Wu Zetian

Life

Her father, Wu Shiyue, served as Minister of Works and military governor of Jingzhou and was ennobled as Duke of Ying; her mother was Yang, and her siblings included Wu Yuanqing, Wu Yuanshuang, and sisters. At fourteen she entered the palace as a Cairen of Emperor Taizong, received the appellation Wu Mei, and after Taizong’s death shaved her head to become a Buddhist nun at Ganye Temple.

Recalled to court under Gaozong, she was appointed Zhaoyi and advanced to Chenfei. In Yonghui 6 (655) she became empress and took part in state decisions; in Shangyuan 1 (674) she received the title Tianhou. Gaozong and she were known as the “Two Sages.” After Gaozong’s death in Hongdao 1 (683), she assumed direct rule from the court and successively deposed Zhongzong and Ruizong.

She exercised de facto control of government for more than forty years. Her use of talent included promoting Chen Zi’ang after being impressed by his answers, relying on Di Renjie, and ordering Shangguan Wan’er to participate in deciding the memorials of the central offices; she also favored the harsh investigators Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli.

In Zaichu 1 (690), she proclaimed herself Shengshen Huangdi, changed the dynastic name to Zhou, and inaugurated the Tianshou era. The regime is known as Wu Zhou and lasted until 705. Accounts differ on the length of her imperial reign, giving sixteen or twenty-two years.

Her rule combined the persecution of Tang imperial kinsmen and the employment of harsh officials with encouragement of agriculture, administrative reform, and the selection of capable people; her political judgment and ability to use talent were associated with the emergence of many celebrated chief ministers. In her later years, extravagance, autocratic rule, and disorder at court were increasingly described as abuses of government.

In Shenlong 1 (705), Chancellor Zhang Jianzhi and others compelled her to yield the throne to Zhongzong, who was restored. She was moved to Shangyang Palace and stripped of the imperial title. She died that winter at Luoyang; her posthumous titles included Dasheng Zetian Huanghou, Zetian Dasheng Huanghou, and Zetian Shunsheng Huanghou, with the last fixed in 749, the eighth year of the Tianbao era.

Writings and literary activity

Wu Zetian was versed in literary and historical matters, was described as skilled in writing, and wrote poetry. She summoned Zhou Maosi, Fan Lübing, and other men of letters to compile the Yaolan, Zihai, and Yueshu Yaolu. She authored the hundred-volume Chuigong ji and the ten-volume Jinlun ji, both now lost; other titles attributed to her include Bailiao xinjie, Chen gui (Wu Zhao), Neifan yaolüe, Shaoyang zhengfan, Zishu yaolu, Qinggong jiyao, and Fenglou xinjie. Forty-six poems survive, together with three supplemented poems and one poem preface, while her prose was collected in four volumes of the Quan Tang wen.