Xin Tangshu [New history of the Tang]. Wu was now raised to the position of first wife of Gaozong and empress of China. Primary Sources with DBQsCHINA 4000 - 1000 BCE Ancestral Rites and Divination . She established a policy so that informants could be paid to travel by public transportation to report to the court. Taizong was so impressed at her intellectual abilities, he took her out of the laundry and made her his secretary. A brother or a clan grandson at times ascended the throne during usurpation or when the emperor died without issue, but female succession through descent from a daughter was never permitted. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. If so, their hopes were in vain; Empress Wu Zetian is remembered today as one of the greatest rulers in China's history. 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. Complete List of Included Worksheets Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document. She was also the most important early supporter of the alien religion of Buddhism, which during her rule surpassed the native Confucian and Daoist faiths in influence within the Tang realm. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. 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. Even though many at court congratulated her on being favored by the gods, many others did not. Van Gulik, Robert. 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). None of these actions, though, would have attracted criticism had she been a man. In 652 CE, Wu gave birth to a son, Li Hong, and in 653 CE had another son, Li Xian. The Demonization of Empress Wu : r/history - reddit 3, no. Creating overpowering statues, like the one at Longmen, was important. The critical Anderson concedes that, under Wu, military expenses were reduced, taxes cut, salaries of deserving officials raised, retirees given a viable pension, and vast royal lands near the capital turned over to husbandry.. To entrench her biological family as the imperial house, she bestowed imperial honors to her ancestors through posthumous enthronement and constructed seven temples for imperial sacrifices. Beginning in 660 CE, Wu was effectively the emperor of China. World History Encyclopedia. She was also assured that her sons would rule the country after the death of her husband. At these pilgrimage sites, rituals were performed which established a link between the standing Buddha and the ruler. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. ." The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. 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. 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. How to evaluate such an unprecedented figure today? Wu Zetian turned to the Buddhist establishment to rationalize her position. By 655 she had consolidated her position after her son inherited the throne. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705. In 697 CE, Wu's hold on power began to slip when she became more paranoid and began spending more time with her young lovers than on ruling China. T.H. When she was an infant dressed in boy's clothes, Wu Zetian's potential for emperorship was predicted by an official. 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. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Empress Dowager. 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. 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. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) 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'. Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/empress-wu-wu-zhao. Thereafter the empress favored Confucianism. Empress Wu (Song dynasty) - Wikipedia 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). The founding emperor of a dynasty and his descendants constituted the imperial family, which through male succession produced emperors who were normally the eldest son born to the empress. 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. empress wu primary sources - tiba-constructions.com If Wu Zetian is judged by the traditional female virtues of chastity and modesty, then she falls short of expectations. Gaozong fell for it and the Empress Wang was put to death. $1.99. Setting up a new dynasty meant installing a new imperial family to replace the Li-Tang imperial house, from which she had married two emperors who were father and son, Taizong and Gaozong. After rising to power, Wu tried to remove from power the representatives of the northwestern aristocracy, who had controlled the government from the beginning of the dynasty through the medium of the imperial chancellery. Traditional historians grudgingly acknowledged that she surpassed her sons, the legitimate heirs, in both vision and statecraft. 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. 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. 77116. 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. 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. The term Confucianism is derived from Confucius, the convention. 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 primary sources 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. But in 705, when she was 81 years old, the combined forces of the Li-Tang family took advantage of her weakening grip on the state and removed her from power. The Fall of Kaifeng [ edit] In 1126, Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son, Emperor Qinzong, the elder brother of Gaozong. Modern popular novels and plays, in Chinese, Japanese, and English, also exaggerate the sexual aspect of her rule. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. 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. "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. Empress Wu proved to be a wise monarch, and in her reign of twenty years she continued many policies and practices of her predecessors. When Wu could no longer tolerate her daughter-in-law's antics and disrespect, and her son's refusal to discipline her and obey Wu's dictates, she had him charged with treason and banished along with his wife. Terms of Use Justinian. It was customary, when a dynasty changed, to re-set history. Download Full Size Image. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). 04 Mar 2023. She began her life at court as a concubine of the emperor Taizong. This institution became a political weapon in the hands of Empress Wu when she usurped the throne in 690. 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. This mountain, so born of the sudden convulsion of earth, represents a calamity. Born: February 17, 624 Lizhou, China Died: December 16, 705 in Luoyang, China Reign: October 16, 690 to February 22, 705 Best known for: The only woman to be Emperor of China Biography: Empress Wu Zetian by Unknown [Public Domain] Growing Up Wu Zetian was born on February 17, 624 in Lizhou, China. She appears in influential plays as a feminist and champion of the lower classes while her male rivals are shown to be aristocrats, landlords, and conservatives against the tide of history. Empress Wu was buried in a tomb in Qian County, Shanxi Province, alongside Gaozong. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. 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. 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. By the fourth century CE, the Roman Empire was at the apex of its power and strength. 1, 1993, pp. Wu Zetian (624-705) | Encyclopedia.com Emily Mark studied history and philosophy at Tianjin University, China and English at SUNY New Paltz, NY. The historians always portray Wu as ruthless, conniving, scheming, and bloodthirsty, and she may have been all of these things, she may have even murdered her daughter to gain the throne, but any of these claims should only be accepted after considering their source. In 690, she declared herself emperor after deposing her sons and founding her own dynastyZhou. For centuries she was excoriated by Chinese historians as an offender against a way of life. Edward Schafer, The Divine Women: Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in Tang Literature (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973). During her Tang Dynasty reign, the practice of Chinese Buddhism is known to have reached its height and influence. Wu Zetian Biography, Facts & Quotes | Who was Empress Wu? | Study.com speckle park bull sales 2021 847-461-9794; empress wu primary sources. As an effective woman ruler, she challenged the traditional patriarchical dominance of power, state, sovereignty, monarchy, and political ideology. The Confucian dynastic system of government, based on the mandate of heaven, or the claim of heaven-sanctioned military conquest and benevolent rule, was first propounded by the Zhou Dynasty in 1045 bce and perpetuated by subsequent dynasties until 1911. Fitzgeraldwho reminds us that Tang China emerged from 400 years of discord and civil warwrites, Without Wu there would have been no long enduring Tang dynasty and perhaps no lasting unity of China, while in a generally favorable portrayal, Guisso argues that Wu was not so different from most emperors: The empress was a woman of her times. Cite This Work Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism Carved in limestone, the colossal statue is reputed to have been carved in Wus own likeness. Wuplayed here by Li Lihuawas depicted as powerful and sexually assertive in the Shaw Brothers 1963 Hong Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien. Give me three tools to tame that wild horse. Her extravagant construction projects and expensive frontier campaigns had exhausted the treasury, which led to a financial crisis. The Turkic chieftain was insulted by the fact that the groom did not come from the Li-Tang imperial family but descended from what he perceived to be the inferior Wu clan, so he promptly imprisoned the unlucky groom and in 698 returned him to China. The Controversial Empress Wu - Travel Through Time Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. Gaozong divorced his wife, barred her mother from the palace, and exiled Lady Xiao. 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.) Even her gravesite is remarkable. womeninworldhistory.com. If it still won't be tamed, I'll cut its throat with the knife. 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. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. 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. C.P. Overall Wu Zetian was a decisive, capable ruler in the roles of empress, empress dowager, and emperor. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) It could also be, like it was in Egypt after Queen Hatshepsut's reign, that no one in power wanted to record the reign of a woman and hoped that Empress Wu would be forgotten. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. June 2, 2022 by by Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. Wang was the last person seen in the room and had no alibi. Thank you for your help! published on 22 February 2016. Privacy Statement She ordered the executions of several hundred of these aristocrats and of many members of the imperial family of Li. 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. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. The cambridge history has a fascinating take on this period - the author of the chapter on Wu's reign keeps reminding the reader that the imperium was peaceful; the economy was booming; government was rational, efficient and effective; and a parade of highly qualified top officials presided. A 17th-century Chinese depiction of Wu, from Empress Wu of the Zhou, published c.1690. Empress Wu Zetian ruled as Chinas only female emperor. 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. Although modern historians, both east and west, have revised the ancient depiction of Wu Zetian as a scheming usurper, that view of her reign still persists in much that is written about her. 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. 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. Her social, economic and judicial views could hardly be termed advanced, and her politics differed from those of her predecessors chiefly in their greater pragmatism and ruthlessness. Even the terror of the 680s, in this view, was a logical response to entrenched bureaucratic opposition to Wus rule. (British Library, Shelfmark Or. Encyclopedia.com. One of these served as her new personal name, Zhao, which articulates the fundamental Buddhist notion of universal emptiness. And while Chinas imperial chronicles were too rigidly run and too highly developed for Wus name to be simply wiped from their pages, the stern disapproval of the Confucian mandarins who compiled the records can still be read 1,500 years later. (February 23, 2023). The baby was strangled in her crib and Wu claimed that Lady Wang had killed her because she was jealous. Rise to Power. In death, as in life, then, Wu remains controversial. One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. Lyn Reese is the author of all the information on this website Such killings were not uncommon among emperors before and after her. A history known as the Comprehensive Mirror records that, during the 690s, 36 senior bureaucrats were executed or forced to commit suicide, and a thousand members of their families enslaved. Wu: the Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become A Living God. 181. She worked against the Confucian dictum that women must restrict their activities to the home and in the wildest imagination could not become emperors. Sunzi/Sun Wu, Eastern Zhou Period (770-221 BCE) Selections from the Sunzi: Art of War [PDF] Agriculture, Han Period. Palace ladies of the Tang dynasty, from a contemporary wall painting in an imperial tomb in Shaanxi. Still, Xuanzong continued many of Wu's policies, including keeping her reforms in taxation, agriculture, and education. Jay, Jennifer W. "Vignettes of Chinese Women in Tang Xi'an (618906): Individualism in Wu Zetian, Yang Guifei, Yu Xuanji and Li Wa," in Chinese Culture. Mutsuhito (also known as Meiji Tenno; 1852-1912) was a Japanese emperor, who became the symbol for, and encouraged, the dramatic, Quin Shi Huang-Di Empress and emperor appear at the center of each scene, larger than the other figures to show their importance, bedecked in imperial purple, and sporting . Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. Wu Zetian was one of the longest-lived monarchs (82 years old) in Chinese history. Bellingham, WA: Center for Asian Studies, Western Washington University, 1978. Her travel writing debuts in Timeless Travels Magazine. 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. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Wu Zetian's politics can be considered as feminist initiatives to reinforce the legitimacy of women in the political arena. Wu also took back lands which had been invaded by the Goturks under the reign of Taizong and distributed them so that they were not all held by the aristocrats. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. In 674 CE, Gaozong took the title Tian Huang (Emperor of Heaven) and Wu changed her own to Tian Hou (Empress of Heaven). Just how accurate this picture of Wu is remains a matter of debate. She replaced Zhongzong with her second son, who became Emperor Ruizong. 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. Add to . "Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu," in Denis Twitchett, ed. Agricultural production under Wu's reign increased to an all-time high. 6, no. Though Wu was unusually well-read and self-willed for a mere concubine, she had only one real advantage over her higher-ranked rivals: Her duties included changing the imperial sheets, which potentially gave her bedroom access to Taizong. Reign of Terror. Guisso says, that empowered informers of any social class to travel at public expense. She also maintained an efficient secret police and instituted a reign of terror among the imperial bureaucracy. How did she hold on to power? 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. Buddhists Support. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. Amherst : Prometheus Books, 1990; T.H. . But 28 other consorts still stood between her and the throne. She maintained a stable economy and a moderate taxation for the peasantry. Instead, it was left without any inscriptionthe only such example in more than 2,000 years of Chinese history. Wu also learned to play music, write poetry, and speak well in public. 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. 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. World History Encyclopedia, 17 Mar 2016. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. If it does not yield, I'll hit it with the iron hammer. The Chinese Bell Murders. No area of Chinese life was untouched by Empress Wu and her reforms were so popular because the suggestions came from the people. 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. Ruthless and decisive, she stabilized and consolidated the Tang dynasty at a time when it appeared to be crumblinga significant achievement, since the Tang period is reckoned the golden age of Chinese civilization. Wu placed her first son on the throne who took the royal title Zhongzong. Given Tang Chinas rich history of inter-regional connections and communications with its East Asian neighbors, it is not surprising that Wus sponsorship of Buddhism resulted in a flurry of scholarly exchanges, and the construction of many new pilgrimage Buddhist sites. Jiu Tangshu [Old history of the Tang]. When Gaozong died in 683 CE, Wu took control of the government as empress dowager, placing two of her sons on the throne and removing them almost as quickly. The empress even promoted what might loosely be termed womens rights, publishing (albeit as part of her own legitimation campaign)Biographies of Famous Women and requiring children to mourn both parents, rather than merely their father, as had been the practice hitherto. Vol. ." Controversial ruler of Tang China who dominated Chinese politics for half a century, first as empress, then as empress-dowager, and finally as emperor of the Zhou Dynasty (690705) that she founded .
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