Yet contemporaries thought that there was more to her than this. Vol. 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. She was painted as a usurper who was both physically cruel and erotically wanton; she first came to prominence, it was hinted, because she was willing to gratify certain ofthe Taizong emperors more unusual sexual appetites. Wu Zetian's politics can be considered as feminist initiatives to reinforce the legitimacy of women in the political arena. Wu Zetian. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. 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. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. For centuries she was excoriated by Chinese historians as an offender against a way of life. Su, Tong. Wu placed her first son on the throne who took the royal title Zhongzong. The China that Wu Zetian was born in was the Tang Dynasty (618906), a strong and unified empire after four centuries of political discord and foreign interaction. Two brothers, known as the Zhang Brothers, were her favorites and she spent most of her time in closed quarters with them. She was in very poor health anyway by this time and died a year later. She maintained a stable economy and a moderate taxation for the peasantry. And does she deserve the harsh verdict that history has passed on her? World History Encyclopedia. At these pilgrimage sites, rituals were performed which established a link between the standing Buddha and the ruler. Nationality/Culture She was the last wife and the only empress of Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, and a younger sister of Wu Yi . 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Uploaded by Ibolya Horvath, published on 22 February 2016. The military exams were intended to measure intelligence and decision making and candidates were personally interviewed instead of just being appointed because of family connections or their family's name. 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. From 655, when she became the empress of Emperor GaoZong of Tang (son of Emperor TaiZong), until 683 . This spy system served her well in giving her early warning of any plots in the making and enabled her to take care of threats to her reign before they became actual problems. 3rd Series. 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. Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. She was the daughter of a minor general called Duke Ding of Ying, and came to the palace as a concubine in about 636an honor that suggests that she was very beautiful, since, as Jonathan Clements remarks, admission to the ranks of palace concubines was equivalent to winning a beauty contest of the most gorgeous women in the medieval world. But mere beauty was not sufficient to elevate the poorly connected teenage Wu past the fifth rank of palace women, a menial position whose duties were those of a maid, not a temptress. Her experience reflected a reversal of the gender roles and restrictions her society and government constructed for her as appropriate to women. 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. To consolidate her power, in 657 Wu designated Luoyang as a second capital. She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. With a heart like a serpent and a nature like that of a wolf, one contemporary summed up, she favored evil sycophants and destroyed good and loyal officials. A small sampling of the empresss other crimes followed: She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother. To ensure imperial male progeny, the Chinese emperor's harem was an elaborate organization of eunuchs who attended to hundreds of concubines, of whom one was appointed empress, the principal wife of the emperor. Cold, ruthless, and ambitious, the Han dynasty dowager murdered her rival, the beautiful concubine Lady Qi, by amputating all her limbs, turning her into a human swine and leaving her to die in a cesspit. To justify her rule, Wu used selected Buddhist scriptures and led the way in the creation of numerous visual representations of the Buddha. "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. . Wu Zetian's tough character and good equestrian skills were perceived by observers even when she was a teenager. Give me three tools to tame that wild horse.
Scanned using Book ScanCenter 5033 - Western Washington University Guisso, Richard W.L. Kannon embodies compassion, and when seen as female is venerated as a patron of motherhood and fertility. 6, no. Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty (The Greenwood Press Wu: The Chinese Empress who schemed, seduced and murdered her way to Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China. 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. 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. "Empress Wu Zetian." Seen from this perspective, Wu did in fact fulfill the fundamental duties of a ruler of imperial China; Confucian philosophy held that, while an emperor should not be condemned for acts that would be crimes in a subject, he could be judged harshly for allowing the state to fall into anarchy. The efficiency of her court declined as she spent more and more time with the Zhang brothers and became addicted to different kinds of aphrodisiacs. 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). China during Wu Zetian's ReignIan Kiu (CC BY-SA). We care about our planet! 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. Zizhi tongjian [Comprehensive mirror as guide to history]. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984. His rule covered a span of 63 years, a reign lo, Zhao Kuang-yin https://www.worldhistory.org/Wu_Zetian/. Her name was Wu Zetian, and in the seventh century A.D. she became the only woman in more than 3,000 years of Chinese history to rule in her own right. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Palace ladies of the Tang dynasty, from a contemporary wall painting in an imperial tomb in Shaanxi. Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother, the chronicles say. She began her life at court as a concubine of the emperor Taizong. 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. She is hated by gods and men alike.. Wu Zetian was one of the longest-lived monarchs (82 years old) in Chinese history.
Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). When she died, she was laid to rest in an elaborate tomb in the countryside about 50 miles north of the then capital, Xian. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. 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. Originally published/produced in China, 18th century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Most nations of note have had at least one great female leader.
Empress Wu Zetian (Illustration) - World History Encyclopedia Taizong was surprised that his latest concubine could read and write and became fascinated by her beauty and wit in conversation. Web. In her last years Wu lost influence, although she remained energetic and cruel.
4.16: Links to Primary Sources - Humanities LibreTexts Unknown, . Five Historical Plays. She wanted to make it clear that a new kind of ruler had taken the throne of China and a new order had arrived. Buddhists Support. The term Confucianism is derived from Confucius, the convention. The Empress Wu Zetian (690-704 CE) is the only female ruler in the history of China. Wu disposed of her enemies, first the former empress and then the high-ranking officials, who had strongly opposed her rise. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Guisso, Richard W. Empress Wu Tse-t'ien and the Politics of Legitimation in T'ang China. After Wu's death, Zhongzong reigned but only in name; real power was held by Lady Wei who used Wu Zetian as a role model to manipulate her husband and the court. Nevertheless, the legitimation was not without problems, and there was continued resistance from among the high officials who collaborated with the Li-Tang crown princes, princes, and princesses to get her dismissed as empress in 674 and dethroned as de facto ruler in 684, but both events failed. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007; Dora Shu-Fang Dien, Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Wu_Zetian/. ." Web. She thus arranged marriages between her children and grandchildren with her brothers' sons and their grandchildren. 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. 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. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Mark, E. (2016, March 17). All in all, Wus policies seem less scandalous to us than they did to contemporaries, and her reputation has improved considerably in recent decades. After Mount Felicity appeared, and Wu claimed it as an omen favoring her, one of her ministers wrote: Your Majesty, a female ruler improperly has occupied a male position, which has inverted and altered the hard and soft, therefore the earth's emanations are obstructed and separated. The area around Changan could not produce the amount of food required to feed the court and garri-sons, and the transportation of grain up the Yellow River, traversing the Sanmen rapids, was exceptionally expensive. 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. These women were rarely chosen by their people. 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. 2231). A 17th-century Chinese depiction of Wu, from Empress Wu of the Zhou, published c.1690.
Empress Wu: Part XV of the Great Patron Series - Khyentse Foundation 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!
How did Empress Wu Zetian come to rule China, as a woman? One of these served as her new personal name, Zhao, which articulates the fundamental Buddhist notion of universal emptiness. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Character Overview Under the administration of Empress Wu, Tang territory expanded through constant fighting with other peoples, particularly the Tibetans.
Emperor Wu of Han - Wikipedia We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. 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. These criteria no doubt favored the aristocratic families. Gaozongs third son succeeded to the throne in 683 after his death, but Empress Wu became the empress dowager in a few months, after forcing the young emperor to abdicate. 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. Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/empress-wu-wu-zhao. The development of the examination system during her reign was a critical step in the eventual transformation of the aristocracy to a meritocracy in the government. When she saw she would not be able to control the court as her mother did, she killed herself and Xuanzong decreed that no member of Wu's family would be allowed to hold public office because of their ruthless scheming and underhanded politics. Wu, characteristically, admired the virtuosity of Luos style and suggested he would be better employed at the imperial court. 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. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. The Shiji Forte, Antonino. Wu Zhao listened to her minister and considered his argument and then, Rothschild writes, "Wu Zhao, with no intention whatsoever of 'leading the quiet life of a widow', rejected this interpretation and promptly exiled the man to the swampy, disease-ridden, Southland" (109). the empress, greatly weakened by infirmity and old age, would allow no one but the Zhang brothers by her side. 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. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. Explaining why the empress was so reviled, then, means acknowledging the double standard that existedand still existswhen it comes to assessing male and female rulers. Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca.1500 BC till 1644 AD. Hong Kong: Cosmos, 1994. From 697 onward she found it so diffi-cult to win support that she attempted to return the throne to her son Zhongzong. 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. Determining the truth about this welter of innuendo is all but impossible, and matters are complicated by the fact that little is known of Wus earliest years. Beginning in 660 CE, Wu was effectively the emperor of China. Wu Zetian is the only legitimatized Empress in Chinese history. No-one knows what secrets it holds, for like many of the tombs of the most celebrated Chinese rulers, including that of the First Emperor himself, it has never been plundered or opened by archaeologists. 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. This was a common practice after the death of the emperor. World Eras. Under Wus rule the government was expanded, and many of the new positions were filled through the examination system. The Tang emperor Taizong was the first to promote Wu, whom he gave the nickname Fair Flatterera reference not to her personal qualities but to the lyrics of a popular song of the day. Her last name, "Wu" is associated with the words for 'weapon' and 'military force' and she chose the name 'Zeitan' which means 'Ruler of the Heavens'. Thank you for your help! However, despite establishing an autocratic and centralised state, Emperor Wu adopted the principles of Confucianism as the state philosophy and code of ethics for his empire and started a school to teach future administrators the Confucian classics. The Fall of Kaifeng [ edit] In 1126, Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son, Emperor Qinzong, the elder brother of Gaozong. Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. Empress Wu is the only female to have ever ruled in her own name in China. How did a woman with such limited expectations as Wu emerge triumphant in the cutthroat world of the Tang court? World History Encyclopedia. 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. 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. Chapter 2 SOURCES FOR THE LIFE AND CAREER OF WU TSE-T'IEN The chief primary sources for the life of the Empress Wu are her annals in the two dynastic histories of the T'ang, her biography in the New T'ang History, and the numerous references to her in Ssu-ma Kuang's Comprehensive Mirror.^ In some of the large official compilations of later ages, One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. Her significance as an emperor and founder of a new dynasty lies in her redefining of the gender-specific concepts of the emperorship and the Confucian state. Even though many at court congratulated her on being favored by the gods, many others did not.
Wu Zetian Biography, Facts & Quotes | Who was Empress Wu? | Study.com In 690, she declared herself emperor after deposing her sons and founding her own dynastyZhou. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. According to Wu's own account, they conspired against her but, according to other historians, Wu started and finished the problems she had with them. Empress Wu (died September or October 245), [a] personal name Wu Xian ( Chinese: ), formally known as Empress Mu (literally "the Just Empress"), was an empress of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. 22 Feb. 2023
. disadvantages of food transportation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1977. 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. It is easier to take seriously the suggestion that Wu arranged a series of murders within her own family. Carlton further notes, "While ostensibly for her great concern over the condition of her people, the box mainly served the purpose of obtaining information on seditious subjects (3)." The political success of Wu Zetian indicates that the attributes needed in diplomacy and rulership were not restricted to men. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. 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. Wu was the daughter of Wu Jin, a commoner in Kaifeng. She carefully eliminated any potential enemies from the court and had Lady Wang and Lady Xiao killed after they had gone into exile. Although these characters were removed after her reign they still exist as a Chinese dialect in written form. 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. Wu Zhao embarked on religious life as a nun in a convent after Li Shimins death in 649. 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. This institution became a political weapon in the hands of Empress Wu when she usurped the throne in 690. R. W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-ten and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978). Click for Author Information. ." Omens were extremely important to the people of ancient China and played a significant role in Tang politics. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. Kumarajiva's influence on Chinese Buddhist thought was crucial. Hauppauge : Nova Science Publishers, 2003; Richard Guisso, Wu Tse-Tien and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China. In the largest cave there is a statue called the Grand Vairocana Buddha. 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. Again, it is hard to tell what is true and what is slander being that Wu Zeitan's story is so long ago and the sources are sketchy. When a mountain seemed to appear following the earthquake, this was also interpreted as nature itself revolting against the reign of Wu. In sum, within the social and political context of her time, Wu Zetian was a leader who went beyond the traditional roles of submissive wife and home-bound mother to emerge as ruler, lawmaker, and head of state and society while her second husband, lovers, and sons were relegated to less powerful positions than traditionally expected. 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. 1996-2021 In 704 CE, court officials could no longer tolerate Wu's behavior and had the Zhang brothers murdered. 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. Wu decreed that the workmen sculpt the face of the largest of these statues to resemble her and also persuaded the monks of the sanctuary at Luoyang to forge the Big Cloud Book to substantiate her claim as Maitreya. is held up in Chinese histories as the prototype of all that is wicked in a female ruler. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, "Wu Zetian (624705)
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