Empress Wu Zetian

By Laurel A. Rockefeller

The most hated woman in Chinese history!

Travel back in time over one thousand years and meet the first and only female emperor of China. Born Wu Zhao and given the reign title "Zetian" just weeks before her death in 705 CE, Empress Wu was the unwanted daughter of Chancellor Wu Shihuo -- too bright, too educated, and too politically focused to make a good wife according to contemporary interpretations of the Analects of Confucius.

Married off at age 14 as a low-ranking concubine to Emperor Taizong, Wu’s intelligence, beauty, and charm won her a place as his secretary and protégé, political experience that would empower her to transform the lives of countless billions.

Explore the life of Empress Wu and discover why the world is a vastly different place because she dared what no woman in China before or since ever dreamed of.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laurel A. Rockefeller
• Release date: Apr 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311467935

Laurel A. Rockefeller

Born, raised, and educated in Lincoln, Nebraska USA Laurel A. Rockefeller’s passion for animals comes through in everything she writes. First self-published in 2012 as social science fiction author (the Peers of Beinan series), Laurel has expanded her work into the animal care/guide, history, historical fiction, and biography genres.Find Laurel’s books in digital, paperback, and hardcover in your choice of up to ten languages, including Welsh, Chinese, and Dutch. Audio editions are published in all four available languages for audible: English, French, Spanish, and German.Besides advocating for animals and related environmental causes, Laurel A. Rockefeller is a passionate educator dedicated to improving history literacy worldwide, especially as it relates to women’s accomplishments. In her spare time, Laurel enjoys spending time with her cockatiels, travelling to historic places, and watching classic motion pictures and classic television series.

Book preview

Empress Wu Zetian

By Laurel A. Rockefeller

Cover painting by Helen Monwuba

This book is a work of narrative history based on events in the life of Chinese Empress Wu Zetian and constructed using primary and secondary historical sources, commentary, and research.

Consulted sources appear at the end of this book. Interpretation of source material is at the author’s discretion and utilized within the scope of the author’s imagination, including names, events, and historical details.

Pinyin Romanization is used exclusively in the text of this book. When applicable names using other Romanization systems such as Wade-Giles were converted into pinyin for consistency and accurate pronunciation of Chinese words.

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Table of Contents

Prologue

chapter one: cai ren

Chapter Two: zhaoyi

Chapter three: Real power

Epilogue

Timeline

Suggested Reading

about this series

Prologue:

Miss? Miss, where do you think you are going? asked the British soldier gruffly, grabbing the arm of the well-dressed teenaged girl walking down Dongjiaomin Lane, her dark brown hair contrasting against her ruby-encrusted hair pin.

Hands off me, barbarian! snarled Hua-Lin with fire in her green eyes. I am no coolie, no slave! Who do you think you are grabbing me as if I were some animal?

Three soldiers joined the first soldier, surrounding Hua-Lin menacingly. Closing in close to her body, they fondled the silk of her finely embroidered Manchu gown, its design marking her as a great-granddaughter of the Qianlong Emperor. Laughing, the youngest of the soldiers unbuttoned two of the buttons over her chest securing her gown together while the others pinned her arms behind her back, his intent only too clear to the noble Hua-Lin, May the ravens and falcons of Abka Hehe devour your heart!

As if an answer to her prayer, a British captain strode up behind the gang barking authoritatively, Why you pathetic excuse for a soldier! You dare call yourself Englishmen! Be gone with you and confine yourself to barracks until further notice!

Sir! Yes sir! saluted the