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. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/empress-wu-wu-zhao, "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) Even though many at court congratulated her on being favored by the gods, many others did not. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. By 655 she had consolidated her position after her son inherited the throne. Mutsuhito . 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. (3). She was very beautiful and was selected by emperor Taizong (r. 626 - 649 CE) as one of his concubines when she was 14 years old. Mary Anderson. 1996-2021 Wills, John E., Jr. "Empress Wu," in Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. It may be helpful to consider that there were in effect two empressesthe one who maintained a reign of terror over the innermost circle of government, and the one who ruled more benignly over 50 million Chinese commoners. Agricultural production under Wu's reign increased to an all-time high. womeninworldhistory.com. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. . Yet it was this series of events that cleared the way for Gaozongs, and hence Wus, accession. She wanted to make it clear that a new kind of ruler had taken the throne of China and a new order had arrived. Modern popular novels and plays, in Chinese, Japanese, and English, also exaggerate the sexual aspect of her rule. By 666, the annals state, Wu was permitted to make offerings to the gods beside Gaozong and even to sit in audience with himbehind a screen, admittedly, but on a throne that was equal in elevation to his own. She replaced Zhongzong with her second son, who became Emperor Ruizong. When Taizong died, Gaozong became emperor, and Wu Zetian joined a Buddhist nunnery, as required of concubines of deceased emperors. Taizong was so impressed at her intellectual abilities, he took her out of the laundry and made her his secretary. She did not ask any man's permission to lead these women to Mount Tai; she felt she knew what was best and did it. ." She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. 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.. Wu (she is always known by her surname) has every claim to be considered a great empress. the empress, greatly weakened by infirmity and old age, would allow no one but the Zhang brothers by her side. Such killings were not uncommon among emperors before and after her. 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. She ruled China with complete authority and no one dared to challenge her when she was in control. Sima, Guang. (108). 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. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Empress Wu, the first and only female emperor of Imperial China. She carefully eliminated any potential enemies from the court and had Lady Wang and Lady Xiao killed after they had gone into exile. World History Encyclopedia. Complete List of Included Worksheets Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document. At one point, to the horror of her generals, Wu proposed raising a military corps from among Chinas numerous eunuchs. No area of Chinese life was untouched by Empress Wu and her reforms were so popular because the suggestions came from the people. unified China in 221 B.C. Related Content She kept Ruizong under a kind of house arrest confining him to the Inner Palace. Every Chinese emperor had concubines, and most had favorites; few came to power, or stayed there, without the use of violence. Han Emperor Wen, r. 180-157 BCE . 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. To legitimize her position, Empress Wu turned mainly to Buddhism, proclaiming herself an incarnation of Maitreya (Mi-le), the Buddhist savior. Sunzi/Sun Wu, Eastern Zhou Period (770-221 BCE) Selections from the Sunzi: Art of War [PDF] Agriculture, Han Period. Even if she took full advantage, however, she must have possessed not only looks but remarkable intelligence and determination to emerge, as she did two decades later, as empress. Mutsuhito . (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. 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. Traditional historians grudgingly acknowledged that she surpassed her sons, the legitimate heirs, in both vision and statecraft. Wu was given the privileged position of first concubine even though by law she should have been left in the temple as a nun. One reason, as we have already had cause to note in this blog, is the official nature and lack of diversity among the sources that survive for early Chinese history; another is that imperial history was written to provide lessons for future rulers, and as such tended to be weighted heavily against usurpers (which Wu was) and anyone who offended the Confucian sensibilities of the scholars who labored over them (which Wu did simply by being a woman). Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. From 697 onward she found it so diffi-cult to win support that she attempted to return the throne to her son Zhongzong. Shortly after she took the throne there was an earthquake which was interpreted as a bad omen. All in all, Wus policies seem less scandalous to us than they did to contemporaries, and her reputation has improved considerably in recent decades. In 654 CE, Wu had a daughter who died soon after birth. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. "Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu," in Denis Twitchett, ed. 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. Privacy Statement Pronunciation: Woo-jeh-ten. 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. According to the histories of the period, Wu smothered her own week-old daughter by Gaozong and blamed the babys death on Wang, who was the last person to have held her. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. So much for the supposed facts; what about the interpretation? Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating women's intellectual development and sexual freedom. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. 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. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. None of these actions, though, would have attracted criticism had she been a man. It was Lu Zhi who, in 194 B.C., wreaked revenge on a rival by gouging out her eyes, amputating her arms and legs, and forcing her to drink acid that destroyed her vocal chords. False: In fact, the Roman Empire was in decline at this time. Download Full Size Image. Wu Zetian argued that since mothers were indispensable to the birth and nourishment of infants, the three years when the infant totally depended on the mother as caregiver should be requited with three years of mourning her death. Guisso, Richard W.L. Abdication. Zhou Dynasty. One example of her clout was in 666 CE when she led a group of women to Mount Tai (an ancient ceremonial center), where they conducted rituals which traditionally were performed only by men. World History Encyclopedia. The Empress Wu Zetian (690-704 CE) is the only female ruler in the history of China. 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. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. and to pray for permanent world peace. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. Kannon embodies compassion, and when seen as female is venerated as a patron of motherhood and fertility. . She thus arranged marriages between her children and grandchildren with her brothers' sons and their grandchildren. Unknown, . 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. When he fell out of favor, he burned the building to the ground. Chen, Jo-shui. 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. Chu Hsi (1130-1200) was one of the greatest Chinese scholars and philosophers. They also functioned as powerful reminders of imperial power. 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. 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. Primary Sources with DBQsCHINA 4000 - 1000 BCE Ancestral Rites and Divination . Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Woodbridge Bingham, The Founding of the Tang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise ofTang, a Preliminary Survey (New York: Octagon, 1975). Wu Zetian's SteleI, (GJGY.com) (CC BY-SA). To recruit a new class of administrators through competition, the examinations that had played only a secondary role in the recruitment and promotion of civil servants in Han times (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) Kumarajiva's influence on Chinese Buddhist thought was crucial. Her overall rule, in spite of the change of dynasty, did not result in a radical break from Tang domestic prosperity and foreign prestige. According to almost all her biographers, she was extremely cruel in her personal life, murdering two sons, a daughter, sister, niece, grandchildren, and many Li and Wu princes and princesses who opposed her. Her giant stone memorial, placed at one side of the spirit road leading to her tomb, remains blank. Wu also accused Lady Wang and her mother of practicing witchcraft and implicated Lady Xiao; Lady Wang was found guilty of all the charges and so were the others. The baby was strangled in her crib and Wu claimed that Lady Wang had killed her because she was jealous. Empress Wu proved to be a wise monarch, and in her reign of twenty years she continued many policies and practices of her predecessors. 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. After his death, she married his son, Gaozong (r. 649-683 CE) and became empress consort but actually was the power behind the emperor. This particular minister was silenced but that did not silence the rest; they just were more careful not to speak their mind in front of her. 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. Wuplayed here by Li Lihuawas depicted as powerful and sexually assertive in the Shaw Brothers 1963 Hong Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien. 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 History Encyclopedia, 17 Mar 2016. Pomacanthus imperator (emperor angelfish) See CHAETODONTIDAE. 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. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. Theodora. 31, no. (February 22, 2023). Mark, Emily. Already in 674 she had drafted 12 policy directives ranging from encouraging agriculture to formulating social rules of conduct. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Wu either read him whatever she felt like and then made her own decisions or read him the real reports and then still acted on her own. 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. 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'. Wu, characteristically, admired the virtuosity of Luos style and suggested he would be better employed at the imperial court. World Eras. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) She herself would thus be seen as a restorationist of the Zhou Dynasty, with the Wu family replacing the Li-Tang family. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Wu is said to have potentially killed her own. In 690 C.E., Zetian forced Li Dan to abdicate the throne to her, and declared herself the founding empress of the Zhou dynasty. 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. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705. One explanation for Wus success is that she listened. It was approached via a mile-long causeway running between two low hills topped with watchtowers, known today as the nipple hills because Chinese tradition holds that the spot was selected because the hills reminded Gaozong of the young Wus breasts. Wu Zetian died within a year. She not only created many different cultural and political policies, but she displayed what a women could do in government. Functioning in a male-oriented patriarchy, Wu Zetian was painstakingly aware of the gender taboos she had to break in political ideology and social norm. 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. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. It is not likely Wu was involved in the disgrace of Taizongs unpleasant eldest son, Cheng-qian, whose teenage rebellion against his father had taken the form of the ostentatious embrace of life as lived by Mongol nomads. 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. While functioning and surviving in the male-ruled and power-focused domain, she exhibited strengths traditionally attributed to men, including political ambition, long-range vision, skillful diplomacy, power drive, decisive resolve, shrewd observation, talented organization, hard work, and firm dispensal of cruelty. 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. Zizhi tongjian [Comprehensive mirror as guide to history]. Gaozong had caught a disease which affected his eyes (possibly a stroke) and needed to have reports read to him. 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. At the age of fourteen, she was selected as a palace maid to Gaozong, then a Prince, and his first spouse and primary consort Xing, who had recently married. She reformed the structure of the government and got rid of anyone she felt was not carrying out their duties and so reduced government spending and increased efficiency. Wu could have murdered her daughter but her position as a female in a male role brought her many enemies who would have been happy to pass on a rumor as truth to discredit her. Under the older regimes, a suggestion or complaint had to go through a number of different offices before it ever reached anyone who could do something about it. As we know, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Wu Zetian was in effect taking the unprecedented step of transforming her position from empress dowager to emperor. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. 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. Submitted by Emily Mark, published on 17 March 2016. A 17th-century Chinese depiction of Wu, from Empress Wu of the Zhou, published c.1690. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty . 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. This was a common practice after the death of the emperor. The horrible deaths of empress Wang and the Pure Concubine, for example, are nowhere mentioned in Luo Binwangs fearless contemporary denunciation, which suggests that Wu was not blamed for them during her lifetime. China during Wu Zetian's ReignIan Kiu (CC BY-SA). 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). We care about our planet! 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. 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. Liu, Xu. Wu eliminated all the bureaucracy by establishing a direct line of communication between herself and the people. She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective and controversial monarchs in China's history. The earliest sources on Wu Zetian already contained rumors of sex scandals in her court. His son Li Longji succeeded him, ruling as Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756 CE). World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Nevertheless, court intrigues still greatly influenced the recruiting of civil servants. We care about our planet! Empress Wu is the only female to have ever ruled in her own name in China. 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. Her upright Confucian minister, Di Renjie (d. 700, the protagonist of Robert van Gulik's popular Judge Dee detective novels), convinced her to bring back her son, the deposed emperor Zhongzong, to be appointed as her successor. Her paranoia resulted in a purge of her administration. Under Wus rule the government was expanded, and many of the new positions were filled through the examination system. Wu was now raised to the position of first wife of Gaozong and empress of China. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1989, pp. One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. After the latter died in 684, she took on four or five lovers, including a monk whom she ordered executed when weary of his greed and abuse of power. Emperor Gaozong had nothing to do with either of these events, although his name would have been attached to the campaigns against Korea. She whispered slander from behind her sleeves, and swayed her master with vixen flirting and insisted that she was the arch manipulator of an unprecedented series of scandals that, over two reigns and many years, cleared her path to the throne.
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