Empress Wu Zetian of China

Wu Zetian (武則天) (625-705), reigning name Empress Wu (武后), is the only female regent of her own right in the history of China, founding her own dynasty -- the Zhou (周). Her rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Confucian historians but has been viewed under a different light after the 1950s.

Born Wu Zhao (照) in Wenshui (now in Shanxi) to Wu Shihuo (武士彠) and Lady Yang (陽氏), she began as a consort of the fifth grade (才人) of Emperor Taizong's harem and was given the name Wu Mei (武媚). A few years after his death in 649, she became the favorite of his son, Gaozong, as a concubine of the second grade with the title of Illustrious Virtues (照儀). She became empress herself in 655 after succeeded in discrediting Gaozong's wife, Empress Wang, by framing her for the killing of her baby (it is said that Wu Zetian herself had done the deed) and the Pure Concubine, Xiao Liangdi.

After Gaozong suffered a stroke, she began to govern China from behind the scenes through him and subsequent puppet emperors, only assuming power herself in 690, when she declared the Zhou Dynasty, named after his father's nominal posthumous fief (not to be confused with the ancient Zhou Dynasty). In that same year, she changed her given name's character to 曌, also pronounced Zhao but was an entirely new invention (among 11 other characters) to avoid taboo.

Her regime was characterized by Machiavellian cleverness and brutal despotism. She gained popular support by advocacy of Buddhism but ruthlessly persecuted her opponents within the royal family and the nobility. Traditional Chinese political theory did not allow a woman to ascend the throne and Empress Wu was determined to squash the opposition and promote loyal officials within the bureaucracy (see also the similar Salic law).

At the age of 72, her two lovers, the Zhang Brothers, were disposed of by courtiers. She abdicated, allowing the Tang Dynasty to resume, dying soon afterwards.

Although it was short-lived, some historians consider the establishment of this Zhou dynasty the result of better equality between the sexes during the succeeding Tang Dynasty.

Considering the events of her life literary allusions to Empress Wu can carry several connotations: a woman who has inappropriately overstepped her bounds, the hypocrisy of preaching compassion while simultaneously engaging in a pattern of corrupt and vicious behavior, and ruling by pulling strings in the background.

Zhou Dynasty (690 CE - 705 CE)

Convention: use personal name

Temple names Family name and first name Period of reign Era name and their according ranges of years

Wǔ Hòu(武后) Wú Zétiān (武則天) 684-705
Guāngzhái (光宅) 684
Chuígǒng (垂拱) 685-688
Yǒngchāng (永昌) 689
Zàichū (載初) 690
Tiānshòu (天授) 690-692
Rúyì (如意) 692
Chángshòu (長壽) 692-694
Yánzài (延載) 694
Zhèngshèng (證聖) 695
Tiāncèwànsuì (天冊萬歲) 695-696
Wànsuìdēngfēng (萬歲登封) 696
Wànsuìtōngtiān (萬歲通天) 696-697
Shéngōng (神功) 697
Shènglì (聖曆) 698-700
Jiǔshì (久視) 700
Dàzú (大足) 701
Cháng'ān (長安) 701-705

Empress Wu Zetian of China

Zhou Dynasty (690 CE - 705 CE)

Related Articles