Author: Jonathan Clements
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909771109
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description

Author: N. Harry Rothschild
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231539185
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Wu Zhao (624–705), better known as Wu Zetian or Empress Wu, is the only woman to have ruled China as emperor over the course of its 5,000-year history. How did she—in a predominantly patriarchal and androcentric society—ascend the dragon throne? Exploring a mystery that has confounded scholars for centuries, this multifaceted history suggests that China's rich pantheon of female divinities and eminent women played an integral part in the construction of Wu Zhao's sovereignty. Wu Zhao deftly deployed language, symbol, and ideology to harness the cultural resonance, maternal force, divine energy, and historical weight of Buddhist devis, Confucian exemplars, Daoist immortals, and mythic goddesses, establishing legitimacy within and beyond the confines of Confucian ideology. Tapping into powerful subterranean reservoirs of female power, Wu Zhao built a pantheon of female divinities carefully calibrated to meet her needs at court. Her pageant was promoted in scripted rhetoric, reinforced through poetry, celebrated in theatrical productions, and inscribed on steles. Rendered with deft political acumen and aesthetic flair, these affiliations significantly enhanced Wu Zhao's authority and cast her as the human vessel through which the pantheon's divine energy flowed. Her strategy is a model of political brilliance and proof that medieval Chinese women enjoyed a more complex social status than previously known.

Author: X. L. Woo
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 0875866611
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description

Author: Shan Sa
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061983136
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Such is the voice of Shan Sa's unforgettable heroine in her latest literary masterpiece, Empress. Empress Wu, one of China's most controversial figures, was its first and only female emperor, who emerged in the seventh century during the great Tang Dynasty and ushered in a golden age. Throughout history, her name has been defamed and her story distorted by those taking vengeance on a woman who dared to become emperor. But now, for the first time in thirteen centuries, Empress Wu (or Heavenlight, as we come to know her) flings open the gates of the Forbidden City and tells her own astonishing tale—revealing a fascinating, complex figure who in many ways remains modern to this day. Writing with epic assurance, poetry, and vivid historic detail, Shan Sa plumbs the psychological and philosophical depths of what it means to be a striving mortal in a tumultuous, power-hungry world. Empress is a great literary feat and a revelation for the ages.

Author: N. Harry Rothschild
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
The story chronicles Wu Zhao's humble beginnings as the daughter of a provincial official and follows her path to the inner palace, where she improbably rose from a fifth-ranked concubine to emperor. Using Buddhist rhetoric, architecture, court rituals, and a network of "cruel officials" to cow her many opponents in court, Wu Zhao inaugurated a new dynasty in 690, the Zhou. She ruled as emperor for fifteen years, proving eminently competent in the art of governance, balancing factions in court, staving off the encroachment of Turks and Tibetans, and fostering the state's economic growth.

Author: Dora Shu-fang Dien
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
In the dynastic history of China, Wu Zetian was the one woman who attained the status of emperor in her own right. A stone tablet marking her mausoleum was left blank, reportedly at her request because she wanted the future world to assess her. And her rise in the patriarchal system supported by Confucianism did later inspire many novelists and playwrights. Dien's slim study looks at the rise and achievements of the historical empress, her influence in the form of defiant woman who appear in legend and fiction, and (very briefly) the state of urban gender equality today. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Author: Laurel A Rockefeller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
The most hated woman in Chinese history! Born in 624 CE in Wenshui County in Shanxi province, very little was expected of the beautiful and bright Wu Zhao (reign title Wu Zetian) -- except that she would be trouble to any man unlucky enough to marry her. The very opposite of a virtuous maiden by most interpretations of the Analects of Confucius, Wu Zhao was not only bright, but highly educated and equally ambitious. Harshly judged by both contemporaries and generations of Chinese scholars since, the one thing everyone can agree upon about Empress Wu: the world is a vastly different place because she dared what no other woman of her time dreamed was possible. This is her true story, a truly legendary woman of world history. Student - Teacher Edition features challenging study questions after every chapter, plus a detailed timeline, and an extensive suggested reading list.

Author: R. W. L. Guisso
Publisher: Western Washington University, Center for East Asian Studies
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description

Author: X. L. Woo
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 087586662X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Europe and Great Britain have had many sovereign queens in the course of history. In ancient China, there was none of that. Only one Empress ever ruled China in her own name OCo Empress Wu. Given her startling performance in a world of deadly intrigue and shifting loyalties, Wu is still respected as an effective and clear-sighted ruler."

Author: Charles Patrick Fitzgerald
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description