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1、Empress Wu ZeTian came from a wealthy family. Her father participated in the early stages of Li Shimins empire building and later served as minister of public works in the new dynasty. In her early teens Wu Zetian was selected to be one of the talented women in the emperors quarters. Technically, th
2、is means that as a chambermaid she had the status of an unranked concubine. Her great beauty, cited by some historians, cannot be established from the extant portrait. But there is no doubt that she was very gifted, very well-read, and above all very self-willed. Upon Li Shimins death in 649, Wu Zet
3、ian entered a Buddhist temple to become a nun. When the next emperor, Shimins son Li Zhi, toured the place she caught his attention. In 654 she became a concubine of a lower rank. A year later Li Zhi discarded his empress to make room for her. By this time she was probably close to thirty. Subsequen
4、tly she gave Li Zhi four sons and one daughter. Thus of the three early Tang emperors, two were her husbands. Without exception, all seventeen remaining emperors that make up the imperial Tang genealogy were her descendants. The empress gained access to power because Li Zhi, who reigned for thirty-f
5、our years, was troubled by hypertension, which affected his vision. Wu Zetian was not only interested in state affairs but also, with her wide reading, well equipped to deal with them. By 674 she had already confirmed her position as co-sovereign. When Li Zhi died a decade later, she lost no time in
6、 making herself de facto ruler. Her first son had died earlier. Her second son, apparently uncooperative, was commanded to commit suicide. She removed her third son one month after his accession and put him under house arrest for the next fourteen years. Her fourth son was so intimidated by this seq
7、uence of events that he repeatedly petitioned to decline the vacant throne. Wu Zetians daughters first husband was also executed on her orders, although she continued to be fond of her daughter and considered the young woman to be in her own likeness. For six years Wu Zetian ruled as empress dowager
8、. But in 690 she replaced the Tang with a new Zhou dynasty. On this occasion she proclaimed herself emperor, and the act was called a revolution. Until shortly before her death in 705, perhaps at the age of eighty-one (some say that she was older), she had been sovereign for twenty-one years. During
9、 her reign numerous Tang princes tried to dethrone her. As she retaliated, dozens of those princes and hundreds of their followers were executed. The secret police were given wide power in dealing with political prisoners; the charge of treason cast its net further and further. In the end it was onl
10、y when she was seriously ill and incapacitated that the movement to restore the Tang succeeded. The imperial throne went to her third son, who was later succeeded by her fourth son. She died a natural death, and the annals of her reign could never be expunged. Along the entire length of Chinese hist
11、ory there is no other story that even comes close to hers.武则天出身名门，她的父亲早年参加唐太宗李世民的军事行动，后来官至工部尚书、荆州都督。她年轻时被选为“才人”，其实等于宫女，也是没有名分的姬妾。历史家称她容颜出众，这不能在现有图版上看出。可是毫无疑问的，她的天资极高，读书极多，而尤以意志力极强称。 公元649年李世民去世之后，武则天入寺为尼；李世民的儿子李治（后称高宗者）巡经该地，之后她被纳为昭仪，即下级之妃嫔，一年之后皇后被废，武则天立为皇后，看来此时她在30岁左右。所以唐朝开国的三个皇帝之中，有两个即是她的丈夫，以下的17个皇
12、帝无一例外，全是她的儿孙。 武后能获取实权乃因高宗李治御宇34年，史籍中称他“苦风疾”，看来是高血压妨碍了他的视力。武后不仅对国事有兴趣，而且因她读书多，有干政的能力。公元674年她与李治称为“天皇天后”，又称“二圣”，已有了“同等的国家主权最高人”（cosovereign）的名位。10年之后李治去世，她实际君临天下。她第一个儿子早死；第二个儿子显然不与她合作，被她命令自杀；第三个儿子李显被立为皇帝，只一个月即被废，从此被幽禁了14年；第四个儿子李旦百端忧惧之余，再三辞皇帝位。武则天也下令杀她女儿太平公主的驸马，可是她又认为女儿像自己而特加恩爱。 头6年武则天以唐朝太后的名位治国。公元690年她称“革唐命”而开创一个“周朝”（她称武家源出于周文王），她自己已不是皇太后而是“皇帝”。迄至公元705年她以81岁高龄去世之前（有人说她年83），曾为皇帝15年。此时不少唐皇子企图举兵造反。当她报复的时候，也将李唐后裔几十人和他们从者几百人处死刑。她的特务人员拥有广大的权力可处置政治犯，造反的名目也随着展开以扩大罗网，直到她年老生病临危之际，恢复唐朝的计谋才得以成功。皇位由她的第三子李显所继承，以后为四子李旦所接替。她在唐朝历史中的“本纪”地位无法删除，全部中国历史之中也再无其他例子近于武则天的经历和作为。