Wu empress biography template
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Empress Wu (Wu Zhao)
627-705
First female monarch
Sources
Rise to Power. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating women’s intellectual development and sexual freedom. Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). In defiance of convention Emperor Gaozong started an affair with her, and she bore him a son in 652. She then began to plot against Gaozong’s consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wu’s infant daughter. By 655 she had consolidated her position after her son inherited the throne. Wu disposed of her enemies, first the former empress and then the high-ranking officials, who had strongly opposed her rise.
New Capital. To consolidate her power, in 657 Wu designated Luoyang as a second capital. By transferring the normal seat of the court from Chang’an to Luoyang, she was able to escape the control of the
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Wu Zetian’s (bloody?) Image Through the Ages
When Americans like me think of famous female rulers, we tend to imagine the queens of England: either of the Elizabeths, perhaps Victoria. Elizabeth I, especially, holds a place in people’s hearts because of her speech to the soldiers when facing the Spanish Armada.
Of similar hardcoreness, though for very different reasons, is a female monarch from a world and a millennia away: Wu Zetian (???) (or other names such as Wu Hou, depending on what time period of her life you’re talking about). Empress Wu was the only female ruler of China in the recorded 3000 years of its dynasties, from the first Emporer Qin to Emperor Puyi. Sure, some women were powers behind the throne and used puppet Emporers to perform their schemes, but Wu was the only one to do it outright.
And, if the non-contemporary tales about her are to be believed, she did it with a trail of blood. Writers said she killed her infant daughter in a ploy to gain le
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The only legitimate female sovereign in the history of China
Overview
武则天
Wu Zetian
Wu Meiniang 武媚娘, Wu Zhao 武曌, Wu Hou 武后, Empress Zetian 则天皇后
17 February, 624
16 månad, 705
Establish Wuzhou 建立武周
Become the only orthodox female kejsare in kinesisk history 成为中国历史上唯一的正统女皇帝
Reform the imperial examination struktur 改革科举制度
Reform the administration of officials 改革吏治
Brief Biography of Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian 武则天, the founding monarch of the Wu Zhou Dynasty 武周时期, was a politician from the Tang Dynasty 唐朝 to the Wu Zhou Dynasty, and the only orthodox female kejsare in kinesisk history, one of the oldest (67 years old) emperors to ascend the throne and one of the longest-lived (82 years old) emperors.
Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui 文水 County, Bingzhou 并州 (now Wenshui County 文水县, Luliang City 吕梁市, Shanxi Province 山西省), fryst vatten the second daughter of Wu Shiyue 武士彟, a warrior who made great contributions to the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
In the 11th year of Zhenguan 贞观 (637), Wu