Wu Zetian

EMPRESS OF CHINA
 Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian
Born into a rich family
• Excellent education
• Music, history, literature, and
politics
• Witty and beautiful

What was She was the perfect

she like?
candidate for personal
service to the emperor.
 Wu Zetian
At age 14, she was recruited to be Emperor Li Shi Min’s concubine/mistress.
She served him for years and was one of his favorite companions.
Li Shi Min passed away when she was 27 years old.

The Emperor’s All concubines must go to a nunnery when the emperor dies.

Favorite
Concubine

Emperor
Li Shi
 Wu Zetian
Emperor Li Zhi
Wu She had two sons with him
but what she really wanted was to be his

Zetian’s
official wife and the empress.
Sadly, Li Zhi already had an empress,
Empress Wang.

Plan
She wanted to
She didn’t want to stay in the nunnery.
She set her sights on capturing the heart of the new emperor, Li
Zhi (Li Shi Min’s son).

be Empress of
She was successful. Against all tradition, she was invited to live
in the palace again as Li Zhi’s concubine.

China.
 Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian accuses Empress
Wang of murdering her newborn
baby girl
Wu came up with the most
when, in fact, it was Wu herself
awful plot to get rid of Li Zhi’s
who killed her own child.
wife.
The trickery worked. Empress
Wang was abolished by her
husband and Wu got what she

Empress
sacrificed her daughter for.
With Empress Wang out of the

Wang
way, she married Li Zhi and
became his empress!
They ruled China together.
Wu Zetian as

Wu Zetian
Emperor
Her power grew and grew as she ruled alongside Emperor Li Zhi.
When Li Zhi suffered a stroke, she took control, although unofficially.
It was unnatural for China to have a woman rule them, so those who opposed her were
executed or forced to commit suicide.
When Li Zhi died, she continued to rule through her son.
Eventually, she grew impatient and dethroned her son to declare herself to be the one and
only true emperor of China.

She ruled for 15 years, and during her reign, she managed to:
• improve agriculture,
• lower taxes,
• improve public works, and

Sole
• raise the standard for serving in court.
Though cruel in her methods for gaining power, she proved to be fair and just in the
treatment of her loyal subjects and the masses.

of China
Before she died, she was pressured to give her position to one of her sons. She died in the
same year.
 Wu Zetian
Female rulers are as
unnatural as,
“a hen crowing
like a rooster at
daybreak.”
Do you agree with this statement?
Confucius
-Give your opinion and support it with some
examples in 5-6 sentences.
(5 pts.)

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