“If the Heavens represent the men, and the Earth represents the women, then who is better than I, the empress to make the offering?” – Wu Zetian (Quote roughly adapted)
The person I chose to do is Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian was the only female Emperor of China. She improved the lives of peasants, encouraged and pursued female education, and ruled one of the most peaceful, diverse and artistic periods in China. I chose Wu Zetian for many reasons, both because of her eminence and because of personal connections. From a young age, like me, she had a passion for education and reading. She would read about politics and government and writing, alongside music, art and other interests of hers. Unlike other women, her mother and father, like my mother and father, encouraged her to be well educated since she already had a passion for learning. Even after becoming a concubine for the current emperor at the time and acquiring the role of becoming a type of secretary, she continued to pursue knowledge and education. During her time as a concubine, she also showed incredible bravery. She would speak to the emperor at some point saying how she, a young concubine would tame one of his rowdiest horses. She was brave enough to scheme and challenge with and against other women in the palace to raise herself to powerful positions and was bold enough to later start her own campaign and dynasty to challenge the religious beliefs of women and their position. As brave as I believe I am, the amount of bravery she shows is something I would like to reach one day. Though she is most well known for raising herself from concubine and nun to emperor and, she also improved the lives of the commonfolk of China. After being cast aside as a concubine and being sent to be a nun because she didn’t bear any children, she knew how it felt to be treated like dirt. After being called back from the nunnery to be a concubine for Emperor Gaozong, she would take all her gifts and give them to the palace servants, earning herself a place in their hearts. When Wu Zetian became empress, she became a symbol of the struggle between the aristocratic families and the common-born families in terms of politics and respect. She recognized that no matter how hard the common-born officials worked, their merits would never shine if the light cast by the aristocrats always drowned them out. During her time as empress, with the help of others, she removed many of the aristocratic families from the Chinese political council and replaced them with common-born officials. This was partly because the common people supported Zetian but also, so the council had a broader view on the lives of the citizens. As empress, she also convinced the emperor to not only hold the Fengshang ceremony but to allow her to give the offerings to the earth as empress. The ceremony normal goes as the emperor releasing offerings to the heavens and the government officials giving offerings to the earth, but Wu Zetian argued her point saying that, if in Yin and Yang the Heavens is represented by the men, and the Earth is represented by the women, then wouldn’t it make more logical sense if she, the empress made the offerings instead of a group of male officials? She also spoke of how the offerings made to the earth included those for the dead empresses, which would support her point of why she should be the one offering gifts to the earth. Throughout her life, Wu Zetian showed great resilience and made sure that she and other women would get the place they deserved. Though criticized by many scholars, she goes down in history for showing the world that women can and should have as much respect as men. China may have reverted to male supremacy after her dynasty ended, but I believe that I and many others who stand for racial and sexual equality can look to her as a beacon of inspiration. Her legacy lasted for over a thousand years, and I believe it will last for over a thousand more. In my next series of research, I would like to find more details on her personal life and personality instead of her accomplishments. I believe this is important since her own feelings should be acknowledged with her accomplishments. Overall, Wu Zetian was an impressive and beautiful monarch who carried many names and titles and fought for equality and better treatment among sex and class.
Want to learn more? Here is a YT video!
How a Nun Became China’s Only Female Emperor (1) – Xiran Talks Chinese History: Wu Zetian
I reaally liked the structure and how evidence is provided for every claim and statement. It is made very clear that you admire and try to become like Wu Zetian. I think that using a larger font would have made it nicer, or just making the words darker.
I really liked how your post was all interconnected and well researched. I also like how you inserted your connections neatly into the paragraph rather than having them separate.
One piece of feedback is to maybe proof read your paragraph, keeping an eye out for misspelled words. Overall your post was clear and detailed, showing Wu Zetian’s eminence and describing the mark she left in China’s history.
Hello Athena, I really like the clear and specific connections you have with Zetian, and it is interesting how you related the connection to not just yourself, but your family as well. I also like the link to the video and the clear descriptions of the challenges she overcame throughout her career. Your description of her eminence is very convincing relating it to specific examples and successes. For future posts, I would suggest adding more links to media for audiences who want to learn more about the person.
Hi Athena, I learned so much from your blog post. I thought that the images and video you added were really helpful because they added something interesting to look at along with the interesting information. I really appreciated the detailed connections you made because they helped me learn more about who Wu Zetian was. I thought you did a really good job. The only thing you could try next time is splitting up the different sections of information a bit more.
Hello Athena, I learned a lot about the eminence of your person and you had a strong list of connections which shows that she is the perfect fit for you to research! It would be easier to read if you made paragraphs although I understand that the blog post changes formatting. Great work Athena.