Early Life

Before reading about Wu Zetian's early life, one should bear in mind that Wu Zetian did not become Empress until she was around 30 and records of her life to that time are extremely scarce. Therefore many of the "facts" about her early life are not verifiable, including how she returned to the palace, the alleged murder of her infant daughter, and her age.

Wu Zetian () was the daughter of Wu Shih-huo , who was an official of Gao-Zu , the founder of the Tang Dynasty. His posts include President of the Board of Works , and Governor-General of Li Zhou . When his first wife died, Gao-Zu suggested him to remarry and recommended a Miss Yang, a cousin of the emperor of the previous Dynasty (ie the Sui Dynasty). This marriage probably took place in 620, and produced 3 daughters of whom the second was to become the only female Emperor of China.

Wu Zetian was traditionally believed to have been born in 624. At the age of fourteen, she was summoned to Tang Taizong's (aka. Li Shi Min ) harem where she was given the name Wu Mei-Niang () and the rank of Cai-Ren (5th rank) - - See Harem Structure - - . The fact that she neither advanced from her initial rank of Cai-Ren nor bore Taizong any children, might suggest he was not greatly attracted to her, or even that he had not associated with her at all (A Tang Emperor may have as many as 121 concubines). However, during her stay at the palace Wu Zetian cultivated a relationship with Li Zhi who had been declared Crown Prince in 643 and was to become the future emperor: Tang Gaozong .

In AD 649 Tang Taizong became ill and died. The principal sources state that on Taizong's death, Wu Zetian was forced to retired to the Gan-Yeh convent with his other childless concubines . However, her intimacy with the heir to the throne proved to be the turning point in her career, and in approximately AD 651 Wu Zetian returned to the palace. This opened a way to power and influence which would otherwise have been closed forever.

According to some sources, it was at the summoning of Gaozong's wife, the Empress Wang, that Wu Zetian returned to the Palace. The Empress had no children, and it was doubtful if she could have any in the future. She therefore adopted Li Zhong (the Emperor's eldest son who was born by a concubine of low rank) and, along with some of the high-ranking officials, persuaded Gaozong to make Li Zhong Crown Prince. Although the Empress had no sons of her own, and the new Crown Prince was only adopted by her, the Emperor had 3 other sons, one of whom was the son of Xiao Shu-Fei (1st rank). Because Xiao was the Emperor's favorite, was of high rank, and had a son of her own, the Empress feared that she would try to secure the succession for her own son and become Empress herself. Worried by her own childlessness and the increasing favor of Xiao Shu-Fei, she was ready to use any means to distract her husband's affection from her rival. The Empress Wang knew that Gaozong like Wu Zetian very much. She therefore hoped to use Wu Zetian to ruin the Xiao Shu-Fei's favor and therefore arranged for her to be brought back into the Palace. This is a popular story explaining Wu Zetian's return to the palace. However, I think that this story is somewhat strange, and has numerous contradictions. For example, if the Empress thought Wu Zetian could take Gaozong away from Xiao Shu-Fei, this means that Gaozong was more attracted to Wu Zetian than Xiao Shu-Fei. Therefore, if the Empress brings Wu Zetian back into the Palace, she will have ruined one rival, but at the same time created an even stronger rival. This would put the Empress into a worse position than before. Therefore, I think it is more likely that Wu Zetian returned to the Palace under different circumstances, for example, Gaozong may have arranged for her to be brought back.

Whatever the real reason is, the fact is that Wu Zetian did return to the Palace and was again made a Cai-Ren. Not long afterwards, she advanced from Cai-Ren to Zhao-Yi (2nd rank). She knew that she still did not have much power, so in her relations with the Empress, she was submissive, willing, and courteous, doing her best to please. She was also greatly loved by Gaozong who wanted to advance her to Chen-Fei 1st rank. The ministers protested violently against this, saying that there can only be 4 Fei (Gui-Fei, Shu-Fei, De-Fei, Xian-Fei) and all the positions had been filled. Furthermore, this Wu Zhao Yi (Wu Zetian's title at the time) was a former Cai-Ren of Emperor Taizong and did not qualify to be a Fei. So Wu Zetian remained a Zhao-Yi. While she was Zhao-Yi, Wu Zetian came rapidly to monopolize Gaozong's love. She gave birth to her first son, Li Hong () in approximately AD 653 and emerged in early 654 as his open favorite.

The Empress Wang grew increasingly afraid of her new rival and united with Xiao Shu-Fei (who had been neglected by Gaozong ever since Wu Zetian returned to the Palace) to try to subdue her together. When Wu Zetian learnt of this, she quickly found ways to protect herself. Although many historians praise Empress Wang for her virtue, they also reveal that she was haughty and distant to the other ladies of the palace and to the servants. Moreover, her mother and her uncle paid frequent visits to the Palace, where their arrogance and discourtesy brought many enemies. Wu Zetian carefully observed those whom the Empress and her family had offended, and then sought them out to do them good turns and give them presents. So when the Empress and Xiao Shu-Fei brought complaints against her to the Emperor, there were many people ready to defend her.

In 654, Wu Zetian gave birth to a daughter. The Empress came to visit the baby Princess and after she left, Gaozong also came to visit. But when he was shown the child, she was found to be dead. Wu Zetian burst into tears and asked her attendants what had happened. They replied "The Empress had just been here." Gaozong was furious and shouted "The Empress has murdered my daughter!"

Historians often tell the above story as if the guilt of Wu Zetian as the real murderer is proved beyond question, and that it should be obvious that Wu killed her daughter in order to frame Empress Wang. However it is important to bear in mind that these historians were always hostile to the future Empress Wu and one may be inclined to wonder about the truth of their story. In order to murder a child in such a short time, Wu Zetian must have been exceptionally strong physically and emotionally. It should also be noted that the murder of the baby princess was not listed as one of the official reasons for the deposition of Empress Wang (the official reason was that she had no sons, and there was also a charge of sorcery - the murder of the princess was not even mentioned as the reason for deposition), so why would Wu Zetian take such a big risk by killing her own child if she can't even be sure that it will lead to Empress Wang's fall? One should also bear in mind that medical science in the 7th century was not as advanced as it is nowadays, so the infant mortality rate was high, and many people died suddenly from unknown causes. It is very possible that the child died naturally, and Wu Zetian seized the opportunity to incriminate Empress Wang.

Whatever the real cause of death was, the event proved fatal to Empress Wang. From that moment on, Gaozong conceived a violent dislike of Empress Wang and planned to depose her. He soon began to seek ministerial approval for deposing the Empress stressing continually that Empress Wang had failed to bear him a son, whereas Wu Zhao-Yi had done so. This was sufficient ground for divorce under Tang law. There was also a charge of sorcery - that Empress Wang had tried to dabble in black magic, and the supposed murder of the baby princess was not mentioned at all in the official reason for the Empress' deposition.

The proposal to depose of Empress Wang was met with almost universal opposition from the Zai-Xiang , the highest ranking group of ministers composed at that time of 6 men. They spoke of the blamelessness of Empress Wang, and also pointed out the unfilial nature of removing an Empress personally selected for her virtue by Gaozong's father. However, they admitted that compromise was possible. If Gaozong were determined to change Empresses, why did he not choose another concubine? Wu Zetian was a Cai-Ren of Taizong, and the possibility of having an accusation of incest could only blacken the emperor's reputation. Only one of the Zai-Xiang, Li Chi, did not oppose Gaozong. His view was that "This is a household affair of Your Majesty. Why do you need to inquire from outsiders?"

While this was going on, Wu Zetian gave birth to her second son, Li Xian in approximately AD 655. There are rumours that this second son was not really her son, but was the son of Lady He-Lan . Lady He-Lan was the elder sister of Wu Zetian and was a widow. She frequently visited the Palace and was seen and admired by the Emperor. He became intimate with her, and if later Palace gossip is to be believed, she gave birth to Li Xian, although the child was officially attributed to Wu Zetian.

Meanwhile Gaozong was still trying to overcome the opposition from the other five Zai-Xiang. He used every avenue from cajolery to bribery to intimidation in order to gain agreement. Only when this failed did he simply overrule them (even banishing one of them to South China), thus changing the balance of power and the style of rule which had characterized the Tang Dynasty up to that time. After two years of uncertainty, the matter was settled, and in AD 656 Wu Zetian became Gaozong's Empress and began the climb which would end on heights greater than any other woman in China would ever scale.

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