List of titles of Wu Zetian

This is a list of titles held by Wu Zetian, a medieval ruler of the Chinese Empire, in chronological order. Wu Zetian ruled officially under the name of her self-proclaimed "Dynasty", from 690 to 705; however, she had previous imperial positions under both Emperor Taizong of Tang and his son Emperor Gaozong of Tang, of the Tang Dynasty of China. Wu was a concubine of Emperor Taizong; after his death she married his successor and 9th son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (variously translated as "empress", "wife", or "first consort") in 655, although having considerable political power previous to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian ruled as effective sovereign until 705.[1]

The importance to history of Wu Zetian's period of political and military leadership includes major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia, and completing the conquest of Korea. Within China, besides the more direct consequences of her struggle to gain and maintain supreme power, Wu's leadership resulted in important effects in regards to social class in Chinese society and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education, and literature. Wu Zetian also had a monumental impact in regard to the statuary of the Longmen Grottoes and the "Wordless Stella" at the Qianling Mausoleum, as well as the construction of some major buildings and bronze castings which no longer survive. Despite these important aspects of her reign, together with the suggestions of modern scholarship as to the long-term effects of some of her innovations in governance, much of the attention to Wu Zetian has been to her gender, as the anomalous female supreme sovereign of a unified Chinese empire, holding during part of her lifetime the title of Huangdi.

Besides her career as a political leader, Wu Zetian also had an active family life. Although family relationships sometimes became problematic, Wu Zetian was the mother of three sons who served stints as emperors, and one of her grandsons became the famous emperor Xuanzong of the restored Tang Dynasty, ruling during its "Golden Age".

Titles (list)

Main article: Wu Zetian

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Paludan, 96

Sources

  • Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009): Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
  • Old Book of Tang, vol. 6.
  • Cotterell, Yong Yap and Arthur Cotterell (1975). The Early Civilization of China. New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-11595-1
  • Empress of China: Wu Ze Tian, by Jiang, Cheng An, Victory Press 1998
  • Kang-i Sun Chang, Haun Saussy, Charles Yim-tze Kwong (1999). Women writers of traditional China: an anthology of poetry and criticism. Stanford University Press. 
  • Fairbank, John King (1992), China: A New History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-11670-4
  • Murck, Alfreda (2000). Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent. Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute. ISBN 0-674-00782-4.
  • New Book of Tang, vols. 4, 76.
  • Paludan, Ann (1998). Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China. New York, New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05090-2
  • Scarpari, Maurizio (2006). Ancient China: Chinese Civilization from the Origins to the Tang Dynasty. Vercelli: VMB Publishers. ISBN 88-540-0509-6
  • Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press). ISBN 0-231-03464-4
  • Yu, Pauline (2002). "Chinese Poetry and Its Institutions", in Hsiang Lectures on Chinese Poetry, Volume 2, Grace S. Fong, editor. Montreal: Center for East Asian Research, McGill University.
  • Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 195, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208.

Further reading

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Chinese royalty
Preceded by
Empress Wang		 Empress of Tang Dynasty
655–684 		Succeeded by
Empress Wei
Regnal titles
Preceded by
(Dynasty established)		 Empress Regnant of the Zhou Dynasty
690–705 		Succeeded by
(Dynasty abolished)
Preceded by
Emperor Ruizong of Tang		 Empress Regnant of China
690–705 		Succeeded by
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang
Honorary titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Emperor Gaozu of Tang		 Retired Emperor of China
705 		Vacant
Title next held by
Emperor Ruizong of Tang
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