Wu Tian

China is considered as one of the largest countries with an ancient civilization in the past thousands years. Out of its two thousand years of presence, and two hundred and forty-three emperors from the eleven major dynasties, there is only woman has ever ruled China. She is Empress Wu Zetian who’s cunning, malicious, and devious behavior would lead her to commit unthinkable acts against others as she tried to rise above her statues of a stain woman and sit on the dragon throne of China. There were many dramas and movies have been drawn the story of Empress Wu Zetian. In 2016, the version of the “The Empress of China” is the most current and engrave Empress Wu’ life-story in a colorful manner differently in the records of the historician.

Empress Wu is also known as Wu Houm Wu Chao, or Wu Tse T’ien (“Emulator of Heaven”). She was born in the year of 625 AD. She was raised in China during the Tang dynasty. Empress Wu was the daughter of Wu Shih-Hou, a rich and noble merchant at that time. The Tang Dynasty was a time of relative freedom for woman. Since Empress Wu lived during that period, she was well-educated at home. Like most other rich and noble people of her time, she was taught to play music, write, and read the Chinese Classics. She started out as a low-ranking concubine of the emperor of the Tang court, T’ai Tsung. She was well-known for her beauty, wit, and intelligence, and so that was why she was recruited to the Tang court at the early age of 13. It was the year of 638 AD when she was recruited. Soon after she went from a low-ranking concubine to his favorite concubine. When T’ai Tsung died in 652 AD, Empress Wu mourned his death and traditionally, she shaved off all her hair and became a nun.

Meanwhile, in the Tang court after T’ai Tsung’s death, T’ai Tsung’s son, Kao Tsung, became the emperor of the Tang court. When the emperor died and Kao Tsung took over, Wu was now twenty-seven years old. Kao Tsung’s empress, Empress Wang, was jealous of a new concubine that Kao Tsung gave much affection to. Her name was Tsaio Shu-Fei. She then ordered Empress Wu to grow her hair back and come back to the Tang court. Empress Wu did what she was told and came back. Empress Wang’s plan was to take away the affection that Kao Tsung gave to Hsaio Shu-Fei. Empress Wang’s plan worked out, but it also backfired on her. Empress Wu got Kao Tsung’s affection, but still, Empress Wang was not satisfied because she still did not get any affection. So then Empress Wang became jealous of Empress Wu and tried to get rid of her as well. Empress Wang’s jealousy grew when Empress Wu gave birth to a baby girl for Kao Tsung. Empress Wang was panicked and tried to spread rumors about Empress Wu, but Empress Wu was too clever for that.

In order to become the empress of Kao Tsung, Empress Wu had to find a way to get rid of Empress Wang. So then she killed her own daughter and framed Empress Wang for the murder. Kao Tsung believed Empress Wu and turn her to his new empress. Within five years of their marriage, Emperor Kao Tsung suffered a crippling stroke. The Empress Wu took over the administrative duties of the court, a position equal to the emperor. She created a secret police force to spy on her opposition, and cruelly jailed or killed anyone who stood in her way, including the unfortunate Empress Wang. With the death of Emperor Kao Tsung, Wu managed to outflank her eldest son and moved her youngest and then weaker sons, into power. She in effect ruled, telling them what to do.