The history of Wu Zetian

     Chinese Legendary Female

                            --- The story of Wu Zetian

It is well known that the ancient China is the autocratic monarchy system, and due to Chinese traditional culture that men are stronger than women, in every aspect, so there is no female emperor before she ascended to the throne. She is a legendary figure in Chinese history and the first woman who stood out and proved that females can be preeminent in the political arena as men do.

Wu was born in an ordinary family, and her father was an official in a small district. She was selected as a concubine of the emperor of that era in Tang dynasty, Li Shimin, when she was only 14, but she didn't get as much love as other concubines when she first got into the palace, a place where emperors and some important officials lived. Wu was a brave and courageous woman, Li has a wild and intractable horse that no one can tame, but Wu said she could tame that horse if she has a whip, an iron rod, and a dagger. Actually, in ancient China, girls could not that cruel and girls should only stay at home and do some sewing jobs, playing instruments, feeding livestock, or writing and drawing. Girls were not allowed to ride horses or playing swords, so once Wu said those words which should not be talked from a traditional girl shocked Li, then Li promoted Wu to a higher rank in concubines. Not surprisingly, almost all concubines or females in ancient China had to depend on males to get higher ranks or positions. However, in the following years, Wu didn’t get too much love from Li, but in Li’s last few months of his life, Wu fell in love with Li’s son, Li Zhi. According to Chinese culture and ancient law, once the emperor of that era died, all his concubines had to go the temple and became a Buddhist nun. Usually, an emperor always had at least three thousand concubines throughout his life, and in order to get a better life and higher ranks, the competitions between women are fierce.

Although Wu was forced to go to the temple, she still loves Li Zhi. After Li’s death, Li Zhi became the emperor; he had some rights to do whatever he wanted, but at that era, to marry a widow and who used to be his father’s wife is not acceptable. All officials just stood out and prevent him from marrying Wu. Li Zhi temporarily gave up this idea, but a few years later, he met Wu again in the temple, and this time, Li Zhi disregarded all voices of rejecting marrying Wu, he just took Wu back to the palace and married her. On the other hand, Wu was a smart woman, once she went back to the palace. She used all her plans to defeat concubines and won Li Zhi’s love. At the same time, she secretly got to know a lot of officials and let the officials that she believed and she appreciated to work for her, and this plan paved the way for her latter politics careers. Li Zhi not only love how Wu looks, but also appreciate her thoughts on some issues, so usually, Li would ask Wu to give him some suggestion on politic issues. In a long run, Wu gradually got to know more information about how those things ran and how each department works. (Actually, ancient Chinese imperial courts did not allow women to get involved in politic issues.)

A few years later, Li Zhi got sick and all doctors could not cure him, so he let Wu deal with all political things. But Wu was not satisfied, she suggested Li Zhi that she could sit next to him on the court, but this was not allowed before Wu. Due to Li Zhi’s illness, Li Zhi agreed her suggestion, so Wu’s political experiences and influences made huge progress. Gradually, Wu got more experiences about how to manage each department and make country more flourish. Li Zhi’s illness got severer and he said after his death, his son, another emperor of Tang Dynasty, should follow Wu’s plan, and if all officials or his son could not decide one issue, let Wu decide it. Therefore, Wu controls most of the power in the court and then she had an idea which was to be the emperor of Tang Dynasty. At that time, she had enough power and rights to decide what she planned to do, and she had a large number of excellent supporters to give her suggestions. Thus, in 690 AD, Wu announced that she would be the emperor of the country, and she changed the name “Tang dynasty” to “Zhou Dynasty”.

Wu was one of the oldest emperors in Chinese history, and one of the most oldest people who became the emperor. (Wu became emperor when she was 67 years old) Wu reigned the whole country for 15 years, and during this 15 years, she managed the whole country well and made ancient China at that ear a great dynasty. Even though she was forced to abdicate when she was 82 years old, her work for managing the whole country and her influence to later women rights in ancient China was hard to ignore.

From my own perspective, I think she was one of the most preeminent women in our history, she not only appointed those who were really awesome in politic work but also gave more rights to females to accomplish what they could not do in the past. She kept the basic rights for women and human and made so many effective documents to manage the country. All above can prove that she definitely deserves the praise that later generations give her. Although there are different voices about Wu’s work in the history, she was a preeminent female who made our country better. 

(The portrait of Wu Zetian)

(One of the most famous Chinese actress, Fan Bingbing portraits Wu Zetian in Chinese drama series)