Wu Zetian

(noun)

A Chinese sovereign who ruled unofficially as empress consort and empress dowager, and then officially as empress regnan during the brief Zhou dynasty, which interrupted the Tang dynasty.

Related Terms

Examples of Wu Zetian in the following topics:

  • The Literati

    • A pivotal point in the development of imperial examinations emerged with the rise of Wu Zetian, later Empress Wu.
    • Wu Zetian was exceptional; a woman not of the Li family, she came to occupy the seat of the emperor in an official manner in 690, and even before that she had begun to stretch her power within the imperial courts behind the scenes.
    • In 655, Wu Zetian graduated forty-four candidates with the jinshi degree, and during one seven-year period the annual average of exam takers graduated with a jinshi degree was greater than fifty-eight persons per year.
    • Wu lavished favors on the newly graduated jinshi degree-holders, increasing the prestige associated with this path of attaining a government career.
    • Wu thus developed a nucleus of elite bureaucrats useful from the perspective of control by the central government.

  • The Rise of the Han Dynasty

    • One of the most exalted Han emperors was Emperor Wu, who ruled from 141-87 BCE.
    • Emperor Wu experimented with socialism, and made Confucianism the single official philosophy.
    • Emperor Wu also reformed the Chinese economy and nationalized the salt and iron industries, and he initiated reforms that made farming more efficient.
    • Through Emperor Wu's southern and western conquests, the Han Dynasty made contact with the Indian cultural sphere.
    • A portrait of Emperor Wu, one of the most influential rulers of the Han Dynasty.

  • Fall of the Ming Dynasty

    • When Li Zicheng moved against him, the Ming general Wu Sangui shifted his alliance to the Manchus.
    • Li Zicheng was defeated at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the joint forces of Wu Sangui and Manchu prince Dorgon.
    • On June 6, the Manchus and Wu entered the capital and proclaimed the young Shunzhi Emperor as Emperor of China.
    • He then fought off several rebellions, such as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories led by Wu Sangui in southern China, starting in 1673, and then countered by launching a series of campaigns that expanded his empire.

  • Advancements Under the Shang

    • A chariot burial site at Anyang (modern-day Henan) dates to the rule of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1200 BCE).

  • Origins of the Song Dynasty

    • This included the conquests of Nanping, Wu-Yue, Southern Han, Later Shu, and Southern Tang in the south as well as the Northern Han and the Sixteen Prefectures in the north.
    • Consolidation in the south was completed in 978, with the conquest of Wu-Yue.

  • Shang Religion

    • This oracle bone from the Shang Dynasty dates to the reign of King Wu Ding.

  • The Eastern Han Period

    • This ended the Han Dynasty, and started a period of conflict between these three states, called Cao Wei, Eastern Wu and Shu Han.

  • The Silk Road

    • Emperor Wu repelled the invading barbarians (the Xiongnu, or Huns, a nomadic-pastoralist warrior people from the Eurasian steppe) and roughly doubled the size of the empire, claiming lands that included Korea, Manchuria, and even part of Turkistan.

  • Invention of Paper

    • Paper used to wrap bronze mirrors has been dated to the reign of Emperor Wu in the 2nd century BCE.

  • Rise of the Tang Dynasty

    • For the next hundred years, several Tang leaders ruled, including a woman, Empress Wu, whose rise to power was achieved through cruel and calculating tactics but made room for the prominent role of women in the imperial court.
    • Wu's rule was actually a short break in the Tang dynasty, as she established the short-lived Zhou dynasty; the Tang dynasty was restored after her rule.