C.P. (British Library, Shelfmark Or. Map: Wikicommons. The earliest sources on Wu Zetian already contained rumors of sex scandals in her court. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) She founded a secret police and conducted a reign of terror, justifying the mass executions on the grounds that discrimination against a womans open exercise of power forced her to use terror to defend her authority. 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. 1, 1993, pp. Her courtiers, however, hatched a plot and afterward forced her to abdicate in 705; she died later that year. To legitimize her position, Empress Wu turned mainly to Buddhism, proclaiming herself an incarnation of Maitreya (Mi-le), the Buddhist savior. Bellingham : EAS Press, 1978; Robert Van Gulik. Omens were extremely important to the people of ancient China and played a significant role in Tang politics. Reign of Terror. Unlike most young girls in China at this time, Wu was encouraged by her father to read and write and develop the intellectual skills which were traditionally reserved for males. One explanation for Wus success is that she listened. Guisso, Richard W.L. After his death, she married his son, Gaozong (r. 649-683 CE) and became empress consort but actually was the power behind the emperor. Sources about Wu Zetian's life are a hodgepodge, which some condemning her as the devil himself and others testifying she was an absolute angel. Empress Lu Zhi (241-180 B.C.) On a similar tone, she ordered that the mother of the Daoist sage Laozi (Lao Tzu, c. 600 bce) be honored. Changing the dynasty was the easier task and was accomplished by securing the approval of the Confucian establishment. Illustration. Empress Wu: Part XV of the Great Patron Series - Khyentse Foundation If Wu Zetian is judged by the traditional female virtues of chastity and modesty, then she falls short of expectations. We care about our planet! Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. 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. 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. Five Historical Plays. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. Encyclopedia.com. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 683-704 CE) of the Tang Dynasty. She thus arranged marriages between her children and grandchildren with her brothers' sons and their grandchildren. Traditionally, only the emperor, as the son-of-heaven, could communicate with heaven and carry out sacrifices to heaven and earth. Wills, John E., Jr. "Empress Wu," in Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. False: In fact, the Roman Empire was in decline at this time. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. To reinforce her legitimacy, Wu Zetian also invented about a dozen characters with a new script. 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.