https://www.worldhistory.org/image/4558/empress-wu-zetian/. Vol. She ruled for 15 years during the Tang Dynasty and was one of China's most impactful and divisive emperors. 3rd Series. Traders from the Mediterranean and Persia also came from both the overland and maritime trade routes, where Buddhism and Central Asian culture, dress, and music reached China. Wu Zetian's first two sexual partners were emperors and related to each other as father and son. So much for the supposed facts; what about the interpretation? "Empress Wu (Wu Zhao) 7789. China during Wu Zetian's ReignIan Kiu (CC BY-SA). Having been raised by her father to believe she was the equal of men, Wu saw no reason why women could not carry out the same practices and hold the same positions men could. If it still won't be tamed, I'll cut its throat with the knife. Wu placed her first son on the throne who took the royal title Zhongzong. There was a sense of trying to keep up with ones rivals by building something bigger than they had. Rothschild describes a confrontation which reflects the feelings of majority of those at court. (February 22, 2023). Thus the Wu family was now elevated to the imperial house. Seen from this perspective, Wu did in fact fulfill the fundamental duties of a ruler of imperial China; Confucian philosophy held that, while an emperor should not be condemned for acts that would be crimes in a subject, he could be judged harshly for allowing the state to fall into anarchy. The term Confucianism is derived from Confucius, the convention. Encyclopedia.com. Empress Wu is one of the most controversial leaders in Chinese history for her method of rule and the means she likely used to rise to power. Mark, Emily. Kannon embodies compassion, and when seen as female is venerated as a patron of motherhood and fertility. Name variations: Wu Ze-tian; Wu Chao, Wu Hou, or Wu Zhao; Wu Mei or Wu Meiliang; Wu Tse-t'ien, Wo Tsetien, or Wu Tso Tien; Wu of Hwang Ho or Huang He; Empress Wu, Lady Wu. (3). Wu is said to have potentially killed her own. After the latter died in 684, she took on four or five lovers, including a monk whom she ordered executed when weary of his greed and abuse of power. Wu Zetian died within a year. She also organized military campaigns against Korea in 668 CE which were so effective that they reduced Korea to the status of a vassal state.
Scanned using Book ScanCenter 5033 - Western Washington University Thank you! Moreover, Wu exhibited one important characteristic that suggests that, whatever her faults, she was no despot: She acknowledged and often acted on the criticisms of loyal ministers, one of whom dared to suggest, in 701, that it was time for her to abdicate. 31, no. World History Encyclopedia. Buddhists Support. Your Privacy Rights No contemporary image of the empress exists. The founding emperor of a dynasty and his descendants constituted the imperial family, which through male succession produced emperors who were normally the eldest son born to the empress. The story of Wu's murder of her daughter and the framing of Lady Wang to gain power is the most infamous and most often repeated incident of her life but actually there is no way of knowing if it happened as the historians recorded it. The emperor's concubines could not be passed on to be used by others but were forced to end their time at court and start a new life of chastity in a religious order. After Wu's death, Zhongzong reigned but only in name; real power was held by Lady Wei who used Wu Zetian as a role model to manipulate her husband and the court. She ordered the executions of several hundred of these aristocrats and of many members of the imperial family of Li. across from her husband, the emperor. Empress Wu used the intelligence she gathered to pressure some high-ranking officials who were not performing well to resign; others she simply banished or had executed. Encyclopedia.com.
Wu was given the privileged position of first concubine even though by law she should have been left in the temple as a nun. She kept Ruizong under a kind of house arrest confining him to the Inner Palace. There must also be some doubt as to whether Wu really was guilty of some of the most monstrous crimes that history has charged her with. She was painted as a usurper who was both physically cruel and erotically wanton; she first came to prominence, it was hinted, because she was willing to gratify certain ofthe Taizong emperors more unusual sexual appetites.
Primary Sources with DBQs | Asia for Educators - Columbia University It was Taizong who called her 'Mei-Niang' meaning 'beautiful girl' (one of the names commonly, and wrongly, attributed to her as her birth name). Wu Zetian was one of the longest-lived monarchs (82 years old) in Chinese history. We would much rather spend this money on producing more free history content for the world. Patronage of Buddhism. "Wu Zetian." Palace ladies of the Tang dynasty, from a contemporary wall painting in an imperial tomb in Shaanxi. The most spectacular are the stone temples and statues chiseled into grottoes at Longmen, near her capital. Hauppauge : Nova Science Publishers, 2003; Richard Guisso, Wu Tse-Tien and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China. Paul, Diana Y. Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Consort Wu, Wu Hou, Wu Mei Niang, Mei-Niang, and Wu Zhao, l. 624-705 CE, r. 690-704 CE) was the only female emperor of Imperial China. They also functioned as powerful reminders of imperial power. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia.
Empress Wu Zetian and the Spread of Buddhism Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. These characters were supposed to replace between 10 and 30 of the older characters and were Wu's attempt to change the way her people thought and wrote. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. One of the brothers, she declared, had a face as beautiful as a lotus flower, while it is said she valued the other for his talents in the bedchamber. Throughout 15 dismal years in exile, her sons consort had talked him out of committing suicide and kept him ready to return to power. By 666, the annals state, Wu was permitted to make offerings to the gods beside Gaozong and even to sit in audience with himbehind a screen, admittedly, but on a throne that was equal in elevation to his own. Agricultural production under Wu's reign increased to an all-time high. Of all these female rulers, though, none has aroused so much controversy, or wielded such great power, as a monarch whose real achievements and characterremain obscured behind layers of obloquy. Quin Shi Huang-Di Empress Wu (died September or October 245), [a] personal name Wu Xian ( Chinese: ), formally known as Empress Mu (literally "the Just Empress"), was an empress of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. Wills, John E., Jr. "Empress Wu," in Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. Amherst : Prometheus Books, 1990; T.H. Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Empress Wu Zetian (Empress Consort Wu, Wu Hou, Wu Mei Niang, Mei-Niang, and Wu Zhao, l. 624-705 CE, r. 690-704 CE) was the only female emperor of Imperial China. (It was common for poor Chinese boys to voluntarily undergo emasculation in the hope of obtaining a prestigious and well-remunerated post in the imperial service). Her one mistake had been to marry this boy to a concubine nearly as ruthless and ambitious as herself. For example, at the statues eye opening ceremony which dedicated the monument, the ruler was ritualistically seen to have been given the right to rule through the divine mandate of the Buddha icon. Her Buddhist supporters interpreted the Madamegha (Great Cloud) sutra to predict a maitreya Buddha (Buddha-to-come) in female form, presumably Wu Zetian herself, who would embody the concept of the cakravartin (wheel-turner, universal emperor, or the ideal man who is king). In her last years Wu lost influence, although she remained energetic and cruel. Guisso, Richard W.L. Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). She then began to plot against Gaozongs consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wus infant daughter. Last modified March 17, 2016. She did not ask any man's permission to lead these women to Mount Tai; she felt she knew what was best and did it. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. She not only created many different cultural and political policies, but she displayed what a women could do in government. Carved in limestone, the colossal statue is reputed to have been carved in Wus own likeness. She was in very poor health anyway by this time and died a year later. She was the daughter of Wu Shihuo, a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty. These began in 666 with the death by poison of a teenage niece who had attracted Gaozongs admiring gaze, and continued in 674 with the suspicious demise of Wus able eldest son, crown prince Li Hong, and the discovery of several hundred suits of armor in the stables of a second son, who was promptly demoted to the rank of commoner on suspicion of treason. But if she is observed in the context of the sexuality of male rulers, then the number of her favorites is insignificant. The Analects of Confucius Primary Source Activity - Google Drive - Print & Digital. Wu probably did dispose of several members of her own family, and she ordered the deaths of a number of probably innocent ministers and bureaucrats. Most historians believe Wu became intimate with the future Gaozong emperor before his fathers deatha scandalous breach of etiquette that could have cost her her head, but which in fact saved her from life in a Buddhist nunnery. ." In preparing for the legitimacy of her emperorship, she claimed the Zhou Dynasty (1045256 bce) and its founders among her own ancestors. Chapter 2 SOURCES FOR THE LIFE AND CAREER OF WU TSE-T'IEN The chief primary sources for the life of the Empress Wu are her annals in the two dynastic histories of the T'ang, her biography in the New T'ang History, and the numerous references to her in Ssu-ma Kuang's Comprehensive Mirror.^ In some of the large official compilations of later ages, The Story Of Wu Zetian, China's First Female Emperor, The Demonization of Empress Wu by Mike Dash, The Karmic Retribution of Pei Huaigu by Kelly Carlton (University of Florida), Wu Zetian: China's One and Only Woman Emperor by Jim Down. Fitzgeraldwho reminds us that Tang China emerged from 400 years of discord and civil warwrites, Without Wu there would have been no long enduring Tang dynasty and perhaps no lasting unity of China, while in a generally favorable portrayal, Guisso argues that Wu was not so different from most emperors: The empress was a woman of her times. Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished. Thank you for your help! Hailing from the Tang dynasty, Empress Wu made some great positive strives for the Tang dynasty, but also got caught up in scandals - a couple even involving murder! Five Historical Plays. She began her life at court as a concubine of the emperor Taizong. Jay, Jennifer W. "Vignettes of Chinese Women in Tang Xi'an (618906): Individualism in Wu Zetian, Yang Guifei, Yu Xuanji and Li Wa," in Chinese Culture. We care about our planet! Leiden: EJ Brill, 1974. Determining the truth about this welter of innuendo is all but impossible, and matters are complicated by the fact that little is known of Wus earliest years. World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia. Even if she took full advantage, however, she must have possessed not only looks but remarkable intelligence and determination to emerge, as she did two decades later, as empress. Two brothers, known as the Zhang Brothers, were her favorites and she spent most of her time in closed quarters with them. Uploaded by Ibolya Horvath, published on 22 February 2016. Born ne Wu (first name at birth not known) in 624 in Taiyuan, Shanxi province; died in 705 in Luoyang, Henan province; daughter of a high-ranking official, Wu Shihuo, and his aristocratic wife; married Emperor Taizong (r. 626649), in 640 (died 649); married Emperor Gaozong (r. 650683), in 654; children: (second marriage) Crown Prince Li Hong; Crown Prince Li Xian; Emperor Zhongzong; Emperor Ruizong; Princess Taiping ; another daughter (died in infancy). In the reign of Empress Wu, persons who entered government through the examinations were able for the first time to occupy the highest positions, even that of chief minister. She has published historical essays and poetry. When a mountain seemed to appear following the earthquake, this was also interpreted as nature itself revolting against the reign of Wu. Justinian. Already in 674 she had drafted 12 policy directives ranging from encouraging agriculture to formulating social rules of conduct. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. There are abundant signs that Wu was viewed with deep suspicion by later generations of Chinese. At these pilgrimage sites, rituals were performed which established a link between the standing Buddha and the ruler. Her mother ne Yang was of aristocratic birth with mixed Chinese and Turkic blood, the result of generations of intermarriage when five nomadic tribes overran north China and founded dynasties in the 4th to 6th centuries. 3, no. The Tang emperor Taizong was the first to promote Wu, whom he gave the nickname Fair Flatterera reference not to her personal qualities but to the lyrics of a popular song of the day. She commissioned statues of the Maitreya in the Longmen Caves outside Luoyang. Wu eliminated all the bureaucracy by establishing a direct line of communication between herself and the people. To justify her rule, Wu used selected Buddhist scriptures and led the way in the creation of numerous visual representations of the Buddha. She organized teams to survey the land and build irrigation ditches to help grow crops and redistributed the land so that everyone had an equal share to farm. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. provided her with a string of virile lovers such as one lusty, big-limbed lout of a peddler, whom she allowed to frequent her private apartments. The story of Wu's murder of her daughter and the framing of Lady Wang to gain power is the most infamous and most often repeated incident of her life but actually there is no way of knowing if it happened as the historians recorded it. Lineage Mutsuhito (also known as Meiji Tenno; 1852-1912) was a Japanese emperor, who became the symbol for, and encouraged, the dramatic, Quin Shi Huang-Di Although she was not able to control the newly unified state, relations continued to be friendly during her reign. Ouyang, Xiu. She ordered farming manuals to be written and distributed. Empress Dowager.
Wu Zetian - Lilysun China Tours As early as 660 CE, Wu had organized a secret police force and spies in the court and throughout the country. But 28 other consorts still stood between her and the throne. Xin Tangshu [New history of the Tang]. The area around Changan could not produce the amount of food required to feed the court and garri-sons, and the transportation of grain up the Yellow River, traversing the Sanmen rapids, was exceptionally expensive. Every Chinese emperor had concubines, and most had favorites; few came to power, or stayed there, without the use of violence. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. Wu also accused Lady Wang and her mother of practicing witchcraft and implicated Lady Xiao; Lady Wang was found guilty of all the charges and so were the others. Shanghai: Sibu congkan ed., 1929. Naples: Institute Universitario Orientale, 1976. Anticipating Wu Zetian's political ambitions, 60,000 flatterersincluding Confucian officials, imperial relatives, Buddhist clergy, tribal chieftains, and commonerssupported the petition to proclaim the Zhou Dynasty with herself as the founding emperor. The Tang Dynasty also witnessed significant military, political, and social changes, as reflected in the transformation of an aristocracy into a meritocracy from the 7th to the 10th centuries. The insurrections had received little popular support and in the years that she dominated politics as empress, empress dowager, and finally as emperor, there were no widespread military unrests. Kumarajiva's influence on Chinese Buddhist thought was crucial. Bellingham, WA: Center for Asian Studies, Western Washington University, 1978. Wu either read him whatever she felt like and then made her own decisions or read him the real reports and then still acted on her own. Wu, characteristically, admired the virtuosity of Luos style and suggested he would be better employed at the imperial court. Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty (The Greenwood Press Wu: The Chinese Empress who schemed, seduced and murdered her way to Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Wu Zetian's SteleI, (GJGY.com) (CC BY-SA). Not only do we pay for our servers, but also for related services such as our content delivery network, Google Workspace, email, and much more. Wu Zetian is the only legitimatized Empress in Chinese history. Setting up a new dynasty meant installing a new imperial family to replace the Li-Tang imperial house, from which she had married two emperors who were father and son, Taizong and Gaozong. . Carlton further notes, "While ostensibly for her great concern over the condition of her people, the box mainly served the purpose of obtaining information on seditious subjects (3)." Missions from Japan, Korea, and Vietnam arrived at Xi'an bearing tribute and seeking education in Buddhism and Confucianism. With her exceptional intelligence, extraordinary competence in politics, and inordinate ambition, she ruled as the "Holy and Divine Emperor" of the Second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) for fifteen years. Woodbridge Bingham, The Founding of the Tang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and Rise ofTang, a Preliminary Survey (New York: Octagon, 1975). 77116. Liu, Xu. Emily Mark studied history and philosophy at Tianjin University, China and English at SUNY New Paltz, NY. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating women's intellectual development and sexual freedom. The military exams were intended to measure intelligence and decision making and candidates were personally interviewed instead of just being appointed because of family connections or their family's name. She attracted the attention of many of the young men at court and one of these was the Prince Li Zhi, son of Taizong, who would become the next emperor, Gaozong. Princes and ministers loyal to the Tang Dynasty and princes suspected of rebellious motives against her were executed. One of the most powerful champions of Buddhism in China was the Empress Wu Zetian. After Mount Felicity appeared, and Wu claimed it as an omen favoring her, one of her ministers wrote: Your Majesty, a female ruler improperly has occupied a male position, which has inverted and altered the hard and soft, therefore the earth's emanations are obstructed and separated. Neither of these boys was a threat to Lady Wang or Lady Xiao because Gaozong had already chosen a successor; his chancellor Liu Shi was Lady Wang's uncle, and Gaozong appointed Liu Shi's son, Li Zhong, as heir. Empresas ICA Sociedad Controladora, S.A. de C.V. Empresa Brasileira de Aeronutica S.A. (Embraer), Emporia State University: Narrative Description, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/empress-wu-wu-zhao. Lu Zhi was an instantly recognizable villain to the people of China, and linking Wu with her through the murders worked to destroy Wu's reputation. Princess Taiping put an end to her plans when she had Wei and her family murdered and put her brother Ruizong on the throne. The practice of an emperor having young women as concubines was customary but when an empress decided to entertain herself with young men it was suddenly scandalous. To recruit a new class of administrators through competition, the examinations that had played only a secondary role in the recruitment and promotion of civil servants in Han times (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) Twitchett, Denis, and Howard J. Wechsler. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Tang China during the 7th century was a period of military strength and cultural attainments, its empire stretching into Central Asia and Southwest Asia and ruled by the Li-Tang imperial family from the capital city of Xi'an (Xian), Shanxi province. These historians claim that Wu ordered Lady Wang and Lady Xiao murdered in a terrible way: she had their hands and feet cut off and they were then thrown into a vat of wine to drown. According to Anderson, servants. It is a challenge to recover real people from this morass of bias. Wu also took back lands which had been invaded by the Goturks under the reign of Taizong and distributed them so that they were not all held by the aristocrats. She maintained a stable economy and a moderate taxation for the peasantry. Wu began an affair with Li Zhi, who was married at the time, while still attached to Taizong as concubine. From 697 onward she found it so diffi-cult to win support that she attempted to return the throne to her son Zhongzong. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Mutsuhito Even her gravesite is remarkable. The political success of Wu Zetian indicates that the attributes needed in diplomacy and rulership were not restricted to men. Although the function of the concubine in China is almost always associated with sex, a woman in this position could have a number of non-sexual responsibilities, from daily tasks like taking care of the laundry to more specialized skills like conversation, poetry reading, and playing music. Again, it is hard to tell what is true and what is slander being that Wu Zeitan's story is so long ago and the sources are sketchy. World History Encyclopedia. Su, Tong. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 22 Feb 2016. (British Library, Shelfmark Or. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. Buddhism was carried into East Asia by merchants and Buddhist monks traveling the Silk Road from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia. R. W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-ten and the Politics of Legitimation in Tang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978). Image taken from An 18th-century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. Sources about Wu Zetian's life are a hodgepodge, which some condemning her as the devil himself and others testifying she was an absolute angel. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. Still, this did not mean the women were not jealous of the favor the emperor showed Wu now that she had given birth to two sons in a row.
empress wu primary sources - tiba-constructions.com Her courtiers, however, hatched a plot and afterward forced her to abdicate in 705; she died later that year. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Zizhi tongjian [Comprehensive mirror as guide to history]. Wu's rise to power was ruthless and her reign no less so, as she continued to eliminate rivals and opponents using tactics that were sometimes brutal. 22 Feb. 2023
. Primary Sources with DBQsCHINA 4000 - 1000 BCE Ancestral Rites and Divination . She was the last wife and the only empress of Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, and a younger sister of Wu Yi . In Chinese mythology , Huang-Di (pronounced hoo-arng-DEE), also k, Ho-shen After this event Wu became Empress and shared Imperial power equally with her emperor. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Mary Anderson. Rise to Power. Her reforms and policies lay the foundation for the success of Xuanzong as emperor under whose reign China became the most prosperous country in the world. 1, 1990, pp. Beginning in 660 CE, Wu was effectively the emperor of China. In 710 CE Zhongzong died after being poisoned by Wei who hid his body and concealed his death until her son Chong Mao could be made emperor. The only woman ever to rule as emperor of China, Wu Zhao (Wu ZeTian) was born in 624 C.E. For centuries she was excoriated by Chinese historians as an offender against a way of life. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1977. She held power, in one guise or another, for more than half a century, first as consort of the ineffectual Gaozong Emperor, then as the power behind the throne held by her youngest son, and finally (from 690 until shortly before her death in 705) as monarch. At age 14 she became a concubine of Emperor TaiZong of the Tang Dynasty and was given the title of CaiRren (Guardian Immortal) and a new name, Wu Mei. Thank you for your help! In 690, she declared herself emperor after deposing her sons and founding her own dynastyZhou. Empress Wu Zetian. Jiu Tangshu [Old history of the Tang]. However they rose, though, it has always been harder for a woman to rule effectively than it was for a manmore so in the earlier periods of history, when monarchs were first and foremost military leaders, and power was often seized by force. She could not become an emperor under the Tang Dynasty because of the long tradition of male succession and the fact that she was not a member of the imperial family by birth. Barretts recent book even suggests (on no firm evidence) that the empress was the most important early promoter of printing in the world. She first entered the imperial harem at the age of 13 as a lowly ranked concubine to Emperor Taizong (r. 626649), who has been praised as the most capable ruler of the Tang period and hailed as the "heavenly khan" by Central Asian states. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Theodora. She graduated from SUNY Delhi in 2018. False: In fact, the Roman Empire was in decline at this time. One of these served as her new personal name, Zhao, which articulates the fundamental Buddhist notion of universal emptiness. 2231). They ruled as divine monarchs until Gaozong's death in 683 CE. The Woman Who Discovered Printing. McMullen, David. Traditionally, only the emperor, as the son-of-heaven, could communicate with heaven and carry out sacrifices to heaven and earth. The horrible deaths of empress Wang and the Pure Concubine, for example, are nowhere mentioned in Luo Binwangs fearless contemporary denunciation, which suggests that Wu was not blamed for them during her lifetime. It was approached via a mile-long causeway running between two low hills topped with watchtowers, known today as the nipple hills because Chinese tradition holds that the spot was selected because the hills reminded Gaozong of the young Wus breasts. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Empress Wu: Part XV of the Great Patron Series - Khyentse Foundation She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother, the chronicles say. In fact, the Tang Dynasty experienced a small interruption with the second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) established by the only female monarch in Chinese history-Empress Wu. She improved the public education system by hiring dedicated teachers and reorganizing the bureaucracy and teaching methods. Barrett. Under Xuanzong's reign, China became the most affluent country in the world at the time. This particular minister was silenced but that did not silence the rest; they just were more careful not to speak their mind in front of her. One critic, the poet Luo Binwang, portrayed Wu as little short of an enchantressAll fell before her moth brows. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. She gave titles of royalty to her own Wu family: her brothers and nephews became princes while her sisters, aunts, and nieces became princesses. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. New Capital. We care about our planet! In 705, Wu Zetian's grandson, the later Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712756), slaughtered the Zhang brothers in spite of Wu Zetian's protest and forced her to return the Li-Tang imperial family to power.