Women who Ruled

Wu Zetian- 武則天

The exact place and date of Wu's birth is uncertain but the most commonly accepted one is she was born on February 17, 624, in Lizhou (now Guangyuan, Sichuan province), where she spent the majority of her childhood. Her family was relatively wealthy, her mother, Yang Shi, was from a prominent family and her father, Wu Shiyue, who was a timber merchant until he met Liyuan, the Emperor of Sui. Wu Zetian had two brothers, Yuanqing and Yuanshang, from Shiyue's first wife, Xiangli, as well as two sisters. 

Liyuan went on to overthrow Emperor Yang, founding the Tang Dynasty. After taking the throne he took on the name, Gaozu. He was amicable with the Wu's, since Wu Shiyue was a trusted confidante and a key player in founding the Tang dynasty. While she was growing up Wu lived a very privileged life, travelling with her father to the places he governed. From a young age she was taught to read, write and play music. She was instilled with an appreciation for the Chinese classics, from this she gained political awareness and a broad knowledge of other areas. Which predictably, wasn't common for women at the time, however in the Tang dynasty, women were given a reasonable amount of freedom, in comparison to other dynasties. Women were still expected to perform tasks like needlework and caring for their husbands and children. 

When Gaozu was overthrown in 626, by his son, Li Shimin (later known as, Taizong), Wu's father was stripped of his power and position. Li Shimin would go on to marry Wu Zetian several years later. In 637, when Wu was 14 she was brought to Taizong's court as a cairen (fifth rank concubine). For a brief period, Wu was in Taizong's favor, thanks to her beauty and intelligence; he gave her the title Meiniang, meaning "charming lady", though is theorized could have had a sensual connotation. But when Taizong appointed her as his personal secretary and discovered her natural gift for politics, rumors began spreading that "Wu would replace Li". After this Taizong began distancing himself from Wu. After being a cairen for 12 years and the emperor showing next to no affection, Taizong died in 649. Wu never bore him no children and her rank as a cairen never changed. According to court protocol she was sent to become a Buddhist nun, at the Gan-Yeh convent, as she was a childless concubine. 

However her chance to return to court came soon after, in the time she was disregarded by Taizong, she formed a close relationship with his son, Li Zhi, who became Emperor Gaozong. Her two main sources of competition when she returned to court were, Gaozong's Empress Wang and Consort Xiao. Wang was getting desperate, despite being empress she had fallen out of favor with the emperor, after failing to bear him children. While Xiao had a son, a great honor in the Tang dynasty. Empress Wang was also aware of Gaozong's affection for Wu so she aided in the return of Wu, in hopes that another beautiful concubine would draw the emperor's attention away from Consort Xiao. Wu quickly climbed the ranks, from her rank as cairen to zhaoyi (second only to the empress). Wu bore him two sons, Li Hong and Li Zhi. But she was ambitious and made quick work of her two rivals, after learning they planned to join forces to ruin her. It is said she framed Empress Wang for murdering her daughter and had the two women beaten to death and their bodies disposed of in wine barrels. The official report said Wang had no sons and had been practicing black magic.

After the disposal of her two rivals Wu finally became empress. A number of officials at court refused to acknowledge Wu as empress but their protests were to be in vain, Gaozong was determined to elevate Wu to the highest position in court. After Wu became empress, she removed all the voices who spoke out against her including, Zhangsun Wuji, Gaozong's uncle. In 660, Gaozong began suffering from severe migraines and temporary blindness, which is now recognized as hypertension but it was rumored Wu had been slowly administering poison to him. It was at this point that Gaozong had Wu take over the affairs of government and the court, which she took in stride, furthering the suspicions of those at court. 

As Gaozong's illness worsened at an alarming rate, Wu sought to gain power through a number of routes, she had officials compose multiple works on her behalf. A number of nefarious events also occurred during this time, including the death of her step son, Li Hong. He was believed to have confronted Wu about her heavy involvement in political affairs and it is said she had him silenced. She than had Gaozong appoint Li Xian as the next in line to the throne, after she had Consort Xiao's last living son, Suijie, demoted. Unfortunately a short time later, Xian found out Wu wasn't his birthmother but instead his real mother's killer. His real mother was believed to be, the Lady of Han, who is the consort of a previous emperor. He was furious about this and he too confronted Wu who retaliated by charging him with several crimes and sending him into exile. Her son, Li Zhe took his place.

Gaozong died in 683, and Li Zhe inherited the throne and took the title of, Emperor Zhongzong but it was his mother, who became the defacto ruler as Empress Dowager and regent. Yet again after butting heads with his mother, Li Zhe was exiled and replaced with Wu's third son, Li Dan (Emperor Ruizong), who is said to be a puppet for his ravenously ambitious mother. In the year 690 she finally signed the official papers, declaring her as sole ruler, subsequently changing the name of the dynasty to Zhou. Wu Zetian is the only woman in Chinese history to ever rule China as emperor. 

Despite all the horrendous things she reportedly did, including killing her own baby daughter to solidify power, having her two rivals killed after returning to court and having most of her sons deposed and sent into exile; China flourished under her reign. It isn't hard to see why she is such a controversial figure, according to Tang Dynasty law (and all court laws before and after the fact), women aren't even supposed to be able to inherit the throne. According to historians during the Zhou (which Wu founded), women were able to achieve a much higher status than women in most of the other dynasties. And since most of the later Tang dynasty emperors were her descendants, she was viewed by them in a fairly positive light, however by the Song dynasty (960-1279 AD), when Neo-Confucianism (a newer form of Confucianism) became more popular views and opinions her change drastically. Women were viewed as inferior to men and therefore many accounts of her took on a misogynistic stance, to this day she is both commended and hated; she is admired for being able to have achieved something no other woman had but also looked upon with disdain for the cruel and inhumane ways she climbed that ladder to power. Nonetheless Wu is also credited with stimulating the economy and as an art and literature enthusiast, she paved the way for cultural advancement in China. 

Wu Zetian fell seriously ill in the winter of 704 and the only people allowed to visit her sickbed, were the Zhang brothers, Yizhi and Changzong (they were lovers she had taken at some point, who also became highly influential later on). In the spring of 705, the Zhang brothers were executed for treason and officials had Changsheng Hall (Wu's current residence) surrounded and forced her to abdicate the throne to Li Zhe. On February 23, Li Zhe reclaimed his title and despite their past conflict, honored his mother with the title, Empress Regent Zetian Dasheng. Li Zhe brought the short lived Zhou dynasty to an end, restoring China's "Golden Age", the Tang. Wu Zetian died on Dec 14 and her son buried her alongside his father, Emperor Gaozong. 

https://heroinesofhistory.wikispaces.com/Wu+Zetian