Chapter Twenty - Wu Zetian

CHAPTER TWENTY

Wu Zetian

IN THE WORLD of ancient China, women weren’t supposed to rule.
Not govern.
Not lead armies.
Not tell men what to do.

But Wu Zetian?
She didn’t care what “supposed to” meant.

She clawed her way up through the Tang Dynasty, played politics like chess, and crowned herself emperor.
Not queen. Not empress.
The Son of Heaven.

She was born in 624 CE to a noble family.
At 14, she entered the court of Emperor Taizong as a concubine.
But when Taizong died, Wu should’ve been sent to a monastery to become a nun.

Instead?
She seduced his son.

When Emperor Gaozong took the throne, he brought her back, breaking every rule.

She didn’t just become his wife.
She became his mind.

As his health failed, she began ruling in his name.
Then alongside him.
Then instead of him.

She wrote edicts.
She crushed enemies.
She built alliances.

When he died?
She made her move.

Wu declared her son emperor.
Then forced him to abdicate.
Then made another son emperor.
Then got rid of him too.

Finally, she said, "Enough."

In 690 CE, she declared herself Emperor of China.
The first and only woman to do it.

She founded her own dynasty, the Wu Zhou Dynasty, and ruled for 15 years.

And while history tried to bury her, the facts refused.

Was she ruthless?
Absolutely.

She allegedly killed rivals, exiled dissenters, and used a secret police force to silence opposition.

But she also promoted merit-based hiring in government, boosted agriculture, education, and arts, elevated Buddhism as a state religion, which gave her moral authority, and supported scholars and poets.

She didn’t just break the system.
She rebuilt it and made it better.

Eventually, age and enemies caught up with her.
She was forced to abdicate in 705 CE.
She died soon after.

Her dynasty was downplayed in official records.
Her reign minimized.
Her name dragged for centuries.

But today she’s recognized for what she was, a ruler who beat the system and made it bow.