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Empress wu political achievements essay
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The Chinese possessed strong beliefs about astrology, so when it was prophesised that a women ruler would soon ascend the throne word quickly spread throughout the common people. It was predicted that within 30 years this woman known as ‘The Prince of Wu’ would rule over China. Whether or not Empress Wu’s rise to power was due to ‘heaven ordained fate’, she fulfilled the prophecy and became China’s first woman ruler in the 7th century. Historians, scholars and common people alike have long debated Wu’s reign. She is commonly referred to as an evil usurper due to the way she took power. However whether she fully deserves this reputation is to be examined. As the only female Chinese ruler, Wu challenged traditional gender roles and legitimized herself as a leader at a time when women were not meant for such positions. Empress Wu came to power through self-determination and a remarkable gift for politics. Once on the throne, she kept her power by all means necessary, often those means being murder and betrayal. Some of her actions were undoubtedly cruel. However once she was established as an empress conducted a mostly peaceful and prosperous reign. Empress Wu was by definition a usurper of the Chinese throne however not necessarily an evil one. She was manipulative and ruthless yet brilliant and exceptionally gifted. Her rise to power through sheer determination is to be commended despite the harsh tactics she used along the way. Empress Wu’s rise to power was due to her unwavering determination and ruthless spirit. She first entered the palace as a thirteen year old concubine and from an early age she realized the importance of raising her status. Wu was ‘not just another imperial consort… she was very much a political fig... ... middle of paper ... ...ina. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1990. Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “A Medieval Feminist Critique of the Chinese World Order: The Case of Wu Zhao (r. 690–705).” Religion, 28 no 4, (1998): 383-392, DOI: 10.1006/reli.1998.0147. Chen, Jo-shui. "Empress Wu and Proto-feminist Sentiments in T'ang China." In Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China, edited by Frederick P. Brandauer and Chün-chieh Huang. 77-116. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Clements, Jonathan. Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God. Stroud: Sutton, 2007. McMahon, Keith. “Women Rulers in Imperial China.” Nan Nü 15-2 (2013): 179-218. Twitchett, Denis, and J. Wechsler Howard. "Kao-tsung (reign 649–83) and the Empress Wu: the Inheritor and the Usurper". In The Cambridge History of China. 242-89: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
Some of the more fascinating documents of the Han period in ancient China were arguably those written by women. The writings were at once contradictory due to the fact that they appeared to destroy the common perceptions of women as uneducated and subservient creatures while simultaneously delivering messages through the texts that demonstrated a strict adherence to traditional values. Those are the paradoxical characteristics of prominent female scholar Ban Zhou’s work called Lesson for a Woman. Because modern opinions on the roles of women in society likely cloud the clear analysis of Zhou’s work, it is necessary to closely examine the Han’s societal norms and popular beliefs that contributed to establishing the author’s perspective and intent.
Lu Xun lived during what came to be known in China as the Republican period. During this period, China underwent major social changes. An emerging iconoclastic intellectual class, one of the most important societal shifts, began to attack traditional Chinese institutions through literature. Lu Xun, a prime example of this intellectual class, targeted traditional social hierarchies and their effects on the lives of women and the separate classes. During the May Fourth Movement, part of the Republican Period, women’s rights advocates sprung up around China pushing for marriage rights for women to choose their hus...
Friedman, Sara L. "Women, Marriage and the State in Contemporary China." Chinese Society: Change, Conflict, and Resistance. Ed. Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
However, not all women embodied to these roles. Some women sought literacy and some high ranking women were highly educated. Empress Dau was an enthusiastic scholar. She lived in a time when Confucian ideals has not yet fully taken hold, and thus, she was able to use her authority to push Daoist ideals upon Emperors Wen and Jing [7]
During the Ming and Qing Dynasty, under the circumstance of which the absolute monarchy reached its peak progressively, two trends of thoughts appeared in China:
How could a female transition into the ruler? Students of history of the time, who saw her as a malevolent enchantress and usurper, ascribed her prosperity to her absence of second thoughts and her expertise at control. A short survey of her vocation demonstrates that that fortunes and political sharpness additionally assumed a part. Despite the fact that Empress Wu utilized Confucian dialect and steadily performed Confucian state customs, she was by and by profoundly attracted to Buddhism. She was the significant supporter for the immense give in sanctuaries cut at longmen outside Luoyang. She discovered help for her political position in the colossal cloud sutra, which forecasted that the Maitreya Buddha would be resurrected as a female ruler and realize an age free of disease, stress, and calamity. One of Wu's devotees composed a discourse to the sutra in 689 calling attention to that the female ruler must be Empress. “Wu Zhao discovered a valuable political immediacy in this female sovereign of hoary antiquity; by connecting herself to this mythic avatar, she gained leverage and legitimacy.” The importance of this statement is that it entails how Empress Wu finally had the ability to make herself become ruler by allowing herself to become connected to a prophecy. Wu Zhao's aϲliation with this Buddhist ancestress was strong, since it related her emperorship and completed it. A line of renowned female ancestors, rulers, and devis, ending up at ground zero with her anticipated ascending to the throne. Wu Zhao was seen by the people as a mother goddess. Rebecca Doran has commented that Wu Zhao's decision of Jingguang as her past incarnation suggests both her perspective of the need to address her sexual introduction character and the possible nudity or decency of
The book by Mark Elliot, Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World, reflects the important historical figure, Emperor Qianlong. During his reign between 1731-1795, there was a period of extremely rapid social, intellectual, demographic and environmental change. Elliot illustrates Qianlong complexity through this time of rapid expansion of social and environmental change, and it gives us as students of history an idea of what that time was like and how he as a person and as a powerful monarch handled this expansion.
van Ess, Hans. Praise and Slander: The Evocation of Empress Lü in the Shiji and the Hanshu.
Chung, Sue Fawn. “The Much Maligned Empress Dowager : A Revisionist Study of the Empress Dowager Tz’u-his.” Modern Asian Studies. 13 vol. Cambrige UP, 1979. JSTOR. 1 May 2005 < http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X%281979%2913%3A2%3C177%3ATMMEDA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U>.
The Last Great Empress of China, written by Charlotte Haldane, is the story of how Tzu Hsi (1861-1908, rose to power and managed to keep it. Known by several names through out the course of her life, Tzu Hsi was intelligent, beautiful, and had a voice that could charm anyone. Chosen as an Imperial Concubine in the third class, Yehonala (as she was known at the time) took great care to win the favor of the current Empress Dowager. Her next step was to win the favor of the young Emperor Hsien Feng, which she accomplished with the help of the Chief Eunuch, who she had also won over. In her quest for ultimate power the luckiest event that befell her was the birth of her son. Because the Empress Consort Sakota failed to produce an heir, Yenonala’s son was to become the heir apparent, raising her to the position of first rank concubine. Throughout the course of her life, Tzu Hsi played her cards well, continuously increasing her power.
In The Analects, Confucius briefly describes women and their role within Chinese society. Although the information on women within The Analects is short, one can gain extensive knowledge about women and their placement in this society. Confucius and many Confucian believers held the belief that women were of low moral order and in order to be virtuous, they needed to follow this order. This essay will review Confucius’ thoughts on women and raise questions about his views as seen in The Analects and other readings. First, one must realize that China has strong patriarchal views, so many statements by Confucius about women, or lack thereof, is a tradition that has existed before Confucius.
Sit, Tony. "The Life of Empress Cixi” (from Issue 10 of the China in Focus Magazine). Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU), 2001. .
Since the Li family claimed descent from Daoist sage Laozi, as a member of the imperial family, Wu Zhao understood that she had to make use of Daoism to strength her status. She announced the title: "Celestial Empress" to symbolically join the company of Daoist sages. She also actively participated in the politics by supporting Daoism: petitioned everyone to study the works of Laozi, issued The Twelve Decrees as a Daoist ruler, called for disbandment of troops by claiming the empire needed to be transformed by the Dao, and nominated the mother of Laozi as Grand Dowager of the Anterior Heaven. All of these Daoist activities was aimed to strengthen her political status. "To augment her own luster she strategically entwined herself with imperial ancestors of the House of Tang" (Rothschild 103). Wu Zhao also made use of the auspicious omens with the idea of Daoism. "It is generally illuminating to read the omens as calculated maneuvering, a timely and strategic mustering of evidence to validate and legitimize her sovereignty. Her imperial authority was an invention, an omens were a vital supplement to her political repertoire" (Rothschild 109). One of the most famous example she used omens to prove her legitimation to rule was the "Precious Diagram", a stone chiseled by someone under her nephew Wu Chengsi's commission. A pre-designed prophecy was written on the stone: "When the Sage Mother is among the people, the realm
The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire.