Traditional historians grudgingly acknowledged that she surpassed her sons, the legitimate heirs, in both vision and statecraft. From 697 onward she found it so diffi-cult to win support that she attempted to return the throne to her son Zhongzong. First emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Quin Shi Huang-di (259 B.C.-210 B.C.) How did a woman with such limited expectations as Wu emerge triumphant in the cutthroat world of the Tang court? Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. Of all these female rulers, though, none has aroused so much controversy, or wielded such great power, as a monarch whose real achievements and characterremain obscured behind layers of obloquy. 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. "The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung," in Denis Twitchett, ed., Cambridge History of China. Nationality/Culture One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. It was used for religious rites supervised by her lover Xue Huaiyi. 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. provided her with a string of virile lovers such as one lusty, big-limbed lout of a peddler, whom she allowed to frequent her private apartments. 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. unified China in 221 B.C. 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. Not only do we pay for our servers, but also for related services such as our content delivery network, Google Workspace, email, and much more. Han Emperor Wen, r. 180-157 BCE . Empress Wu Zetian - Naked History 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. 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. Character Overview 22 Feb. 2023 . . Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. These women were rarely chosen by their people. Wu was the daughter of Wu Jin, a commoner in Kaifeng. 3rd Series. 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, 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. Web. Even though many at court congratulated her on being favored by the gods, many others did not. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. Historians have documented Wu Zetian's resort to slander, torture, and murders to reinforce the propaganda of omens. Jiu Tangshu [Old history of the Tang]. They came to power, mostly, by default or stealth; a king had no sons, or an intelligent queen usurped the powers of her useless husband. "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) 181. And does she deserve the harsh verdict that history has passed on her? Wu's rise to power was ruthless and her reign no less so, as she continued to eliminate rivals and opponents using tactics that were sometimes brutal. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. She whispered slander from behind her sleeves, and swayed her master with vixen flirting and insisted that she was the arch manipulator of an unprecedented series of scandals that, over two reigns and many years, cleared her path to the throne. There must also be some doubt as to whether Wu really was guilty of some of the most monstrous crimes that history has charged her with. . 2023 Smithsonian Magazine One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. 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.. Long a supporter of Buddhism through her mother's devotion and her own refuge in the nunnery after her first husband Taizong's death, Wu Zetian counted on Buddhist ideology to legitimize her reign and her dynasty. Pronunciation: Woo-jeh-ten. She was in very poor health anyway by this time and died a year later. How Did Empress Wu Influence The Tang Dynasty Essay McMullen, David. Her reign witnessed a healthy growth in the population; when she died in 705 her centralized bureaucracy regulated the social life and economic well-being of the 60 million people in the empire. She was the power behind the throne from Gaozong's death in 683 CE until she proclaimed herself openly in 690 CE and ruled as emperor of China until a year before her death in 705 CE, at the age of 81. The Analects of Confucius Primary Source Activity - Google Drive - Print & Digital. 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. Her extravagant construction projects and expensive frontier campaigns had exhausted the treasury, which led to a financial crisis. One of these served as her new personal name, Zhao, which articulates the fundamental Buddhist notion of universal emptiness. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. 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. What role, if any, the undeniably ambitious concubine played in the events of the early Tang period remains a matter of controversy. The system of Neo-Confucianism of which Chu Hsi is regarded as the spo, Mutsuhito Economic considerations also played a role in this relocation. To consolidate her power, in 657 Wu designated Luoyang as a second capital. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, "Wu Zetian (624705) Ho-shen (1750-1799) was a high Manchu official in the government of the Ch'ing dynasty in China and a close associate of Emperor Ch'ien-lung.. Two brothers, known as the Zhang Brothers, were her favorites and she spent most of her time in closed quarters with them. . As we know, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Wu Zetian is believed to have been born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province around 624 CE. Not until 705, when she was more than 80 years old, was Wu finally overthrown by yet another sonone whom she had banished years before. Please support World History Encyclopedia. Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century. Territorial Expansion. She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective and controversial monarchs in China's history. Primary Sources with DBQs | Asia for Educators - Columbia University After the latter died in 684, she took on four or five lovers, including a monk whom she ordered executed when weary of his greed and abuse of power. Historical Significance - Empress Wu Zetian:Tang Empress - Weebly Her travel writing debuts in Timeless Travels Magazine. Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) 627-705 First female monarch Sources Rise to Power. Hauppauge : Nova Science Publishers, 2003; Richard Guisso, Wu Tse-Tien and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. . 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. souls of those who died in the atomic bomb attacks, Wu disposed of her enemies, first the former empress and then the high-ranking officials, who had strongly opposed her rise. They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. Instead, it was left without any inscriptionthe only such example in more than 2,000 years of Chinese history. Privacy Statement No contemporary image of the empress exists. 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. Became concubine to Emperor Taizong (640); entered Buddhist nunnery (649); returned to the palace as concubine (654), then as empress (657) to Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong; became empress dowager and regent to her two sons (68489); founded a dynasty (Zhou, 690705) and ruled as emperor for 15 years. Justinian. In the largest cave there is a statue called the Grand Vairocana Buddha. 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. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. A huge stele was erected outside the tomb, as was customary, which later historians were supposed to inscribe with Empress Wu's great deeds but the marker remains blank. 1, Sui and T'ang, pp. June 2, 2022 by by She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. The mute and limbless concubine was then tossed into a cesspit in the palace with the swine. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. Hong Kong: Cosmos, 1994. Emperor Wu of Han - Wikipedia Wuplayed here by Li Lihuawas depicted as powerful and sexually assertive in the Shaw Brothers 1963 Hong Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien. World History Encyclopedia. After this event Wu became Empress and shared Imperial power equally with her emperor. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshi County, Shanxi Province, in 624 CE to a wealthy family. The famed imperial mosaics in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna depict the sixth-century Byzantine empress. Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism The Woman Who Discovered Printing. Princess Taiping put an end to her plans when she had Wei and her family murdered and put her brother Ruizong on the throne. Edward Schafer, The Divine Women: Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in Tang Literature (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973). Shanghai: Sibu congkan ed., 1929. 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. Mary Anderson. Her upright Confucian minister, Di Renjie (d. 700, the protagonist of Robert van Gulik's popular Judge Dee detective novels), convinced her to bring back her son, the deposed emperor Zhongzong, to be appointed as her successor. Web. Not only do we pay for our servers, but also for related services such as our content delivery network, Google Workspace, email, and much more. 127148. 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). For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Founder of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuang-yin (927-976) ended the practice of frequent military coups, which had exhausted China for mor, https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705, Mandate from Heaven: The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Attaining that position first required Wu to engineer her escape from a nunnery after Taizongs deaththe concubines of all deceased emperors customarily had their heads shaved and were immured in convents for the rest of their lives, since it would have been an insult to the dead ruler had any other man sullied themand to return to the palace under Gaozongs protection before entrancing the new emperor, removing empress Wang and the Pure Concubine, promoting members of her own family to positions of power, and eventually establishing herself as fully her husbands equal. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Mutsuhito World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Empress Wu, the first and only female emperor of Imperial China. The emperor believed her story, and Wang was demoted and imprisoned in a distant part of the palace, soon to be joined by the Pure Concubine. 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. On the Korean peninsula Empress Wu supported the unification movement under the state of Silla. Name variations: Wu Ze-tian; Wu Chao, Wu Hou, or Wu Zhao; Wu Mei or Wu Meiliang; Wu Tse-t'ien, Wo Tsetien, or Wu Tso Tien; Wu of Hwang Ho or Huang He; Empress Wu, Lady Wu. Empress Wu: Part XV of the Great Patron Series - Khyentse Foundation Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. 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. Mark, Emily. 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. empress wu primary sources. Shortly after she took the throne there was an earthquake which was interpreted as a bad omen. . 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. New Capital. empress wu primary sources C.P. According to Anderson, servants. Thank you for your help! 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. Wills, John E., Jr. "Empress Wu," in Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. Luoyang was favorably located on the last stop of the river routes from the South, which greatly reduced the cost of shipping grains from the Southeast to the imperial capital. 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. Thus the Wu family was now elevated to the imperial house. Before Smithsonian.com, Dash authored the award-winning blog A Blast From the Past. 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.) Ch'ien-lung (1711-1799) was the fourth emperor of the Ch'ing, or Manchu, dynasty in China. Under Wus rule the government was expanded, and many of the new positions were filled through the examination system. 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 In 690 C.E., Zetian forced Li Dan to abdicate the throne to her, and declared herself the founding empress of the Zhou dynasty. Wu Zetian. At these pilgrimage sites, rituals were performed which established a link between the standing Buddha and the ruler. Traders from the Mediterranean and Persia also came from both the overland and maritime trade routes, where Buddhism and Central Asian culture, dress, and music reached China. She has published historical essays and poetry. Wu is said to have potentially killed her own. At a nunnery she established, Empress Komyo sponsored the creation of a statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon which, like Wu Zetians statue at Longmen, was felt to be done in her likeness. To legitimize her position, Empress Wu turned mainly to Buddhism, proclaiming herself an incarnation of Maitreya (Mi-le), the Buddhist savior. They are regarded as important by historians because they show how far Wu went in trying to create a new world in China under her reign: she even wanted to change the words they used. Princes and ministers loyal to the Tang Dynasty and princes suspected of rebellious motives against her were executed. Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. 04 Mar 2023. Give me three tools to tame that wild horse. She wanted to make it clear that a new kind of ruler had taken the throne of China and a new order had arrived. She commissioned statues of the Maitreya in the Longmen Caves outside Luoyang. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. Chu Hsi (1130-1200) was one of the greatest Chinese scholars and philosophers. In 674 CE, Gaozong took the title Tian Huang (Emperor of Heaven) and Wu changed her own to Tian Hou (Empress of Heaven). (2016, February 22). Even though there were many important and influential women throughout China's history, only one ever became the most powerful political figure in the country. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Overall Wu Zetian was a decisive, capable ruler in the roles of empress, empress dowager, and emperor. Empress Dowager. Already in 674 she had drafted 12 policy directives ranging from encouraging agriculture to formulating social rules of conduct. In death, as in life, then, Wu remains controversial. Replacing the dynasty and imperial house through Confucian ideology still could not legitimize a woman on the throne. If it still won't be tamed, I'll cut its throat with the knife. Thank you! The baby was strangled in her crib and Wu claimed that Lady Wang had killed her because she was jealous. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. Still, this did not mean the women were not jealous of the favor the emperor showed Wu now that she had given birth to two sons in a row. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty. Encyclopedia.com. Mike Dash "Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu," in Denis Twitchett, ed. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. In the last three decades, Marxist historiography on Wu Zetian in Mainland China has yielded a positive but unreliable and ideologically charged reappraisal. Cite This Work Sunzi/Sun Wu, Eastern Zhou Period (770-221 BCE) Selections from the Sunzi: Art of War [PDF] Agriculture, Han Period. "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) the empress, greatly weakened by infirmity and old age, would allow no one but the Zhang brothers by her side. In her last years Wu lost influence, although she remained energetic and cruel. The Tang Dynasty also witnessed significant military, political, and social changes, as reflected in the transformation of an aristocracy into a meritocracy from the 7th to the 10th centuries. Barretts recent book even suggests (on no firm evidence) that the empress was the most important early promoter of printing in the world. 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. correct answers: the roman empire constructed significantly more roads and developed inland economic resources more extensively than its predecessors the roman empire integrated many Greek and Phoenician trade routes, regional products and trade cities into its own economic system Her usurpation marked a significant social revolution, the rise of a new class, which the empress tried to use in her struggle against the traditionalist, northwest nobility. She particularly supported Huayan Buddhism, which regarded Vairocana Buddha as the center of the world, much as Empress Wu wished to be the center of political power. 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). R. W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-ten and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978). Yet it was this series of events that cleared the way for Gaozongs, and hence Wus, accession. This mountain, so born of the sudden convulsion of earth, represents a calamity. Recent revisionist reappraisals have focused on the feminist slant of her rule and her record as an emperor rather than a woman, but no new primary sources have appeared to resolve conflicting information and gaps in her biography. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. . We are told that through cruel manipulations, including strangulating her own infant daughter to falsely implicate Gaozong's then current barren empress, Wu Zetian replaced her as empress in 657 and dominated the rest of Gaozong's reign. She, like Lady Wei, had paid careful attention to the reign of Wu Zetian and thought she would be able to manipulate Xuanzong as her mother had Gaozong. After his death, she married his son, Gaozong (r. 649-683 CE) and became empress consort but actually was the power behind the emperor. World Eras. Wei had her father appointed Chief Minister to her husband and tried to push through other measures favoring her family. Lineage In her seventies, Wu showered special favor on two smooth-cheeked brothers, the Zhang brothers, former boy singers, the nature of whose private relationship with their imperial mistress has never been precisely determined. On the question of succession after her death, Wu Zetian entertained notions of an heir from a Wu and Li marriage.
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