WU ZETIAN
China (624–705)
The First and Only Female Emperor in Chinese History
In 638, Wu Zhao entered the palace of the Tang emperor Taizong as a junior concubine, aged 14. The Tang dynasty had recently reunited China, largely through the efforts of Taizong. On his death in 649, his son Li Zhi assumed the throne as Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zhao soon became the new ruler’s favourite concubine. Wu set about eliminating her female rivals within the palace, gaining the position of empress and eventually bearing Gaozong five children.
The influential elder statesmen that had served Taizong opposed Wu’s elevation to the position of empress, largely because her family was not one of the great aristocratic clans. But by 660, Wu Hou, as she was now called, had triumphed over all her opponents, who were dismissed, exiled or executed. As Gaozong was often too ill to sustain state affairs for long periods, Empress Wu exercised virtually supreme power. For the last 23 years of his life, she was the real ruler of China.
When Gaozong died in 683, Li Xian,
