Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian (624 – 705) was the only female emperor(ess) in the whole of Chinese history. She began unofficially as power behind the throne and empress consort and later officially as regent plenipotentiary, empress dowager, and empress regnant during the brief Zhou dynasty. Wu was the only empress regnant (or female emperor) in the history of China.

Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's empress consort in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal to the emperor's until 705.

After her wedding to Emperor Gaozong in 655, Empress Wu's rise to power was swift. A strong, charismatic, and well-educated woman who enjoyed the absolute interest of her husband, Empress Wu was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Tang Empire was at the peak of its power and glory. More decisive and proactive than her husband, she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne and ruling figure for more than eighteen years. Empress Wu was granted certain honours and privileges which were not enjoyed by any Chinese empresses before or after. After Gauzong's death, Empress Wu as Empress dowager and regent conquered power independently and uniquely, and seven years later, she seized the throne in the Zhou dynasty, becoming the only female emperor in Chinese history.

The importance to history of Wu Zetian's period of political and military leadership includes the major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia, and engaging in a series of wars on the Korean Peninsula, first allying with Silla against Goguryeo, and then against Silla over the occupation of former Goguryeo territory. Within China, besides the more direct consequences of her struggle to gain and maintain supreme power, Wu's leadership resulted in important effects regarding social class in Chinese society, the promotion of women’s rights, and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education, and literature. Wu Zetian also commissioned impressive major buildings, some of which still survive.  

Besides her career as a political leader, Wu Zetian also had an active family life. Although family relationships sometimes became problematic, Wu Zetian was the mother of four sons, three of whom also carried the title of emperor, although one held that title only as a posthumous honor. One of her grandsons became the renowned Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Wu Zetian was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Huangdi (Emperor). Her tenure as de facto ruler of China and officially regent Tang was not without precedent in Chinese history; however, she broke precedent when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou ruling personally under the name Sacred and Divine Huangdi. Designating a new dynasty, with her as its emperor can be seen as part of her power politics, and as the culmination of her period of ruling.

Wu Zetian is said to be the only woman in Chinese history to wear the yellow robe as a monarch (otherwise reserved for the sole use of the emperor.

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Wu Zetian was born into a rich family. As a result of this privilege, Wu was encouraged by her father to read books and pursue her education. He made sure that his daughter was well-educated, a trait that was not common among women, much less encouraged by their fathers. So Wu read and learned about many different topics such as politics and other governmental affairs, writing, literature, and music.

At age fourteen, she was taken to be an imperial concubine of Emperor Taizong of Tang. It was there that she became a type of secretary. This opportunity allowed her to continue to pursue her education.

Consort Wu, however, did not appear to be much favoured by Emperor Taizong, although it appeared that she did have sexual relations with him at one point. According to her own account, there was an occasion during the time she was concubine when she impressed Taizong with her fortitude. When the Emperor Taizong died in 649, his youngest son, Li Zhi (whose mother was main wife Wende), succeeded him as Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Li and Wu had had an affair when Taizong was still alive.

Taizong had fourteen sons, including three to his beloved Empress Zhangsun (601–636), but none with Consort Wu. Thus, according to the custom by which consorts of deceased emperors who had not produced children were permanently confined to a monastic institution after the emperor's death, Wu was consigned to Ganye Temple, with the expectation that she would serve as a Buddhist nun there for the remainder of her life. Wu was to defy expectations, however, and left the convent for an alternative life. After Taizong's death Li Zhi came to visit her and, finding her more beautiful, intelligent, and intriguing than before, decided to bring her back as his own concubine^.

By the early 650 Consort Wu was a concubine of Emperor Gaozong, and she had the title Zhaoyi (昭儀), which was the highest ranking of the nine concubines of the second rank. Wu progressively gained immeasurable influence over the governance of the empire throughout Emperor Gaozong's reign, overtime coming to control most major decisions made. She was regarded as ruthless in her endeavors to grab power and was believed by traditional historians even to have killed her own children. This was later proven false, as these rumors seem to have surfaced 400 years after her death, likely due to the belief in ancient China that a woman wasn't suited to hold the power of the emperor.

Gaozong became emperor at the age of 21. Inexperienced and frequently incapacitated with a sickness that caused him spells of dizziness,^[3] Gaozong was only made heir to the empire due to the disgrace of his two older brothers. Emperor Gaozong did not favour Empress Wang, and much favored his concubine Consort Xiao; further, Empress Wang did not have any children, and Consort Xiao had one son (Li Sujie) and two daughters (Princesses Yiyang and Xuancheng). Empress Wang, seeing that Emperor Gaozong was still impressed by Consort Wu's beauty, hoped that the arrival of a new concubine would divert the emperor from Consort Xiao, and therefore secretly told Consort Wu to stop shaving her hair and, at a later point, welcomed her to the palace.

Consort Wu soon overtook Consort Xiao as Emperor Gaozong's favourite. In 652, she gave birth to her first child, a son named Li Hong. In 653, she gave birth to another son, Li Xián. By 654, both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao had lost favour with Emperor Gaozong, and these two former romantic rivals joined forces against Consort Wu, but to no avail.

As the year 654 continued, shortly after Consort Wu had given birth to her daughter, the baby died, with some evidence suggesting deliberate strangulation, including allegations by Wu, the child's mother. Wu's rival Wang was accused of having been seen near the child's room, with corroborating testimony by alleged eyewitnesses. Emperor Gaozong was led to believe that Wang had the means to kill the child, and likely done so, motivated by jealousy. Wang lacked an alibi, and was unable to clear herself. Angry, Emperor Gaozong considered deposing Empress Wang and elevating Consort Wu to her position; but, first he wanted to make sure that the government chancellors would support this. Gaozong several times brought up the topic of Empress Wang's childlessness, a topic easily leading to an excuse sufficient to depose her.

As traditional folklore tends to portray Wu as a power hungry woman with no care for who she hurt or what she did, the most popular theory is that Wu killed her own child in order to implicate Wang. Other schools of thought argue that Wang indeed killed the child out of jealousy and hatred toward Wu. The third argument is that the child died of asphyxiation or crib death, considering that the ventilation systems of the time were non-existent or of poor quality. No matter what caused the death of the child, Wu blamed Wang for it and Wang was removed from her position as Empress.

In summer 655, Consort Wu accused Empress Wang and her mother, Lady Liu, of using witchcraft. Meanwhile, a faction of officials began to form around Consort Wu and Emperor Gaozong deposed both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, putting them under arrest and creating Consort Wu as empress to replace Empress Wang. (Later that year, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were killed on orders by the new Empress Wu after Emperor Gaozong showed signs of considering their release. After their deaths, however, Empress Wu often was haunted by them in her dreams.)

In 657, Empress Wu and her allies began reprisals against officials who had opposed her ascension. In 660, Li Zhong, Gaozong's first-born son (to consort Liu) also was targeted. Li Zhong had feared that he would be next and had sought out advice of fortune tellers. Wu had him exiled and placed under house arrest.

In 660, Emperor Gaozong began to suffer from an illness that carried the symptoms of painful headaches and loss of vision, generally thought to be hypertension-related, and he began to have Empress Wu make rulings on petitions made by officials. It was said that Empress Wu had quick reactions and understood both literature and history, and therefore, she was making correct rulings. Thereafter, her authority rivaled Emperor Gaozong's and Empress Wu became the undisputed power behind the throne for twenty-three years.

By 664, Empress Wu was said to be interfering so much in the imperial governance that she was angering Emperor Gaozong. Further, she had engaged the Taoist sorcerer Guo Xingzhen in using withcraft—an act that was prohibited by regulations and which had led to Empress Wang's downfall. He consulted the chancellor Shangguan Yi, who suggested that he depose Empress Wu. Empress Wu received news of what was happening. She went to the emperor to plead her case. Emperor Gaozong could not bear to depose her.

Thereafter, at imperial meetings for eighteen years, Empress Wu would sit behind a pearl screen behind Emperor Gaozong, hear the reports as well, and imperial powers often fell into her hands, and she effectively was making the major decisions and even held court independently when the Emperor was unwell and in the absence of her husband, she gained vast powers and Empress Wu had the ultimate power, and she became a Controversial and formidable figure with far-reaching influence. She and Emperor Gaozong were thereafter referred to as the "Two Saints."

In 670, Wu's mother, Lady Yang, died and by Emperor Gaozong's orders, all of the imperial officials and their wives attended her wake and mourned her. Later that year, with the realm suffering from a major drought, Empress Wu offered to be deposed, an offer Emperor Gaozong rejected.

In 675, with Emperor Gaozong's illness getting worse, he considered having Empress Wu formally rule as regent. The chancellor Hao Chujun and the official Li Yiyan both opposed this, and he did not formally make her regent, Although Wu, as empress, had rather in the absence of her husband relatively of the emperor more political power and was often ahead of the Emperor Gaozong.

Soon Empress Wu's relationship with Li Xián also deteriorated, as Li Xián had become unsettled after hearing rumors that he was not born to Empress Wu—but to her siste. when Empress Wu heard of his fearfulness, she became angry with him. Further, the sorcerer Ming Chongyan (明崇儼), whom both she and Emperor Gaozong respected and who had stated that Li Xián was unsuitable to inherit the throne, was assassinated in 679. The assassins were not caught—causing Wu to suspect that Li Xián was behind the assassination. In 680, Li Xián was accused of crimes and during an a large number of arms were found in Li Xián's palace. Empress Wu formally accused Li Xián of treason and the assassination of Ming. Li Xián was deposed and exiled and his younger brother was created crown prince.

In late 683, Emperor Gaozong died while at Luoyang. Li Zhe took the throne (as Emperor Zhongzong), but Empress Wu retained the real authority as empress dowager and regent.^[18]

Upon the death of her husband Emperor Gaozong, Wu became empress dowager and then regent and had the power to remove and install emperors And, as in the past, government decisions were taken by her. Wu already had poisoned the crown and had enough other princes exiled that her third son, Li Zhe, had been made heir apparent. Furthermore, Gaozong's will included provisions that Li Zhe should ascend immediately to the imperial throne, and that he should look to Empress Wu in regard to any important matter, either military or civil. 

Immediately, Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of disobeying Empress Dowager Wu. Emperor Zhongzong was under the thumb of his wife, the empress Wei, even appointing his father-in-law prime minister. Emperor Zhongzong was reduced to the title of Prince of Luling and exiled.

Wu had her youngest son Li Dan made emperor, as Emperor Ruizong. She was the ruler, however, both in substance and appearance. Wu did not even follow the customary pretense of hiding behind a screen or curtain and, in whispers, issued commands for the nominal ruler to formally announce. Ruizong never moved into the imperial quarters, appeared at no imperial function, and remained a virtual prisoner in the inner quarters.^[20]

Although Emperor Ruizong held the title of emperor, Empress Dowager Wu firmly controlled the imperial court, and the officials were not allowed to meet with Emperor Ruizong, nor was he allowed to rule on matters of state. Rather, the matters of state were ruled on by Empress Dowager Wu. In 686, Empress Dowager Wu offered to return imperial authorities to Emperor Ruizong, but Emperor Ruizong, knowing that she did not truly intend to do so, declined, and she continued to exercise imperial authority.

By 685, Empress Dowager Wu began to carry on an affair with the Buddhist monk Huaiyi and during the next few years, Huaiyi would be bestowed with progressively greater honours.

Meanwhile, she installed copper mailboxes outside the imperial government buildings to encourage the people of the realm to report secretly on others, as she suspected many officials of opposing her. Exploiting these beliefs of hers, secret police officials began to rise in power and to carry out systematic false accusations, tortures, and executions of individuals.

Chinese order of succession did not allow a woman to ascend the throne, but Wu Zetian was determined to quash the opposition and the use of the secret police did not subside, but continued, after her taking the throne. While her organization of the civil service system was criticized for its laxity of the promotion of officials, nonetheless, Wu Zetian was considered capable of evaluating the performance of the officials once they were in office.

In 690, Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her and established the Zhou dynasty, with herself as the ruler (Huangdi).

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The early part of her reign was characterized by secret police terror, which moderated as the years went by. She was, on the other hand, recognized as a capable and attentive ruler even by traditional historians who despised her, and her ability at selecting capable men to serve as officials was admired throughout the rest of the Tang dynasty as well as in subsequent dynasties.

Shortly after Wu Zetian took the throne, she elevated the status of Buddhism above that of Taoism, officially sanctioning Buddhism by building temples and created nine senior monks as dukes.

Meanwhile, the power of the secret police officials continued to increase, until they appeared to be curbed starting in about 692. Also in 692, Wu Zetian commissioned the general Wang Xiaojie to attack the Tibetan Empire, and Wang recaptured the four garrisons of the Western Regions that had fallen to the Tibetan Empire in 670.

Wu Zetian's administration was soon in for various troubles on the western and then northern borders, however. A much more serious threat arose in summer 696. Armies that Wu Zetian sent to suppress Li and Sun's rebellion were defeated by Khitan forces. Wu Zetian tried to allay the situation by making peace with Ashina Mochuo at fairly costly terms.

Meanwhile, around this time, Wu Zetian began relationships with two new lovers—the brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, who became honored within the palace and were eventually created dukes.

As Wu Zetian grew older, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong became increasingly powerful, and even the princes of the Wu clan flattered them. She also increasingly relied on them to handle the affairs of state.  Despite her old age, however, Wu Zetian continued to be interested in finding talented officials and promoting them.

In winter 704, Wu Zetian became seriously ill for a period, and only the Zhang brothers were allowed to see her; the chancellors were not. This led to speculation that Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were plotting to take over the throne, and there were repeated accusations of treason.

By spring 705, Wu Zetian was seriously ill again.  On 21 February, an edict was issued in her name that made Li Xian regent, and on 22 February, an edict was issued in her name passing the throne to Li Xian. On 23 February, Li Xian formally retook the throne, and the next day, Wu Zetian, under heavy guard, was moved to the subsidiary palace, Shangyang Palace but was nevertheless honoured with the title of Empress Regnant.

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Wu Zetian's consolidation of power in part relied on a system of spies. She used informants to choose persons to eliminate, a process which peaked in 697, with the wholesale demotion, exile, or killing of various aristocratic families and scholars, furthermore prohibiting their sons from holding office.

One apparatus of government which fell into Wu's power was the imperial examination system: the basic theory and practice of which was to recruit into government service those men who were the best educated, talented, and having the best potential to perform their duties, and to do so by testing a pool of candidates in order to determine this objectively. This pool was male only, and the qualified pool of candidates and resulting placements into official positions was on a relatively small scale at the time of Wu's assuming control of government. Wu Zetian continued to use the imperial examination system to recruit civil servants, and she introduced major changes in regard to the system that she inherited, including increasing the pool of candidates permitted to take the test, by allowing commoners and gentry, who were previously disqualified by their background, to take them.

Wu Zetian eliminated many of her real, potential, or perceived rivals to power by means of death (including execution, suicide by command, and more-or-less directly killing people), demotion, and exile. Mostly this was carried out by her secret police.

Wu targeted various individuals, including many in her own family and her extended family. Besides this, she also altered the ancient balance of power in China, dating back to the Qin dynasty. Through a process of eliminating or diminishing the power of the established aristocracy, whom she perceived as disloyal to her, and establishing a reformed upper class in China loyal to her, Wu Zetian made major social changes which are still being evaluated by historians.

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Many of Wu Zetian's measures were of a popular nature, and helped her to gain support for her rule. Wu Zetian came to power during a time in China in which the people were fairly contented, the administration was run well, and the economy was characterized by rising living standards.^[3] Wu Zetian, as far as the masses were for the most part concerned, continued in this manner. She was determined that free, self-sufficient farmers would continue to work on their own farm land, so she periodically used the juntian, equal-field system, together with updated census figures to ensure fair land allocations, re-allocating as necessary.^[30] Much of her success was due to her various edicts (including those known as her "Acts of Grace") which helped to satisfy the needs of the lower classes through various acts of relief, her widening recruitment to government service to include previously excluded gentry and commoners, and by her generous promotions and pay raises for the lower ranks.

Wu Zetian used her military and diplomatic skills to enhance her position. The fubing system of self-supportive soldier-farmer colonies, which provided local militia and labor services for her government, allowed her to maintain her armed forces at reduced expense.^[30] She also pursued a policy of military action to expand the empire to its furthest extent ever up to that point in Central Asia.

In 690, Empress Dowager Wu's cousin's son Zong Qinke submitted a number of modified Chinese characters intended to showcase Empress Dowager Wu's greatness.

Beside her own literary work, Wu Zetian's court was a focus of literary creativity. Forty-six of Wu's poems are collected in the Quan Tangshi "Collected Tang Poems" and sixty-one essays under her name are recorded in the Quan Tangwen "Collected Tang Essays". Although a lot of those writings serve political ends, there is one poem in which she laments her mother after she died and expresses her despair at not being able to see her again.

Wu Zetian also engaged in patronage of scholars by founding an institute to produce the Collection of Biographies of Famous Women.

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For many centuries, Wu was used by the establishment as an example of what can go wrong when a woman is placed in charge.Such sexist opposition to her was only lifted during the late 1960s when Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing rehabilitated Wu as part of a propaganda campaign to suggest she be considered as a successor to her ailing husband.

In his biography Wu, British author Jonathan Clements has pointed out that these wildly differing uses of a historical figure often have led to schizophrenic and often hysterical characterizations. Many alleged poisonings and other incidents, such as the premature death of her daughter, may have rational explanations that have been twisted by later opponents.

The traditional Chinese historical view on Wu Zetian generally was mixed—admiring her for her abilities in governing the state, but vilifying her for her actions in seizing imperial power. Wu Zetian's rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Confucian historians^{[citation needed]}, but has been viewed in a different and positive light after the 1950s. In the early period of the Tang dynasty, because all the emperors were her direct descendants, the evaluation for Wu Zetian were relatively positive.