Wu Zhao - China Female Emperor

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was to bear a son.this clearly depicts that sons were preferred to daughters. Women went to a great extent of developing the nushu language for uneducated women so that they could communicate secretly. This language was passed from generation to generation.

The old Both male and female were greatly respected and an old woman who outgrew her husband was the leader of the whole family and commanded a lot of respect.

During the tang dynasty, the society as dynamic and multicultural. The Chinese interacted with other communities and thus borrowed a lot from their everyday lives. Confucianism was the indigenous religion which was supported by many but during her reign Wu Zetian made Buddhism very popular. She built temples, ordered translation of scripts into Chinese language and made statutes of Buddha.

Omens were very important. For instance when an earthquake occurred soon after Wu Zhou had risen to power, it was interpreted as a bad omen. The writer says that “the message was clear. A woman in a position of paramount power as an abomination, an aberration of natural human order.”

When a mountain appeared following the earthquake it was also interpreted as natures revolt against Zhou’s reign. Wu claimed it an omen in her favor. However one of the government officials wrote that she had improperly occupied a male position and therefore the mountain represented a calamity and that he should resign and live the quiet life of a widow.

In conclusion, Wu Zhou might have been considered a bad ruler who did evil things to maintain her grip on power but she goes down in history as a remarkable ruler who expanded china during her reign. Wu Zhou died in her early eighty’s and was buried with her husband.