Wu Zetian: China's First & Only Female Emperor | Empress Who Ruled The World | Timeline

Comments · 3.5K

• TI

  @TimelineChannel · 6 years ago · pinned

  Get 3 months History Hit access for $3 using code &apos;timeline&apos; <a href="http://bit.ly/TimelineSubscribe">http://bit.ly/TimelineSubscribe</a>

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• DA

  @dangwuyi987 · 5 years ago

  Wu ZeTian actually created a new Chinese character 曌for herself. and use it inHer second name WuZhao,which the meaning of 曌 is “like the sun and the moon illuminating the world “. Legendary

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• SU

  @Sugarpopize · 5 years ago

  &quot;Killed her own son for power! Ruthless!&quot;<br><br>Every sultan ever: kills 12 brothers

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• RA

  @rabbitgrrrl23 · 6 years ago

  Yeah the fact that she entered court at 13 and began all of her intrigues at such a young age is pretty icky but you have to admit it&apos;s also incredibly impressive. She was still a child and was able to hold powerful men under her thumb.

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• KH

  @khaitsae · 7 years ago

  One of the most important piece of world history. &nbsp;She had to be a very intelligent, tough and beautiful woman. &nbsp;Unfortunately, it&apos;s either &nbsp;kill or be killed in those days, if you want to be the ruler.

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• HY

  @hyunsoo_zx · 5 years ago

  Don&apos;t you just love how everyone started acting as if past emperors didn&apos;t do exactly the same and potentially worse lmao

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• CA

  @CantStayAway · 6 years ago

  <b>An intelligent woman rises to power</b><br>Male Politicians: SHE&apos;S A MONSTER!

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• US

  @usermc1234 · 7 years ago (edited)

  She was ruthless to her enemies, strict with her officials, and did good things for the people, especially women. If she had been the opposite, she would have been a fatuous ruler, if she had been strict with both the people and her officials, then she would have been a tyrant. <br><br>But it&apos;s the case that she was in most parts, a wise and strong ruler under whom, the empire thrived. And the empire was put through many downturns and oppression after her abdication and subsequent death, because the new administration wanted to reverse the policies that she had implemented. It&apos;s obvious that the subsequent male rulers would not look kindly on her, and also proven that the economy of empire was never as good as it was under her reign. <br>Emperors were usually either hated or feared by the citizens, and we didn&apos;t live in those days, so we wouldn&apos;t know how it felt like, we could only judge with the hindsight of historical evidence on our side- A good emperor is one whose contributions outweighed his misdeeds, and this is true of her.

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• TO

  @toniesedrick691 · 7 years ago

  You must always remember who is telling the story, an enemy or friend.

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• HU

  @hunshimowang · 5 years ago

  One thing must be clear. Wu being &quot;badly&quot; painted is due to TWO reasons. One is that she was a woman, the other is that she is family Wu, not family Li. The second is probably the most important reason of her &quot;bad&quot; image. She would have a much brighter image if she took the throne from her father. In China&apos;s political theory, changing the bloodline of the imperial house is equivalent to a revolution, dead of a dynasty. Anyone doing so is painted as a traitor, a rebel regardless if he or she is related to the imperial house. For example, Cao cao (155-220AD) (BTW a man) was the prince of Han dynasty (family name Liu) when he forced the emperor to abdicate and became the first emperor of Wei (dynasty). This is the exact same that Wu Zetian did, force the legitimate heir to give way and make herself the emperor of a new dynasty, changing the imperial house. The only difference is that she was a woman. Was the later historians more lenient to Cao the man than Wu the woman? Absolutely not, in fact, Cao remained to be the worst painted politician in Chinese history book, even though everybody acknowledges that he was a very capable ruler and a better choice than the puppet emperor he replaced. Another example is in the 1600s Qing dynasty, Hong Chenchou (a former Ming minister) was instrumental in building Qing dynasty after he switched side. When Qing dynasty was compiling Ming history book, Hong was still alive, he was put into the category of traitors. The Qing emperor at the time said, Hong contribute greatly to Qing, for that he got the reward as aristocrat, but that does not change the fact that he betrayed his emperor (Ming), for that he has to remembered as such, it is to teach a lesson to people in the future. The bottom line is (ancient) principle is principle, it is not and should not be twisted to fit some modern concept, to fit the taste of modern people. People change, we change, but we has no right to judge the past by today&apos;s standard.

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• HE

  @heidiw3615 · 7 years ago (edited)

  Everyone in China knows her from history textbooks and TV shows. She is definitely considered one of the great emperors in Chinese history

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• KI

  @kingsouthkingsouth9897 · 7 years ago

  When you have been sitting in her position,, you probably have no choice but be cruel to anyone that threat the empire..

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