Empress Wu (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), commonly known as Wu Zetian, personal name Wu Zhao, was the only undisputed female sovereign in the history of China. She had previously held power as the empress consort of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang dynasty from 660 to 683 and as empress dowager during the reigns of her sons, Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, between 683 and 690. Breaking with precedent, Wu then consolidated power and prevented her sons from ruling. In 690, she proclaimed the Zhou dynasty in place of the Tang and crowned herself emperor.
During her 45-year de facto rule over China, Wu institutionalized the use of informants and enforced stringent legal measures, purged members of the Tang royal house and veteran officials from earlier administrations, reformed the civil service system to promote merit, patronized Buddhism as well as literature and the arts, and conducted military campaigns against Turkic and Tibetan incursions.
Names and titles
In Chinese history and literature, Wu Zetian () was known by various names and titles. Mention of her in the English language has only increased their number. A difficulty in English translations is that they tend to specify gender (as in the case of "emperor" versus "empress" or "prince" versus "princess"), whereas, in Classical Chinese, words such as hou (, "sovereign", "prince", "queen") or huangdi (, "imperial supreme ruler", "royal deity") are of grammatically indeterminate gender.
Names
In Wu's time, women's birth names were rarely recorded. She changed her name to Wu Zhao after rising to power, often written as ( has also been written as on occasion, and both are derivatives of , which may be her original name), with 瞾 being one of the characters invented by Wu. Wu was her patronymic surname, which she retained, according to traditional Chinese practice, after marriage to Gaozong, of the Li family. Emperor Taizong gave her the art name Wu Mei (), meaning "glamorous". Her tenure as de facto ruler of China and official regent of the Tang dynasty (first through her husband and then through her sons, from 665 to 690) was not without precedent in Chinese history, but she broke precedent when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou () (interrupting the Tang dynasty), ruling personally under the name Sacred and Divine Huangdi (), and variations thereof, from 690 to 705.
Wu Zetian and Empress Dowager Liu of the Song dynasty are said to be the only women in Chinese history to have worn a yellow robe, ordinarily reserved for the emperor's sole use, as a monarch or co-ruler in their own right.
Background and early life
thumb|upright|A painting portraying [[Emperor Taizong of Tang by painter Yan Liben (c. 600–673)]]
The Wu family clan originated in Wenshui County, Bingzhou (an ancient name of the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi). Wu Zetian's birthplace is not documented in preserved historical literature and remains disputed. Some scholars argue that Wu was born in Wenshui, some that it was Lizhou () (modern-day Guangyuan, Sichuan), while others insist she was born in the imperial capital of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an).
Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Tang. In the same year, a total eclipse of the sun was visible across China. Her father, Wu Shiyue, worked in the timber business and the family was relatively well-off. When she was summoned to the palace, her mother, the Lady Yang, wept bitterly when saying farewell to her, but she responded, "How do you know that it is not my fortune to meet the Son of Heaven?" Lady Yang reportedly then understood her ambitions, and therefore stopped crying.
But Consort Wu did not appear to be much favored by Emperor Taizong, though it appears that she did have sexual relations with him at one point. According to her own account (given in a rebuke of Chancellor Ji Xu during her reign), she once impressed Taizong with her fortitude: