Who was Wu Zhao?

Answer 1

Wu Zhao was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant. As de facto ruler of China first through her husband and her sons from 665 to 690, not unprecedented in Chinese history, she then broke all precedents when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou (?) (interrupting the Tang Dynasty), and ruled personally under the name Sacred and Divine Empress Regnant (????) and variations thereof from 690 to 705. Her rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Confucian historians but has been viewed under a different light after the 1950s

Answer 2

Wu Zhao (624-705) was Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty. Wu was her family name; Zhao was the personal name she adopted, using a written character she is said to have created herself. She is usually known as Empress Wu, or Wu Zetian. Zetian is an abbreviation of her posthumous title Zetian Huanghou (Empress Zetian).

She is famous for being the only woman to have ruled China as emperor and for establishing her own dynasty. At fourteen she was a palace lady in the harem of Emperor Taizong (r. 626-649) but managed to become the favourite and later the empress of the emperor's son and heir, Emperor Gaozong (r. 649-683). Her second husband was not a well young man and Wu Zetian gradually took over decision making and eventually became the de facto ruler of Tang China.

Upon her husband's death she put first one of her sons then another on the throne but for six years ruled in their place. Finally, in 690 she declared her own dynasty, the Zhou (690-705), and occupied the throne as emperor.

She was gently shunted aside in March 705, by which time she was into her eighties and quite ill, and died at the end of that year. The Tang dynasty was restored but Wu Zetian was not stripped of the title of emperor.

Although reviled for centuries by traditional scholars, her reign was generally humane and intelligent.

Answer 3

Wu Zhao was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant. As de facto ruler of China first through her husband and her sons from 665 to 690, not unprecedented in Chinese history, she then broke all precedents when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou (周) (interrupting the Tang Dynasty), and ruled personally under the name Sacred and Divine Empress Regnant (聖神皇帝) and variations thereof from 690 to 705. Her rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Confucian historians but has been viewed under a different light after the 1950s