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.
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.
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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...
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