Wu Zetian: the First and Only Empress of Imperial China

Did you know that Wu Zetian was the only woman to rule China on her own? Stick around to learn all about her. Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the first and only Empress of Imperial China, Wu Zetian. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organisation, so if you'd like to support our work you can head to our Patreon via the link in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Wu was born in 624 CE to a wealthy family and her father encouraged her to learn how to read and write as well as how to play music, the art of public speaking and how to compose poetry, even though these skills were usually reserved for males. There is not much more that we know about her childhood until she was selected to be a concubine for Emperor Taizong at the age of 14. She was very beautiful and Taizong called her Meineng, which means beautiful girl. As a concubine to the Emperor in Imperial China, you were expected to perform sexually as well as other responsibilities such as laundry or more specialised tasks like reading poetry or playing music. Wu started off working in the laundry until one day she spoke to Taizong and they talked about the history of China and he realised that she could read and write in addition to being beautiful and witty. Taizong removed her from the laundry and made her his secretary. This meant that Wu was privy to state and diplomatic affairs at the highest level and she very quickly became the Emperor's favourite. Whilst at court, Wu caught the attention of many young men, but most notably she gained the attention of Prince Li Ju, the son of Taizong. Whilst he was married and she was a concubine to his father, they had an affair. The rule for concubines of the Emperor in Imperial China was once the Emperor died, they would have their head shaved and be sent to live the rest of their lives as nuns. They couldn't be passed on and used by anyone else and sullied, so their lives at court were over and their new lives of chastity would begin. So when Taizong died, Wu's head was shaved and she was sent off with the rest of his concubines to be a nun. However, when Li Ju became Emperor and chose the royal title of Zhaozong, one of the first things he did was bring Wu back, not just as a concubine, but as his first concubine, even though he had a wife and other concubines, including Xiao Shufei, who was also known as pure concubine. Technically, she should have been living her life as a nun, but instead she was favoured over Zhaozong's wife, Empress Huang, and the other concubines. When it comes to sources about Wu and her life, it's difficult to discern the reality from the bias. Many of the sources were either written by the same handful of historians pushing a specific agenda of either Confucianism or being against the idea of having a woman in charge. Some were written by family members who held no love for Wu and some were written or worked on by Wu herself. So there is some uncertainty about what actually happened during her time in power. Zhaozong's wife had no children by him, but his concubine, Xiao Shufei, had a son and a daughter, and they were both jealous of Wu when she had her first son by Zhaozong in 652 and her second son in 653. Despite their jealousy that Wu had two sons in a row, they weren't worried that her sons would become emperors, since Zhaozong had already appointed his nephew, Lizong, as heir. Now, this next part of Wu's life is what she's best known for. In 654, she gave birth to a daughter and soon after the baby died. Wu blamed Empress Wang for the death since she was the last one to have been seen holding the baby. It was Wu's word against Wang's. Wu also accused Wang and her mother of practicing witchcraft and implicated Xiao Shufei in the process. Zhaozong believed Wu and so he divorced his wife and banished them all. Wu then ordered their arms and legs be cut off and their bodies to be thrown in a vat of wine so they would drown. Although at the time, Zhaozong believed Wu, later historians agree that Wu killed her own daughter in order to elevate her position. Whether she killed her daughter or Wang did, either way, Wu was elevated to the position of Zhaozong's first wife and empress and her sons became his heirs. From 660, she was pretty much acting within the realms of emperor as the power behind her husband. And even while she was pregnant with another daughter in 665, she was taking care of imperial business. Wu didn't seem to care what women were meant to do and not meant to do in the patriarchal system of imperial China. And so in 666, she took a group of women to the ancient ceremonial center on Mount Tai. There, they conducted rituals which were traditionally only performed by men. Then in 668, Wu organized military campaigns against Korea, which was so effective, Korea ultimately became a vassal state of China. By this time, Zhaozong was visually impaired and Wu was reading his reports to him. Whether she was telling him of her choices and movements or whether she was telling him the real reports at all is unknown. In 674, Zhaozong took the title of Tianhuang, which translates to emperor of heaven. And Wu took the title Tianhu, empress of heaven, which means they ruled as divine monarchs until Zhaozong died in 683. After the death of the emperor, Wu's son took the throne and assumed the royal title Zongzong. But his unwillingness to cooperate with his mother, who became regent, and his wife's grasping for power and favoring her family members over qualified people for important positions, led to Wu banishing them for treason. The fact she could do this to a reigning emperor and his wife says a lot about how powerful she was. She replaced her first son with her second son, who became known as Ruzong. He was kept in the inner palace and ultimately disappointed Wu to the point that she forced him to abdicate in 690. With both of her sons out of the way, Wu proclaimed herself emperor Wu Zixian, the only woman to sit on the imperial throne in China's history. The name Wu is associated with weapons and military force, and Zixian means ruler of the heavens, and she changed the name of the state from Tang to Zhu, or Tianzhu, which means granted by heaven. Then she had all the remaining Tang dynasty royal family imprisoned to secure her reign. As early as 660, Wu Zixian had initiated a secret police and spy network and dispersed her agents throughout the country as well as at her court. Having eyes and ears everywhere made it easy to eliminate threats before they even became a problem. High-ranking officials who weren't working to the standard that Wu expected were pressured to resign using the intelligence she gathered, or they were banished or executed. One of her reforms was in the government, where she didn't take into consideration family status or connections when appointing people to important positions. It's clear that under her reign, she was trying to disassociate herself from the Tang dynasty as much as possible, and even went so far as to try to change the way people wrote by adding new characters to the Chinese writing system. Although she is remembered as a ruthless leader, Wu Zixian actually established a lot of positive and successful reforms. By establishing a direct connection between herself and her people, she followed through with many of their suggestions, which made her reforms so popular. These changes included improving the public school education system, introducing a new system of tax, agricultural advances including written farming manuals and building ditches and irrigation, as well as redistributing land so that everyone had an equal share. Wu Zixian also introduced mandatory exams for the military to ensure competency in her commanders and no longer accepted family status and connection as qualifications for a position. She also reopened the Silk Road for trade after it had been closed off in 682 due to plague and nomad raids, which revitalized the economy. In 697, Wu started to become really paranoid, which caused her to either banish or execute anyone in her administration she suspected was disloyal. She spent much of her time now with her young lovers rather than actually ruling China, and although no one batted an eye at old emperors with young female concubines, her court wasn't impressed with the young men who kept her entertained. She had a favorite set of twins, the Zhang brothers, but after they were murdered, most likely due to their favor with the emperor, she was forced to abdicate in 704 and died at the age of 81 in 705. Wu Zetian was buried next to Zhao Zong, and as was customary for the emperors of China, a large stele was erected outside of her tomb, where her successors would be inscribed. However, her stele is the only one to remain uncarved, despite her popularity with the people of China. This may have been due to how ruthless she was at court, since it was rumored she killed other family members as well as her infant daughter in order to become empress. Or perhaps it is much like Thutmose III of Egypt, removing any mention or inscription of Hatshepsut, one of the only female monarchs in Egyptian history, in an attempt to erase the queen's accomplishments and so dissuade other women from following in her footsteps. Even though none of Wu's accomplishments were carved into her stele, they were remembered and written down elsewhere, even by people who did not think highly of her. These works preserved her story and Wu Zetian's rule has not been forgotten in the centuries since her reign. What do you think about the claims against Wu? Do you think she killed her daughter and other members of her family and court? Let us know what you think down in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel and hit that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. 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