Over a span of several decades, Wu Zetian inalterably changed life in China for woman as well the clergy and the poor. By doing so, she left a perpetual footprint on China’s long history that transcends the mere fact that she was the first woman to rule the “Red Dragon”.
Wu Zetian was originally known as Wu Chao, born in 625 in Taiyuan in northern China. She adopted Wu Zetian when she seized the Chinese throne in 660. “Wu Zetian was a beautiful young woman…” (Knight 372). Empress Wu ultimately assumed the title of emperor for herself in 690, becoming perhaps the first “dragon lady” and the lone woman to act thus in Chinese imperial history. During her reign, she proved herself the equal of any male emperor in terms of ruthlessness, ability to effect social change for the common good and political acuity.
The origin of Wu rise to power was based more upon her abilities and not necessarily destined by status. Wu’s father, Wu Shi-huo, was a wealthy businessman in southeastern China. Due to Wu's father wealth, she was selected early in her life as a low-ranking consort (companion) of the emperor Taizong. After the emperor died in 649, Wu Zhao was ordained a Buddhist nun, a customary fate for childless consorts of deceased emperors. Ordinarily, someone such as Wu would be required to pass the remainder of her life in the monastery. However, her charm caught the attention of the new emperor Taizong and Wu was called back to the palace, first as consort, and later as his empress, whereupon she held the title Zetian.
After Taizong’s death in 649, Wu’s cunning allowed her to become the privileged wife of Taizong’s son and heir to the throne. Wu had been a concubine, an official mistress of Emperor Taizong. Concubines were extremely i...
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... that highlighted the High Tang era.
Works Cited
Carlton, Kelly. "The Karmic Retribution of Pei Huaigu:." The Reign of China's Only Female Emperor from the View of An Unofficial History. Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://www.armstrong.edu/Initiatives/history_journal/history_journal_the_reign_of_chinas_only_female_emperor_from_the_view_.
FitzGerald, Charles Patrick. "Wuhou (empress of Tang Dynasty)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/649822/Wuhou.
Howell, James W. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, & Sexuality through History. Ed. William E. Burns. The Medieval Era ed. Vol. 2. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008. Print.
Knight, Judson. Middle Ages. Ed. Judy Galens. J-Z ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: UXL, 2001. Print.
Some of the more fascinating documents of the Han period in ancient China were arguably those written by women. The writings were at once contradictory due to the fact that they appeared to destroy the common perceptions of women as uneducated and subservient creatures while simultaneously delivering messages through the texts that demonstrated a strict adherence to traditional values. Those are the paradoxical characteristics of prominent female scholar Ban Zhou’s work called Lesson for a Woman. Because modern opinions on the roles of women in society likely cloud the clear analysis of Zhou’s work, it is necessary to closely examine the Han’s societal norms and popular beliefs that contributed to establishing the author’s perspective and intent.
Most outcasts of history had a particular, exclusive life; full of struggles against the society ever since birth and grew up with a heart made out of steel from the harsh criticism they have endured. They differ from the community within their beginning to their end, and many of their stories end up becoming legends and gaps of the past that nobody will be able to reincarnate. China’s first and last female emperor, Wu Zetian, was one of these exclusives. Ever since birth, her history of tactics to the people around her; in order to ascend the throne, juxtaposed towards society’s attitudes of women at the time; through her breakdown of gender stereotypes and quick knowledge, and offered a new perspective to the world of just how cruel and beautiful women can be. She successfully destructed all accumulated views of women in the Tang Dynasty, and created her future in the way she wanted it – on top of every man in her country. She was an outcast – somebody who juxtaposed against the demands of her. She was history.
However, this “ladder of success” was not as simple as it seemed. First of all, the class of both families will be a huge barrier. We are not even talking about freedom to love here, there is no such thing in late imperial China. Although we can’t say that love doesn’t exist even in such systems, such as Shen Fu and Chen Yun, but most marriages are not about love. Rather, it was about exchange of values. For example, when two families want to become business partners, the parents of the family will have their son and daughter married, so the two families will have closer bonding which made the business much easier. In this sense, we can see that the couple is simply a tool. In the same sense, the families which has not much “values” can only have marriages with the same class of families. Meaning for a women to climb up the ladder of success is not quite possible as the class of her family is a huge deciding factor for marriage in the
There is no simple answer to this question, especially with the convoluted and entwining relationship between Buddhism and Wu, so we focus on how the religion assisted Wu in grasping power and its indispensable role in the Chinese economy. The close connection between government and religion is not a new concept to the Tang era as it has been well-established prior to its time, and it even survived long after. In the case of Buddhism and Empress Wu, the religion played a pivotal role in justifying her rule, which could explain her special interest in it. Among the Buddhists followers, she was identified as the bodhisattva Maitreya, which helped her gain a sense of legitimacy to her reign, especially in a male-dominant society (Smarr Feb. 17 2012). The association of Buddhism with Wu helped spur Wu’s benevolent policies towards the religion, who benefitted handsome...
Because they did not have a traditional role in government, women had work their way around the system to gain any type of political leverage. Empress Lu violated every cultural and social norm by retaining power as a regent throughout the reins of her son, grandson and adopted grandson. Tradidtionaly regents ruled from behind the scenes while the emperor himself was unable to make decisions, usualy due to age or heath complications, however Empress Lu eradicated any competitors for the thrown. As the end of her reign was nearing, she expected her nephews to succeed her. Even as the first empress, not unfamiliar with disrupting tradition, she left the emperorship to the next male in her bloodline (Doc. 5) not a female. Though Empress Lu defied all expectations of women, her power as an Empress was still undisputed due to the Mandate of Heaven, an idea originating in the Shang dynasty....
The Chinese possessed strong beliefs about astrology, so when it was prophesised that a women ruler would soon ascend the throne word quickly spread throughout the common people. It was predicted that within 30 years this woman known as ‘The Prince of Wu’ would rule over China. Whether or not Empress Wu’s rise to power was due to ‘heaven ordained fate’, she fulfilled the prophecy and became China’s first woman ruler in the 7th century. Historians, scholars and common people alike have long debated Wu’s reign. She is commonly referred to as an evil usurper due to the way she took power. However whether she fully deserves this reputation is to be examined. As the only female Chinese ruler, Wu challenged traditional gender roles and legitimized herself as a leader at a time when women were not meant for such positions. Empress Wu came to power through self-determination and a remarkable gift for politics. Once on the throne, she kept her power by all means necessary, often those means being murder and betrayal. Some of her actions were undoubtedly cruel. However once she was established as an empress conducted a mostly peaceful and prosperous reign. Empress Wu was by definition a usurper of the Chinese throne however not necessarily an evil one. She was manipulative and ruthless yet brilliant and exceptionally gifted. Her rise to power through sheer determination is to be commended despite the harsh tactics she used along the way.
No other woman in the Early Han held the same amount of influence as Empress Lü throughout her various titles as Empress, Empress Dowager, and then Grand Empress Dowager. Stories recounting her manipulative nature paint a picture of a scheming empress using her imperial power to bestow favors and political positions to her own clan. This essay argues that Empress Lü used the lack of precedence for her position as Empress Dowager to manipulate court officials into granting power to her clan, which caused political unrest late in her life and resulted in the destruction of the Lü clan. To support this claim, this essay will discuss the exceptional nature of Empress Lü's power and the extent of her ability to manipulate the court, and then this paper will provide evidence of a Lü clan extermination after the death of the empress that held power for fifteen years after her husband died – in a nation with no precedence for this kind of rule.
Chapter 1: The Wan-Li Emperor, begins by explaining the major premise of the work: The concept of looking at a single year in the history of the leadership of China and evaluating the implications for understanding other aspects of history, including the decline of the Ming Dynasty. In this initial chapter, Huang provides an anecdotal history of some of the events that occurred, and includes within it a discussion of the set up of the leadership, the repercussions that occurred in the event of certain actions, including the prospects of an audience with the emperor. Huang reviews these issues as he considers that actions taken by the Wan-li emperor, who was only twenty-four in 1587 and who had been a veteran of ceremonial proceedings, and considers his history as an element of understanding the progression of leadership.
However, not all women embodied to these roles. Some women sought literacy and some high ranking women were highly educated. Empress Dau was an enthusiastic scholar. She lived in a time when Confucian ideals has not yet fully taken hold, and thus, she was able to use her authority to push Daoist ideals upon Emperors Wen and Jing [7]
Wu Zetian was born in 624. Her father was one of the meritorious chancellors of the Tang Dynasty. When she was young, she read many books and received a good education from her father, which was not common among women, much less encouraged by their fathers. At the age of 14, Wu Zetian was chosen as one of the concubines of Emperor Taizong. When Emperor Taizong died in 649, his youngest son succeeded him as Emperor Gaozong. According to the custom, Wu was sent to a temple to serve as a Buddhist nun and was expected to spend rest of her life there. However, Gaozong’s admiration to Wu Zetian got her back into the palace. Wu progressively gained more and more influence over the governance of the empire by trickery throughout Emperor Gaozong's reign, and was eventually making the major decisions effectively being the queen. Taking advantage of the poor health condition of Gaozong, Wu Zetian later got into power and even went beyond Gaozong’s throne, and ruled officially under the name of her self-proclaimed "Zhou dynasty". Being the first and only empress in Chinese history, Empress Wu m...
How could a female transition into the ruler? Students of history of the time, who saw her as a malevolent enchantress and usurper, ascribed her prosperity to her absence of second thoughts and her expertise at control. A short survey of her vocation demonstrates that that fortunes and political sharpness additionally assumed a part. Despite the fact that Empress Wu utilized Confucian dialect and steadily performed Confucian state customs, she was by and by profoundly attracted to Buddhism. She was the significant supporter for the immense give in sanctuaries cut at longmen outside Luoyang. She discovered help for her political position in the colossal cloud sutra, which forecasted that the Maitreya Buddha would be resurrected as a female ruler and realize an age free of disease, stress, and calamity. One of Wu's devotees composed a discourse to the sutra in 689 calling attention to that the female ruler must be Empress. “Wu Zhao discovered a valuable political immediacy in this female sovereign of hoary antiquity; by connecting herself to this mythic avatar, she gained leverage and legitimacy.” The importance of this statement is that it entails how Empress Wu finally had the ability to make herself become ruler by allowing herself to become connected to a prophecy. Wu Zhao's aϲliation with this Buddhist ancestress was strong, since it related her emperorship and completed it. A line of renowned female ancestors, rulers, and devis, ending up at ground zero with her anticipated ascending to the throne. Wu Zhao was seen by the people as a mother goddess. Rebecca Doran has commented that Wu Zhao's decision of Jingguang as her past incarnation suggests both her perspective of the need to address her sexual introduction character and the possible nudity or decency of
Since the Li family claimed descent from Daoist sage Laozi, as a member of the imperial family, Wu Zhao understood that she had to make use of Daoism to strength her status. She announced the title: "Celestial Empress" to symbolically join the company of Daoist sages. She also actively participated in the politics by supporting Daoism: petitioned everyone to study the works of Laozi, issued The Twelve Decrees as a Daoist ruler, called for disbandment of troops by claiming the empire needed to be transformed by the Dao, and nominated the mother of Laozi as Grand Dowager of the Anterior Heaven. All of these Daoist activities was aimed to strengthen her political status. "To augment her own luster she strategically entwined herself with imperial ancestors of the House of Tang" (Rothschild 103). Wu Zhao also made use of the auspicious omens with the idea of Daoism. "It is generally illuminating to read the omens as calculated maneuvering, a timely and strategic mustering of evidence to validate and legitimize her sovereignty. Her imperial authority was an invention, an omens were a vital supplement to her political repertoire" (Rothschild 109). One of the most famous example she used omens to prove her legitimation to rule was the "Precious Diagram", a stone chiseled by someone under her nephew Wu Chengsi's commission. A pre-designed prophecy was written on the stone: "When the Sage Mother is among the people, the realm
She supported merchants and traders because her father was one. He was in the lumber business, he made his family very rich, which was why Empress Wu was able to obtain an education. Merchants, though, during the Tang Dynasty were not highly thought of. They were seen as “leeches” in society. They were seen as people who were just there to make money for themselves. They did not have a specific trade that created anything and the merchants were almost seen as stealing from the peasants’ hard earned money. Getting rich was seen as almost unethical by the government. The merchants were also at the bottom of the social class. It is said that they were only kept because they were needed for the economy. It is hypocritical for the government to get mad at the merchants for getting rich off the peasants when they themselves tax massive amounts of money on the peasants and then take that money to live lavish life styles. They themselves don’t do anything really. When they do rule its mostly for their personal benefit and not for the good of the people. The government just wants someone for a scapegoat so people will look down on someone else instead of the government, even though the elites are far worse when it comes to taking peoples money and then selfishly using it on themselves. Most of the aristocracy is not needed at all. They are the true leeches of the Tang society, not the
In discussing the Chinese dynasty’s and during the Han Dynasty, Ban Baio, a famous Chinese historian, wrote “Lessons for a Woman,” (200-300 CE) outlining the position and duties of women in society. As time changed and civilization emerged, so did history as it began to bel less biblical and more focused on social change. McNeill notes that, “cultural borrowing,” was in fact a huge part of civilization. This document in particular can serve as an example in which Baio felt was a set of instructions for the proper behavior and attitude of women, particularly with regard to their
The Tang Dynasty’s rise is similar to the rise of the Han Dynasty, which began over 800 years earlier. The first emperor of the tang, Kao-tsu (618-626 C.E.), implemented many of the practices and ideas established during the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Kao-tsu carried on the tradition of local government rule, and also awarded each adult male in China equal amounts of land, in exchange for taxes. Emperor Taizong, who began rule in 626 C.E., was the son of Kao-tsu, also played an important role in the economic expansion of China and ruled during the beginning decades of the Tang. Emperor Taizong’s reign beg...