Power
without Permission:
The
Rise to Power of China’s Only Female Monarch
What does it take for a girl born
from a modest background in a male-dominated world to rise to the greatest
position of power in the known world? It seems to have taken an extraordinary
amount of wit, intelligence, and bravery, but also no small part of
ruthlessness and manipulation. Emperor Wu Zetian ruled over the Tang Dynasty of
China for half of a century and became China’s first and only female Emperor,
ruling in her own right as monarch for the last fifteen years of her life
(FitzGerald). The
contemporary poet Luo Binwang portrayed Wu as an enchantress, saying “All fell
before her moth brows. She whispered slander from behind her sleeves, and
swayed her master with vixen flirting” (Dash). She has been demonized as a
monster of the ancient world, cold, cruel, and murderous, but perhaps that
reputation is merely the price she has paid for daring to be a woman who took
power for herself in a man’s world. Her rule seems to have been no more
ruthless than the male power players preceding and proceeding her reign, and
she is credited with unifying a crumbling China and overseeing one of the most
prosperous times in Chinese history (Dash). Her life was one of great intrigue,
seduction, and controversy. How much of the tales are truth and how much is
rumor is often difficult to calculate but it’s a fascinating story to explore.
China’s most powerful woman was
born in the year 624 in Wenshui, China, located in what is now the Shanxi
province as Wu Zhao (FitzGerald). She grew up in a China that had already been
fully immersed in the ideals of Confucianism. Confucianism dictated that women
are of a lower social status than men and should remain subservient to them as
their masters, for as “father guides son, husband guides wife”, and women
should always adhere to the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety,
wisdom and sincerity (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004). However, the Tang Dynasty was
also was a time of relative freedom for women and many women were able to
contribute in the areas of culture and politics (“Biographies: Empress Wu
Zetian” 1996). It was a time of cultural revolution, during which women were
allowed to be financially independent and be educated in philosophy, culture,
art, and social ethics. Divorce became allowable as long as it was a mutual
endeavor (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004). Born to a lesser noble family, Wu was taught
from an early age to read, write and play music, and at a young age she became
known for her wit, talent, and exceptional beauty (“Biographies: Empress Wu
Zetian” 1996).
At the age of fourteen, Wu Zhao
was selected to come to the emperor’s palace as a Cai Ren, or lesser concubine
fifth in rank. The emperor renamed her Mei Niang, meaning “charming and
lovely”, but there is no indication that she ever served the emperor sexually.
She did serve as his secretary for twelve years. Doing this gave her an
intimate lesson into the inner workings of governing (“Biographies: Empress Wu
Zetian” 1996). The emperor died in 649 when Wu was twenty-six. As tradition
insisted, she was sent to a nunnery to have her head shaved and spend the rest
of her life in abstinence, as it would have been insulting to the dead emperor
for any man to touch her after she had belonged to him (“Wu Zetian” 2003). This
could have been the end to Wu’s chapter in history, were it not for the
emperor’s son, Gaozong. During Wu’s time in the palace, it is obvious that
Gaozong became enamored with Wu and some historians believe they had a physical
affair before the old emperor’s death, which could have cost Wu her head had
they been caught (Dash). Within two to three years of becoming emperor, and
after several personal visits to the temple, Gaozong shirked tradition and went
to the nunnery to retrieve Wu Zhao and bring her back to the palace as his own
concubine now second in rank, and he gave her the title Zhao Yi (“Tang Empress
Wu Zetian” 624-705).
Apparently dissatisfied with
stagnating as a mere concubine, Wu quickly began a political battle within the
palace to win the new emperor’s favor and attain more power for herself. She
had two sons by the emperor, which granted her considerable approval with him but
also considerable resentment from the empress and other concubines (“Wu Zetian”
2003). Most historians believe that she even went so far as to kill her own two
week old infant baby girl so that she could blame it on the last person to hold
the child, Empress Wang (“Biographies: Empress Wu Zetian” 1996). However, she
was obviously never blamed for this crime in her lifetime, and the Empress had
already begun to resent Wu as a potential threat (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004). It
is possible that history portrays her far more brutally than she may have
actually been since many who wrote of her were men who saw her as a usurper and
an evil murderer with the “heart of a serpent” (Dash). In any case, the death
of Wu’s infant daughter disgraced Empress Wang, who was demoted and eventually
executed along with one of the higher ranking concubines Wang was close to. Legend
says that Wu ordered both women’s hands and feet to be cut off and their
mutilated bodies tossed into a vat of wine to drown. However, Wu was never
credited with such a thing in her life and this tale may have been an
historical exaggeration played off of a much older story regarding Empress Lu
Zhi from the Han-era B.C.E. who eliminated her romantic rival by gouging out her
eyes, cutting off her limbs, burning her vocal cords with acid, and tossing her
in a cesspit (Dash). In the year 655 Emperor Gaozong made Wu his Empress with
the title Wu Zhao (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004).
Historians depict the Emperor as a
weak-minded and sickly ruler, although the accusations of being weak-minded may
stem from resentful men at the time who noticed that the emperor actually
listened to and considered many of Empress Wu’s ideas about agriculture, tax
reduction, social reforms and effective labor saving practices and they
essentially ruled together (“Wu Zetian” 2003). The emperor was definitely
sickly and had a severe stroke within the first five years of his marriage to
Wu, after which administrative rule was handed over to the empress. Wu began to
acquire real power under the pretext of assisting the Emperor in ruling the
state. In 674, Emperor Gaozong changed his title into Tian Huang, or “Emperor
of Heaven”, Empress Wu Zetian changed her title into Tian Hou, which means
“Empress of Heaven”, and commoners called them Er Sheng, or “two gods” (“Tang Empress Wu Zetian”
624-705). She appeared alongside the emperor every time he held court on a
throne level to his. The couple became known as “the Holy Sovereigns”, and the
emperor was merely an icon who ruled in name only (“Wu Zetian” 2003). She
established a secret police force to spy on her opposition and did not shy away
from executing or imprisoning those who stood against her, even family members (“Biographies:
Empress Wu Zetian” 1996). It is easy to understand why she did this, for there
would have been extraordinarily strong disapproval from many in court who
resented the idea of a woman rising to greater and greater power. None of her
actions would have been so considered unreasonable or unexpected had she been a
man (Dash).
After Emperor Gaozong’s death in
683, Wu's third son, Li Xian, ascended to the throne and was named Emperor
Zhongzong. In February of the following year however, Wu overthrew Zhongzong and
banished him because he was difficult to control and replaced him with his
younger brother and her fourth son, Li Dan, who was entitled Emperor Ruizong. Empress
Wu ruled the empire through him, who did as she instructed him to do (“Wu
Zetian” 2003). A rebellion was attempted by Tang loyalists and officials from
the south, who were defeated in a few weeks with the loyal cooperation of the
royal army under the Empress’s command, which served as an efficient
demonstration of her power (FitzGerald).
In order to further secure her power
and challenge the Confucian rules for women, Wu began to implement methods of
elevating women in the minds of the people. She gave high political posts to
members of her mother’s family, she had biographers write about famous women in
history, and she supposedly said that the ideal ruler “was one who ruled like a
mother does over her children” (“Biographies: Empress Wu Zetian” 1996). She
also declared that children were to mourn both parents, rather than just their
father, as tradition previously dictated (Dash).
In 690, Wu’s weak-minded son
removed himself from power at his mother’s behest and she finally assumed
absolute power for herself under the legitimate title of Emperor and became
Emperor Wu Zetian (“Biographies: Empress Wu Zetian” 1996). She declared the
empire was henceforth ruled by the Zhou Dynasty from her capital city Luoyang (“Wu
Zetian” 2003). She ruled for over fifteen years as emperor from the age of 65
without revolt (FitzGerald).
Emperor Wu’s cunning and unapologetic
climb to supremacy appears to have been motivated by a genuine desire to be a
benign and decent ruler to the common people. In the fifteen years of her rule
as emperor, she reduced the size of China’s army while still protecting Chinese
borders and the Silk Road, reduced the military’s influence over government by
implementing scholars into power and requiring government officials to pass
various exams before being granted authority (“Biographies: Empress Wu Zetian”
1996). She also revised
the exams so that no man of ability would be excluded due to his social status.
She personally interviewed many candidates herself (“Wu Zetian” 2003). She
lowered taxes on peasants, leading to increased agricultural production,
improved irrigation techniques, and implemented a number of public works
projects (“Biographies: Empress Wu Zetian” 1996). Although she was quick to rid
herself of direct threats to her power, she was known to listen to her critics,
as long as they did not present themselves as political opponents. She even
respected and rewarded those who offered sound guidance and initiative (“Empress
Wu Zetian” 2004).
Towards the end of her life, it
is believed that she kept a harem of men at her sexual disposal, just as
emperors traditionally kept a harem of concubines (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004).
She showed particular favor for two fair faced artistic young men, the Zhang
brothers, who frequented her private chambers (FitzGerald). As her health began
to fail, she reinstated her banished son, Li Xian, as crowned prince, but did
not abdicate her authority until she was bed ridden and unable to perform her
duties. Li Xian ascended to the throne in 705 as Emperor Zhongzong again and
restored the Tang Dynasty, but Wu was still called Supreme Empress. The Zhang
brothers were executed by the new emperor apparently to eliminate any potential
threats, once again indicating how very typical Wu’s level ruthlessness was in
the quest for absolute power (“Empress Wu Zetian” 2004).
In December of the same year that
she handed over power, at the age of 82, Emperor Wu Zetian died. She was buried
alongside Emperor Gaozong in the Qianling Tomb, located west of what is now
Xi'an City (“Wu Zetian” 2003). Her tomb is located in a very remote,
inaccessible place within the mountain at the end of a snaking forest path.
No-one knows what secrets or treasures lies inside for no one has ever opened
the tomb (Dash). So in death, as in life, Wu seems destined to be shrouded in a
cloud of obscurity, mystery and allure. Perhaps she was as cruel and cold as
she is depicted by many historians, but I choose to believe that her efforts to
improve the lives of peasants, as well as the level of love, admiration, and
affection she inspired in her husband and loyalists, indicates that perhaps
there was more to her than just cruelty and blind ambition. Surely she must
have contained warmth and depth that has long been lost in the fogs of time,
likely concealed purposefully by her during her life to maintain an image of
infallible strength. Besides, her methods were no more brutal than the rule of
her predecessors. As Cersei, another ruthless albeit fictitious female figure
says in the first season of the popular series Game of Thrones, "In the
game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground" (“Cersei
Lannister”).
Please feel free to join my journey and follow me on....
Twitter @ladyrhiannon824
Sources:
“Empress
Wu Zetian”. Ancient Worlds: The Orient.
N.p. 2004. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
FitzGerald,
Charles. “Wuhou: Empress of Tang dynasty.” Encyclopedia
Britannica Online.
dry ingredients:
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add wet ingredients. stir vigorously. Pour into pan of your choice. I use a rectangle 9 by 16 inch pan which I make non-stick use a little earth balance vegan butter.
When the brownies are pretty much done, take them out and sprinkle marshmallows and chocolate chips on top and put back into oven for 2-3 minutes or until the marshmallows have expanded and lightly browned and the chips are barely melted.
