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Throughout the free thousand-year-long history of China, exactly 558 men rose to the title of Emperor, just to get replaced or dethroned by one another. But among those hundreds of Emperors, only one woman managed to claw her way
Explore the rise and fall of Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor, her cunning path to power, and her 28-year rule during the Tang Dynasty.
Key Takeaways
- Wu Zetian was a unique female figure who broke gender norms in imperial China.
- Political intrigue and family rivalries heavily influenced succession in the Tang Dynasty.
- Wu's intelligence and ruthlessness allowed her to dominate a male-dominated political system.
- Her long rule was marked by strategic elimination of rivals and consolidation of power.
- Wu Zetian's story exemplifies the complexity and volatility of Chinese imperial politics.
Summary
- Wu Zetian was the only woman to become emperor in over a thousand years of Chinese history.
- She was born in 624 during the Tang Dynasty and initially became a concubine to Emperor Taizong.
- After Emperor Taizong's death, Wu maneuvered to influence his successor, Emperor Gaozong.
- Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne after a complex succession involving rival brothers and political intrigue.
- Wu Zetian outmaneuvered rivals including Empress Wang and concubine Xiao Shuvai to gain power.
- She effectively ruled as empress consort and then as regent after Gaozong suffered a stroke.
- Wu Zetian ruled the Tang Dynasty for 28 years, consolidating power and eliminating threats.
- Her reign ended after Gaozong's death, but she ensured her son remained emperor by removing other heirs.
- Wu was known for her ruthlessness and political savvy, shaping one of China's most unique reigns.
- The video highlights the complex dynastic politics and Wu Zetian's unprecedented rise as a female ruler.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Wu Zetian and Chinese imperial history
- 00:44Wu Zetian's early life in the Tang Dynasty
- 01:25Becoming a concubine and Emperor Taizong's death
- 02:11Succession struggle among Emperor Taizong's sons
- 02:52Li Zhi becomes Emperor Gaozong
- 03:53Wu Zetian's rise through palace intrigue
- 04:43Eliminating rivals and consolidating power
- 07:06Wu Zetian rules as regent after Gaozong's stroke
- 07:47Wu Zetian's reign and securing her son's throne
- 08:34Legacy and ruthlessness of Wu Zetian's rule
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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to the throne, and clawing she did. Historically facts, part two. This is Wu Zetian, born in the year 624 in a small city somewhere in the middle of China, or rather the Tang Dynasty. You see, as opposed to American history, where it
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simply started somewhere on the east coast and slowly expanded towards the west, then while growing breaks somewhere in the middle and then unites once again, China's history and borders are a hot diggity mess. But all you need to know
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for this video story is that China is now split up like this, and our spicy main character lives in the Tang Dynasty. Wu spent her teenage life like the average Chinese teenager, used to clean the house, learn how to cook, and wait
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till she reached the age to become a housewife for a considerably older man. In Chinese dynasty terms, that means around the age of 14, where she was presented as one of the candidates to become the current Emperor's concubine.
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And surprise, surprise, she, together with a dozen others, ended up being picked by the emperor himself. Now, to make sure we are all on the same page, being a concubine basically means being a honey monkey for the emperor, and usually
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that's all they end up achieving in their lives. But Wu was different, and she had a plan to become much more than that. And that plan started when the current Emperor, Emperor Taizong, passed away because of a terrible illness, which in
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Chinese dynasty terms means he got poisoned by Buddhists. Out of Taizong's nine sons, his younger son Lizi ended up becoming the next Emperor, and Wu immediately took advantage of the opportunity. However, the only way we can explain this opportunity is by taking a
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closer look at the newly appointed emperor Lizi. The first question that might have come to mind is how did the younger son end up getting the throne? Isn't it usually the oldest one? Well, yes it is. Lizi's case
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is a bit special, and we could even describe his road to the throne a bit lucky. His father, Emperor Taizong, had multiple wives, and because the Chinese like to keep things complicated, there also used to be a specific hierarchy of
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wives. And the favorite and highest-ranked wife of Emperor Taizong was Empress Zhang Tsung, and she bore three out of the nine sons. This, in Chinese dynasty terms, means we can remove six of the nine boys from the potential successor
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list. This leaves us with Li Chen, Kian, Li Tai, and Lizi. If all of them behave nice and loyal, Chang Kian, being the oldest of the four, would be the one succeeding the throne. But Li Tai, being
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conscious that being the middle order of the three would mean a very slim chance to succeed his father, actively tried to win his father over to leave the throne to him instead. Cheng Kyan, hearing how Tai was slowly being favored by
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their dad, started to worry about the certainty of his future legacy, and in fear of losing out on the throne, set up a big and elaborate conspiracy with very powerful family members and military leaders to dethrone his father.
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Unfortunately for Chiang Kyan, his plan never got to see the light of day because the emperor got to hear about it first, which meant Taizong was forced to exile his oldest son into the country, where he died shortly after at the age
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of 26. This leaves us with Li Tai and Lizi, and Tai being the older one meant he was going to be the successor. Now, whether you believe it or not, Lizi didn't actively try to hinder all the brothers
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from becoming the next Emperor. As a matter of fact, it looks like he was kind of okay with it, and initially so did their father. But after some time passed, Emperor Taizong started to have doubts about the sincerity of Li Tai. He
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asked himself if Tai didn't start the rivalry between his older brother Chang Kyan, would his oldest son still have felt the need to conspire against him? On top of those doubts, Emperor Taizong's brother-in-law started to suggest to the
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emperor that Lizi would be a better fit for the emperor than Li Tai. This, on his own turn, made Li Tai worry about his legacy, and his way of coping with his anxiety was to actively intimidate his younger brother,
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threatening him that he would lie to his father that Lizi was also a part of their deceased brother's conspiracy. When Emperor Taizong noted Lizi being troubled by his older brother and shortly after told by Lizi of Li Tai's intimidation, Emperor Taizong's mind was set. He exiled Li Tai, and just like that, Lizi became the Crown Prince of the throne.
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Lizi got the throne just like that by simply being that is a good boy, and a good boy he was. He loved his father and spent his time as a Crown Prince keeping his dad happy, which touched Emperor Taizong deeply. When Emperor Taizong was on his deathbed, Crown Prince Lizi spent many days next to his bed, going days without food and
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constantly weeping about his father's unaffordable fate. A couple of days later, Emperor Taizong passed away, and Lizi ascended to become Emperor Gaozong. Now, being told all of this, how would you describe the new emperor? Would you call him a brave, heroic, and charismatic
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leader, or rather a mommy's boy who took the wrong turn in their local Ikea? This was Wu Zetian's golden opportunity. Someone raced to the top that could possibly be influenced by, let's say, one of his wives, and so who went and
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managed to smooth talk Wu into marrying the new emperor. Now, unfortunately for Wu, we are still talking about China here, where multiple wives exist and people continuously try to make each other's life worse to rise in power. Wu ended in a similar situation
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that Emperor Gaozong used to be when he was younger, that being between two rivals. The first was Gaozong's first wife, Empress Wang. Being the first wife means a higher rank, so something had to be done about that. The second rival
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turned out not to be a wife but a concubine, Xiao Shuvai. All three of them tried to win the emperor over to get the most power, but unfortunately for the first wife and the concubine, their opponent had everything already
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carefully planned out. First, she used the years of experience sweet-talking that she gained while she was sharing her bed with the previous emperor, being basically Emperor Gaozong's father, to win Gaozong to her side. Then, to make sure no one would interfere with her in the
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long run, she framed the first wife for the death of her own first daughter, which might or might not have been killed by Wu herself, to get rid of Empress Wang. And finally, she influenced the emperor to also deal with the
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concubine Xiao Shuvai, which in Chinese dynasty terms means reducing their rank to commoner and imprisoning them in the royal palace for the rest of their lives. Emperor Gaozong, being the mommy's boy he was, continued to be influenced and controlled by Wu Zetian for five more
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years, but an emperor being controlled by an empress is nothing out of the ordinary in China's history. So what happened next? Well, Gaozong got a stroke, which meant Wu could finally come out of the shadow and rule the Tang Dynasty
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with a solid reason, that being her husband isn't able to do so himself. And she did for an additional 23 years. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as that year her excuse to be the one in charge died out, as the emperor
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passed away in his sleep. This meant that the whole "son has to be in charge" thing had to start all over again, and that meant that Wu Zetian was about to lose all power of the country she used
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to rule for the past 28 years, and she wasn't about to let that happen. During the time she was in power, she gave birth to her son, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't the oldest, aka next in line, or
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rather I should say, unfortunately for his brothers, Wu was a masterminded woman, and by carefully exiling the other sons throughout the years and finally poisoning the rightful Crown Prince, there was no other option left than for her son to be...
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rather I should say unfortunately for his brothers Wu was a masterminded woman and by carefully exiling the other Sons throughout the years and finally poisoning the rightful Crown Prince there was no other option left than for her son to become the next Emperor any
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soon-to-be Emperor kit would be thrilled and overwhelmed with Joy about his upcoming Legacy but lazy with an E I know the irony is real knew it would be anything but joy Wu practically locked her own son Manju also the emperor away
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in the palace and did everything herself for the next seven years though apparently lysi didn't mind too much with the stream of Juicy foods and young concubines that kept being sent to his room what he did mind though is that his
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paradise was short-lived as Wu preferred her younger other son a bit more back goes the hat and exiled gets his fat finally in the year 690 vusitain decided that it was time for the final step she forced her son the emperor to yield the
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throne to her and established her own Dynasty the Zhao Dynasty where she officially became the first and only female emperor in the overall history of China and all she had to do was murder Exile manipulate and bear children
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mission complete but how was it to live on the wolf's rule in all those years well the more she stepped into the spotlight the more ruthless she became in general though she was like the average Emperor to the
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commoners but for the others in the palace though that is a different story but wait a minute this video is called the rise and fall of China's only female Emperor so how did she fall well as Wu became older and often seriously ill for
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extended times powerful men and Military generals noticed the opportunity which in Chinese dynasty terms means overthrowing her so someone else can enjoy the luxuries of being an emperor in the end busetain passed away peacefully not by the hand of an
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ambitious general or by being poisoned by a close relative but simply in bad speakers of her illness this is the bizarre story of the rise and fall of China's first and only female emperor
Topics:Wu ZetianTang DynastyChinese historyfemale emperorEmperor GaozongChinese dynasty politicsEmpress Wangsuccessionimperial Chinahistorical biography
