FEMALE RULERS

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Wu Zetian: The Only Empress of China

The only woman in more than three millennia to rule China in her own right, Wu Zetian (624-705) was also one of the most controversial monarchs in Chinese history.

Renowned for her beauty, political acumen and tenacity, she was also manipulative, ruthless and outright murderous. Her ascendancy and reign were steeped in blood and terror, yet she remained overwhelmingly popular.

Empress Wu was without a doubt an extraordinary leader and woman – one who took every rule book and tore it to shreds. Here are 10 facts about the legendary ruler.

1. She started out as an imperial concubine

Wu Zetian was born into a rich family. Her father Wu Shiyue made sure that she was well-educated – a trait that was uncommon among women. She was encouraged to read and learn about governmental affairs, writing, literature and music.

At age 14, she was taken in to be an imperial concubine to Emperor Taizong (598-649). She began life at court in the laundry, but her beauty and intelligence inspired the emperor to make her his secretary.She was given the title of cairen, 5th ranked imperial consort. As concubine, she had sexual relations with the emperor in addition to serving as his secretary, playing music and reading poetry.

2. She had an affair with the emperor’s son

While Emperor Taizong was still alive, Wu had an affair with his youngest son, Li Zhu (628-683). When Taizong died in 649, Li succeeded him as Emperor Gaozong. As common practice after an emperor’s death, Wu and the other concubines had their heads shaved and were confined to a monastic temple to live out their lives in chastity.

However once Li Zhi became emperor, one of the first things he did was to send for Wu and have her brought back to court, even though he had a wife and other concubines. After Emperor Taizong died, Wu became concubine to his son, Emperor Gaozong (Credit: British Library).

By the early 650s Wu was the official concubine of Emperor Gaozong, and held the title of zhaoyi – the highest ranking of the 9 concubines of the second rank.

3. She may have murdered her own baby

In 654, shortly after she gave birth to a daughter, the baby died. Wu accused Empress Wang – the wife of Emperor Gaozong – of murder.

The emperor was convinced Wang had strangled the baby out of jealousy, and she was eventually deposed. In 655, Wu became Gaozong’s new empress consort.

Traditional folklore and historians believe Wu may have killed her own child to frame Empress Wang in a power struggle.

Dan meets up with Total War: Three Kingdoms game developers Pete Stewart and Dominique Starr to discuss fact and fiction within gaming narratives and the historical research undertaken to give a realistic representation.

4. She deposed her sons to become empress

Upon the death of Emperor Gaozong in 683, Wu became empress dowager and her son Li Zhe (656-710) took the throne as Emperor Zhongzong.

The new emperor immediately showed signs of disobeying his mother, so Empress Dowager Wu and her allies deposed him and sent him into exile.

Wu replaced him with her youngest son Li Dan, who became Emperor Ruizong (662-716). Ruizong remained a virtual prisoner, appearing at no imperial functions and was never moved into the imperial quarters.

In 690, Wu deposed her son and declared herself huangdi or “Empress Regnant”.

5. She established her own dynasty

Having forced her son to yield his throne, Empress Regnant Wu proclaimed herself as the ruler of the new “Zhou dynasty”, named after the historical Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC).

From 690 to 705, the Chinese Empire was known as the Zhou dynasty. However the traditional historical view is to discount Wu’s “Zhou dynasty”.

Since by definition dynasties involve the succession of rulers from one family, and Wu’s “Zhou dynasty” began and ended with her, it does not meet the traditional concept of a dynasty.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking