Was Wu the Wurst mother?

By dictionary definition, the noun mother is used to describe the woman who gave birth to you. However, if we look at mother as a verb, it describes a woman who cares for a child as defined by the Collins’ dictionary. 

(Dictionary, n.d.)

With this in mind we can begin to look at Wu Zetian’s actions as a mother and explore whether she meets this expectations of her role or if she was a indeed pyrrhic megalomaniac ruler as history often describes. 

History is unsure of the number of children Wu Zetian had in her lifetime, some sources argue eight, some say more, some less, but what is clear is that Wu was never going to let anyone, not even her children get in her way. Wu’s story begins with relatively humble beginnings. She was the daughter of a general who strongly encouraged her to read and write and put a large value on her education. (Mark, 2016)  At that time, these skills and lessons were traditionally reserved for males. Little is known about her own mother, however one can make a guess that her parents were relatively progressive in their hopes for their daughter. Unfortunately, it seems that Wu learned little transferrable skills from her parents approach to raising her own children. 

At the age of 14, Wu became the imperial concubine to the Emperor Taizong. From here, she began to rise through the ranks, eventually becoming the favourite concubine of the Emperor.

In 652 CE, Wu gave birth to her first son, with the arrival of her second son coming just a year later. (VUČKOVIĆ, 2019) In 654 CE Wu gave birth to her first daughter and this is when things turn nasty. Rather than embracing the arrival of the child like we would expect a mother to do, Wu did quite the opposite. She saw her daughter as an opportunity to progress and gain access to the throne. The power hungry and cunning Wu did the unthinkable in strangling her own daughter. (What the Wu!) Ah, but you see her actions were not in vain. Wu framed Lady Wang, the current emperors wife, who was consequently found guilty of the charges. (Trista, 2015) Emperor Gaozong, the acting emperor of the time, divorced his wife and raised Wu to the position of first wife and empress of China. (Mark, 2016) As if this wasn’t bad enough, Wu ordered Lady Wang to be killed in a gruesome manner. Both her hands and feet were removed and she was drowned in a vat of wine. 

Wu used her family as a ladder to the climb to Emperor and it was not just her daughter she exploited in this expedition. Wu placed her first son on the throne, however he seemed to have learnt nothing from his sister’s death and refused to cooperate with his mother. His wife, Lady Wei began to meddle in Wu’s plans and appointed her own father as Chief minister in order to get more power. Let’s face it, given Wu’s history, if Wu’s son and his wife weren’t expecting to receive some kind of backlash to these actions, they could be considered very naïve. So, Wu as Wu would, charged her son and his wife with treason and had them banished. 

In case you thought that somehow the middle child (Wu’s second son), got away lightly, she appointed him as emperor. But unfortunately, as we are all aware, the middle child never gets preferential treatment and he was placed under house arrest. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult for him to succeed in the role from the confinements of the palace walls. Wu felt that he was a disappointment to her and for this reason forced him to abdicate. 

Wu had eventually reached the top of the ladder, mission complete, she was now emperor. (Mark, 2016) As emperor, she chose the second name Zetian meaning Ruler of the Heavens which in itself is ironic, following her actions against her own family, as it was far from heaven she was heading to. Being Buddhist, heaven might not have been a high priority, as Buddhists believe that heaven is not eternal. So for arguments sake, she was probably reincarnated in some unpleasant animal like, maybe a goldfish. 

We must bear in mind, that Wu was the first female ruler and for this reason reporting at the time may not be entirely accurate, due to bias and her many critics. As well as this, the modern information systems we have today were not available in Imperial China, so Wu’s to say what really happened. But we will leave that for another day, as it will be discussed in the “Wud this happen today?” blog post. As for now, we can probably declare that Wu was one of the Wurst mothers in history. She cared little for her children and saw them as a means to an end. To be fair, she did succeed. 

Aoife Sullivan 

Bibliography

Dictionary, C., n.d. Collins Dictionary. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mother
[Accessed 10 02 2020].

Mark, E., 2016. Ancient History Enyclopedia. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.ancient.eu/Wu_Zetian/
[Accessed 14 02 2020].

Trista, 2015. History Collection. [Online] 
Available at: https://historycollection.co/wu-zetain-chinas-only-female-ruler-killed-her-children-to-secure-power-but-like-many-other-great-leaders-spiraled-into-disgrace/
[Accessed 14 02 2020].

VUČKOVIĆ, L., 2019. Ancient Origins. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/wu-zetian-0012453
[Accessed 14 02 2020].