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 "Zhou 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 furen (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.

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

• Lady Wu (maiden style) 624–637
• Cairen (才人) (15th ranked imperial consort) 637–649
• Zhaoyi (昭儀) (Fourth ranked imperial consort) 650?–655
• Empress (Huanghou (皇后)) 655–683
  • Also known as Tianhou (天后) 674–683
• Empress dowager (Huang Taihou (皇太后)) 683–690
  • Also known as Shengmu Shenhuang (聖母神皇) 688–690
• Emperor (Huangdi (皇帝)) 690–705
  • Shengshen Huangdi (聖神皇帝) 690–693
  • Jinlun Shengshen Huangdi (金輪聖神皇帝) 693–694
  • Yuegu Jinlun Shengshen Huangdi (越古金輪聖神皇帝) 694–695
  • Jinlun Shengshen Huangdi 695
  • Tiance Jinlun Dasheng Huangdi 695–705
  • Zetian Dasheng Huangdi (則天大聖皇帝) 705
• Posthumous empress titles
  • Zetian Dasheng Huanghou (則天大聖皇后) 705–710
  • Tianhou (天后) 710
  • Dasheng Tianhou (大聖天后) 710–712
  • Tianhou Shengdi (天后聖帝) 712
  • Shenghou (聖后) 712–716
  • Zetian Huanghou (則天皇后) 716–749
  • Zetian Shunsheng Huanghou (則天順聖皇后) (final version)

Notes and references

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.[1]
• 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
• 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,[2] 76.[3]
• 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

• Wu Zhao: China's Only Woman Emperor, written by N. Harry Rothschild and published 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
• Empress Wu Zetian in Fiction and in History: Female Defiance in Confucian China by Dora Shu-fang Dien (Nova Publishing, 2003) explores the life of Empress Wu Zetian and the ways women found to participate in public life, despite the societal constraints of dynastic China.
• Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God by Jonathan Clements offers a critical appraisal of many primary sources and includes an appendix comparing fictional accounts.

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