Empress Wu Zhao: Chapter 11 Analysis
Spoiler notice: This analysis contains detailed discussion of events and characters from Chapter 11 of Unquiet Women. Read the chapter first if you wish to avoid spoilers.
Summary
The chapter opens with the extraordinary story of Wu Zhao, the only woman to rule China as emperor in her own name. Born Huagu, the daughter of a supportive lumber merchant, she entered the Tang imperial court at thirteen and became a concubine of Emperor Taizong. Her intelligence and beauty earned her the rank “Lady of luminous deportment,” and she formed a bond with Crown Prince Gaozong. After Taizong’s death, Wu was sent to a Buddhist convent, but she maintained contact with the new emperor through a poignant poem. Gaozong wept on seeing her again and brought her back to court, where she bore him six children. Through cultivation of lesser-ranking women and loyalty to the emperor, Wu Zhao outmanoeuvred Empress Wang and the Pure Consort, leading to their deaths and her installment as empress consort. When Gaozong suffered a stroke in 660, Wu became a co-ruler, issuing tax reforms, curbing army size, and assembling a cadre of low-born scholars known as the North Gate scholars. After her husband’s death she acted as regent for her sons, deposed two, and in 690 declared herself emperor. She was dethroned in a palace coup at the age of eighty, and her son Zhongzong restored the Tang dynasty.
The chapter then pivots to the Western historiographical tradition, which often reduced ambitious women like Empress Theodora and Queen Fredegunda to schemers. Max Adams contrasts these caricatures with the more nuanced careers of several Northumbrian women. Æthelburh helped convert King Edwin to Christianity; her daughter Eanflæd co‑founded monasteries and later became abbess of Whitby. St Hild, abbess before her, governed a mixed community and organized the Synod of Whitby in 664; Bede praised her wisdom and the community’s shared property. Her successor Ælfflæd negotiated the Northumbrian succession with St Cuthbert, while Osthryth, sister of Ælfflæd, married a Mercian king to weave peace but was murdered in 697. By juxtaposing Wu Zhao’s calculated mastery of the rules with the achievements of these Anglo-Saxon women, the chapter challenges the simplistic “men in petticoats” fallacy and shows that women of power, whether in Chang’an or Northumbria, navigated treacherous political landscapes with agency, ambition, and consequence.
Key Events
- Wu Zhao enters the inner court of Emperor Taizong at age thirteen, becoming a fifth‑rank concubine.
- She rises to the second rank as “Lady of luminous deportment” and begins an affair with Crown Prince Gaozong.
- After Taizong’s death, she is sent to a Buddhist convent but sends Gaozong an evocative poem; he weeps on seeing her.
- Gaozong brings her back to court; in 652 she gives birth to their first child.
- Wu Zhao cultivates allies among lesser court women, leading to the deposition and execution of Empress Wang and the Pure Consort.
- In 655 she is enthroned as empress consort and her son Li Hong becomes crown prince.
- The couple works to widen bureaucratic access and persecute enemies after alienating the old guard.
- Wu Zhao sponsors Buddhism, performs rituals at the shrine of Leizu, and employs a Taoist shaman.
- After Emperor Gaozong’s stroke in 660, she takes an increasingly active role in state affairs.
- In 666 the imperial couple performs the Feng and Shan rites on Mount Tai.
- Wu Zhao issues edicts lowering taxes, reducing the army, and instituting agricultural reforms.
- The North Gate scholars compile a new edition of Biographies of Exemplary Women on her behalf.
- On Gaozong’s death in 683, she rules as regent and successively deposes two of her sons.
- In 690 she declares herself emperor.
- At age eighty, a palace coup dethrones her; shortly after she dies, and her son Zhongzong restores the Tang dynasty.
- The chapter then illustrates the vilification of Theodora and Fredegunda by male historians, and narrates the influential careers of Æthelburh, Eanflæd, Hild, Ælfflæd, and Osthryth.
Character Development
Wu Zhao evolves from a bright and beautiful concubine into a politically adept ruler who never breaks the rules of her world but bends them to her will. Her early survival depends on winning Gaozong’s affection; later she systematically builds a network of female informants and male scholars, co-opts state ritual, and ultimately sheds the role of consort altogether to claim the imperial title. The author underscores that her ruthlessness and religious patronage were not anomalies but strategic instruments of power. In the Western context, figures like Theodora and Fredegunda appear frozen in the hostile lens of chroniclers, but the Northumbrian women—Æthelburh, Eanflæd, Hild, Ælfflæd—demonstrate spiritual authority, political counsel, and diplomatic agency, moving from unsung influencers to acknowledged leaders. Osthryth’s tragic end reminds the reader that such paths could prove fatal.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Mastery of the system: Wu Zhao’s greatness lay not in breaking patriarchal rules but in mastering them; she exemplifies how a woman could exploit court protocol, kinship, and religious patronage to seize supreme power.
- The “men in petticoats” fallacy: Adams invokes Mary Astell’s phrase to critique the refusal to see ambitious women as fully rounded political agents, later demonstrating that women like Hild commanded respect from kings.
- Comparative historiography: The chapter contrasts Confucian and later vilifications of Wu Zhao with the caricatures of Theodora and Fredegunda, while offering Bede’s admiring portrait of Hild as an alternative narrative.
- Poetry as political tool: Wu Zhao’s convent poem, with its imagery of a tear‑stained pomegranate‑red dress, functions as a motif of longing and crafted persuasion.
- Ritual and religion: Wu Zhao’s sponsorship of Buddhism, Taoist divination, and the Mount Tai rites signal how she embedded her authority in both tradition and the supernatural.
- Peace‑weaving: The Anglo‑Saxon practice of royal women marrying to forge alliances is both celebrated and shown to be perilous in Osthryth’s murder.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter expands the book’s geographical and conceptual scope beyond Europe, proving that the mechanisms of female ambition—patronage, intelligence, manipulation of ritual—transcend cultural boundaries. Wu Zhao’s life demonstrates that a woman could rule the world’s most powerful empire without inventing new rules, only by playing the existing game more skilfully. The follow‑up survey of Northumbrian women grounds the discussion in familiar religious and dynastic politics, furnishing counter‑examples of women who exercised authority without being tainted as monstrous or unnatural. By tying these two strands together, Adams equips the reader with a more resilient model for understanding “unquiet women” anywhere.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How did Wu Zhao transform her position from a banished concubine to empress consort?
She used her poem to rekindle Gaozong’s affection, then cultivated the overlooked women of the inner court who had been excluded by Empress Wang. By acting as a loyal ally to the emperor and bearing him children, she gathered enough influence to have her rivals deposed and killed, ultimately being made empress consort in 655.
2. What strategies did Wu Zhao employ to consolidate power after Emperor Gaozong’s stroke?
She undertook public rituals such as the Mount Tai pilgrimage, lowered taxes, and reduced compulsory service to build popular support. She surrounded herself with the North Gate scholars, who produced propaganda and a new edition of Biographies of Exemplary Women. She also balanced Buddhist, Taoist, and state ceremonial roles, presenting herself as the nation’s mother figure.
3. How does the chapter’s comparison with Anglo‑Saxon women challenge traditional depictions of female power?
While misogynistic chroniclers painted women like Theodora and Fredegunda as schemers, the Venerable Bede describes Hild as a prudent abbess whose counsel was sought by kings. Æthelburh, Eanflæd, and Ælfflæd wielded influence through conversion, monastic foundation, and succession politics without being reduced to stereotypes, illustrating that female authority could be respected when recorded by sympathetic observers.