Wu

= Wu Zetain / Wu Zhao =

Subtopic Ideas
 * Wu Zhao's life before empress
 * Influences on the Tang Dynasty
 * Major Achievements

 Notes- work in progress __ Wu Zhoa's life before empress __ __ Major Achievements __
 * Wu Zhoa or wu Zetain was born in 624 Whenshui country.
 * Her father was a meritorious chanceler that had collected many works of literature over his occcupation's history
 * Growing up she was taught a very good amount of education by her fathers books that he would give to her and teach her well.
 * At the age of 14 she was selected to be Emperor Taizong's Cai Ren (a kind of concubine).
 * Because of her education that was given to her by her father she had impressed emperor Taizong and had been permitted to assist in being his secretary.
 * This enlarged Wu's insight and knowledge of state affairs and of the main figuers of the dynasty.
 * It was also then that Wu began to attract the attention of Prince Li Zhi who later became Emperor Gaozong in the year of 649.
 * She had later had a daughter and had killed it to blame it on empress Wang and assend to the throne when her concubine had died.
 * She had finally completed her dream of becoming empress of the Tang Dynasty in the year 655 in which launching her political career.
 * She achieved her ambitions through the fact that she was a ruthless empress eleminating any compatition that stood in her path.
 * She appointed sadistic and cruel officials to seek out and eliminate any opposition to her regime that she had
 * Not only those who opposed Wu were severely dealt with, but also many other innocent people were cruelly put to death because of it.
 * Wu Zetian was eager to draw people into her government because of all the manner of talented people
 * The imperial examination system was further revised in order that no man of ability should be excluded due to his lowly birth. She also initiated the practice of personally interviewing candidates. In this way, many political talents were found and employed in the government. Such people included the famous prime minister, Di Renjie, Zhang Jianzhi, etc.
 * Wu Zetian attached great importance to the development of agriculture. She ordered the construction of irrigation schemes, and commissioned the compilation of farming textbooks. Local officials were evaluated by the task of cultivating land. As an incentive for increased production, taxes were reduced and corvee upon the peasant population was eased. By allowing peasant farmers to retain more of their produce, they were able to improve their lot and in general the population benefited from quite considerable prosperity.
 * Though Wu was a competent feudal monarch in terms of achievement she made, she was extremely ruthless murdering her relatives who tried to take advantage of her position. Those who opposed her in any way were quickly removed from office, exiled or forced to commit suicide including those founding fathers of the dynasty Zhangsun Wuji, Zhu Suiliang, Yu Zhining and Cheng Wuting and many others. Members of the Li royal family and their relatives were likewise eliminated. In addition, Wu favored Buddhism and ordered the construction of many Buddhist temples and sculptures nationwide, which added great pressure to the common people.

__ Influences on the Tang Dynasty __ > > > > > > final copy __Wu Zhao's life before empress.__ Wu Zhao/Wu Zetain was born in Whensui in 624. Growing up she was taught by the many works of literature that her father had collected and by the knowledge that he had possessed. She had aquired this over a period of time from being a meritorious Chanceler. At the age of 14 Wu Zhao had been selected to be the empress of Taizong's Cai Ren. This was a kind of mistress or concubine besides his wife and also it was more of a Chinese piece of life and it was considered normal at the time to have a mistress. The amount of education was very large and she was given it at an early age by her father and his works of literacy. She impressed the Emperor and he had then made and/or appointed her to be his private secretary. This played a major role in Wu Zhao's life. It opened up many new political doors for Wu as she would now know many of the key figures of the Tang Dynasty’s government. This job would be one of the major reasons why the nice, young prince Li Zhi would now start to notice Wu at this point in time. In the later years, around the year 649, the young prince became the Emperor and took the name Gaozong. Finally the time came and Wu started to become more malicious in her hopes of one day becoming the first Empress of the Tang dynasty (Some might say she is a bit power crazed). In order to accomplish her goal she would need to take out all of the competitors that would be hard to challenge and of course she made that arrangement. The next move that Wu makes is one of the main reasons that she is considered one of the most ruthless leaders of all time. In order to take out the competition of the Empress Wang she had killed her own daughter and had blamed it upon her once her concubine had died she then delivered to the throne. Finally, in the year 655 she had become the Empress of the Tang Dynasty and that is where she made a lot of ruthless and strong decisions. (The picture below depicts what the artist had seen Wu Zhao as there are no more pictures from her early childhood.) __Major Achievements__ The most oblivious accomplishment Wu made was of course becoming the only woman Empress to ever rule china. She had many unbelievable achievements throughout her life as a empress. She fought her way to anything she could dream of that could be seen as ruthless and/or just plain cruel. She hired cruel and sadistic officials to deal with any problems that threatened her absolute autocratic power. One of the more major achievements would be that she had improved and revised the imperial examination system for her government. This would make all men of ability be legible to the highest levels of politics and this would make all those with lowly birth no longer excluded from the higher points in the government. This had made the overall productiveness of the Tang Dynasty go much higher as they could employ the best of the best not based on their place of birth. What Wu had also done with her newly inherited Dynasty is helped fund agriculture. She did this by building irrigation canals and commishioned farming textbooks. Also, she had judged local officials by the task of cultivating their land and she gave them lower taxes. This helped lift the corve or the unpaid workload off of the farming peasants back. (The symbol shown below is the Chinese symbol for woman and this is appropriate to the subtopic because of the fact that Wu Zhao was the first and only woman to ever rule china.) **妇女** __Influences that she had left upon the Tang Dynasty.__ One of the major influences that she had left upon the Tang Dynasty would be the hope that she gave to other women of the empire. When she became Empress she had given all of the women of China who were not well respected amongst the men of the Tang Dynasty a new hope for some kind of political and highly rewarding job. As we all know she was ruthless and she would take some actions that could be seen as a tad radical like forcively making scholars write biographys of famous women through out history to also boost the confidence of women all around the world and not just China's way of life. messages MATTTTT! ummmmmmm... ZHAO IS A girL SILLLLLYim chanigng all the hes and emperors so empresses hahahahah Gianna- F Matt C- B
 * She had given women in china a hope of something better, being the first women and the only women to ever become the empress of china.
 * She had also boosted the spirits of women by how she was making scholors write biographys of famous women.
 * She had also oosted the power of women by taking some women controlled clans and giving their members higher political posts.
 * A quote from Wu Zetain is "The best ruler is one that looks over a country like a mother looking over a child." which was seen as a hope for women in china.
 * Empress Wu lessened the power of her secret police but she become increasingly superstitious and fearful.
 * She made the army smaller and got rid of the rich military men and replaced them with more educated men.
 * Wu thought everyone was equal and lowered taxes for the peasants raised agriculture, and streghnthed public works.

sources http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/emperor_wuzetian.htm http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/cot/t3w10zhoudynasty.htm http://www.gochinatravel.com/n233c147.aspx <<< http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine6.html http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=14868&pid=4875647&mode=threaded&start=