The life of Wu Zhao is a tale of hardship, bloodshed, and politics. Wu Zhao’s tale begins from a humble background and comes to an end in a not so humble way. The question we should ask ourselves is how does this happen and what events took place that allowed for Wu Zhao to rise to such a high public office. The interesting thing about Wu Zhao is that there is much of her life that remains in a shroud of mystery. The author of China’s Only Woman Emperor writes about the rise, rule, fall and the impact that Wu Zhao on Chinese culture. Wu Zhao comes not from a royal high-class family but rather from a well off merchant family. As a young girl Wu Zhao was sent off to become an imperial concubine. During her time as a concubine she served under Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong. After Emperor Taizong passed away Wu Zhao would become a Buddhist …show more content…
This is when Wu Zhao starts to have a close relationship with Gaozong and thus leads to Wu Zhao’s first big obstacle, Empresses Wang. After the death of Wu Zhao’s first child with Gaozong Wu Zhao accursed Empresses Wang of murder leading to Empresses Wang’s death. Wu Zhao became the wife of Emperor Gaozong after Empresses Wang’s death. Empress Wu Zhao would often give advice to her husband during court and was believed to have a great influence over the Emperor. Now that Wu Zhao was Empress she would do everything and anything to hold on to her position of power. Wu Zhao became very involved in changing policies and Confucian rites such as mourning for the mother for as long as the father. When Emperor Gaozong passed away his successor became Li Xian who was thought of as joke or disgrace by Wu Zhao. Not to long after Li Xian took over as Emperor was he exiled by Wu Zhao because he threaten to turn the empire over to Wei Xuanzhan. Once Li Xian was removed, Wu Zhao’s youngest son Li Dan was to take over as Emperor. Once Li Dan took over it