An 18th-century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. Ch'ien-lung (1711-1799) was the fourth emperor of the Ch'ing, or Manchu, dynasty in China. 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'). Wu began her life at court taking care of the royal laundry but one day dared to speak to the emperor when they were alone and talked about Chinese history. 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. 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 No area of Chinese life was untouched by Empress Wu and her reforms were so popular because the suggestions came from the people. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. 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. 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. "Wu Zetian." The famed imperial mosaics in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna depict the sixth-century Byzantine empress. Woodbridge Bingham, The Founding of the Tang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise ofTang, a Preliminary Survey (New York: Octagon, 1975). 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. 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. She had the mountain named Mount Felicity and claimed it had risen to honor her and her reign. Justinian. Wu also learned to play music, write poetry, and speak well in public. Kumarajiva's influence on Chinese Buddhist thought was crucial. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. 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. If so, their hopes were in vain; Empress Wu Zetian is remembered today as one of the greatest rulers in China's history. 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. "Empress Wu Zetian." The earliest sources on Wu Zetian already contained rumors of sex scandals in her court. 23 Feb. 2023
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