Wu Zetian

Wu Zhao was born in 624. Sources differ on her birthplace: Lizhou (now Guangyuan in Sichuan), Wenshui, or the capital Chang'an. Her father worked in the timber trade and held senior posts under the first Tang emperors, including governor of Lizhou and Jingzhou. The family was relatively well-off.

Around the age of fourteen she entered the court of Emperor Taizong as a cairen, a concubine of the fifth rank, where she had a secretarial role. She bore him no children. After his death in 649, childless concubines were by custom placed in a Buddhist monastery; tradition says she went to Ganye Temple, although some modern historians doubt that course of events.

In 655 she became empress consort of Gaozong, Taizong's successor. After the emperor's stroke around 660 she exercised authority in practice. After his death in 683 she remained the real power as empress dowager: in 684 she deposed her son Zhongzong after a few weeks and placed Ruizong on the throne as a nominal emperor.

In 690 she took the title of emperor (huangdi) herself and founded the Zhou dynasty, against the prevailing rules of succession. She expanded the civil service examinations, introduced a palace examination and a military examination, supported Buddhism, and used informants and a secret police against suspected opponents.

The Tang dynasty (618–907) had been founded not long before and was run by an official elite in which aristocratic families from the north-west had considerable influence. Chang'an was the capital and Luoyang the eastern capital. Confucian thought assigned imperial power to men; a woman founding her own dynasty broke with all precedent and met resistance.

Buddhism had great influence at court and among the population. She used Buddhist texts, including a commentary on the Great Cloud Sutra, to justify her claim to the throne, and had Dayun temples built in the prefectures around the two capitals. Confucian officials held to the idea that only men could rule.

The expansion of the examination system (693) opened offices to candidates without aristocratic descent and gave people from the North China Plain greater representation. Historians still discuss the consequences for the composition of the elite. Chancellors such as Di Renjie served under her, and even hostile historians recognised her ability to choose capable officials.

At the same time her government affected many courtiers and officials. Secret police officials such as Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen carried out false accusations, torture and executions; from about 692 their power declined, and after Lai's death in 697 this period largely ended. Many victims were later posthumously rehabilitated.

In February 705 Zhang Jianzhi and other officials forced her to abdicate in a coup (the Shenlong coup); her son Zhongzong was restored and the Tang dynasty returned. She died on 16 December 705 in Luoyang. In 706 she was interred together with Gaozong in the Qianling Mausoleum near Chang'an.

The official histories were written by Confucian scholars, including Sima Guang, who rejected a female ruler on the basis of their norms, even though they acknowledged her competence. Stories that she had her own children killed come from that tradition and are disputed by some modern historians. She remains the only woman to have ruled China as emperor.

Because nearly all detailed accounts come from Confucian circles, judgement of her government is hard to separate from that bias. Modern historians therefore read the sources critically and assess her use of power and her administrative measures, such as the examination reform, separately. Assessments differ between researchers.