Empress Wu was born in 624 AD, in Shanxi Procince, Guangyuan. She was born into a wealthy family and learned from a young age how to read and write from her father, Wu Shihuo. Because of her intelligence and beauty, she was picked by emperor Taizong to become one of his concubines in her early teenage years. When emperor Taizong died, she was sent to live as a nun with Taizong’s other concubines; which was a traditional thing to do, after the emperor died. Li Zhi, Taizong’s son, sent for Wu as soon as he ascended into power, wanting Wu to be one of his first concubines, although he was already married off to another woman. Wu ascended to power when she murdered her daughter and blamed it on the current empress that had been wed to Li Zhi before …show more content…
She also became extremely powerful, but ruled ‘unofficially’ as the empress half of the time; she ruled through her youngest son, which she ascended into power by killing her two older sons. Only later did she fund her own empire and rule that officially. Wu was extremely smart, and she formed a secret police system to find and kill anyone who tried to oppose her; she also created the Keju Educational System, which was an educational system recognized and selected talented people for future jobs. All of these attributes gave her name a rightful place in the historical records, along with some of the best Chinese …show more content…
When she decided to act upon this plan, she was able to depose Kao Tsung and rise into power. Wu killed her daughter by suffocating her in her cradle, and then brought her to the Emperor and blamed it on Kao Tsung. The Emperor decided to believe Wu’s side of the story, because he overall favored Wu more than his wife, and Kao Tsung was then dragged away by the palace guards. This is Wu’s defining moment, because this was the jumpstart of her political career. After Kao Tsung was deposed, Wu married the Emperor and five years into their marriage, the Emperor suffered from a massive stroke and died. Wu had three sons by then, and killed her two elder sons to rule through her youngest. This is how she started to gain political