Forgotten empress

 

"China´s Forgotten Emperor" is a 2016 US documentary about Wu Zetian, the only female emperor or empress regnant in Chinese history. She ruled in her own name from 690 to 705, but had considerable power already from 655 or even earlier. I admit that I know next to nothing about Wu Zetian, but judging by this docu, she must have been a formidable ruler. 

The Tang imperial capital of Chang´an may have been the largest city in the world at the time, with a population of one million, and an additional one million living in its rural hinterland. Chang´an was a cosmopolitan metropolis situated right at the trade route network known as the Silk Road. Murals from the period show subservient foreign ambassadors at the imperial court. Wu Zetian constructed what must have been the world´s tallest building at the time - the 90 meters high "Giant Wild Goose Pagoda" (it´s current version is actually smaller). Another monumental project during Wu´s de facto reign was the carving of the Vairocana Buddha at the Longmen Grottoes, supposedly with her facial features! 

The documentary claims that Wu Zetian promoted the interests of women, and opened up the bureaucracy to non-aristocrats. Sculptures from the period show women on horseback and women dressed in male clothes, suggesting that females had a large amount of freedom (or at least freedom of movement). Her support for Buddhism is seen as "populist", since this was the religion of the people in the Chang´an area and elsewhere. Indeed, the scholars interviewed in "China´s Forgotten Emperor" seem to view Wu Zetian as the most prominent and succesful Tang ruler, her reputation being posthumously sullied by patriarchal Confucian scholars. 

I admit that I was somewhat annoyed by the "politically correct" slant of this production, with cosmopolitanism and multi-culturalism constantly being pictured as "dynamic" (think of all the exotic food!). Modern-day feminist agendas are projected onto the empress. When the chips are down, not even "China´s Forgotten Emperor" can deny that Wu Zetian quite literally massacred a lot of people (including her own relatives - and women, too) to stay in power, suggesting that whatever qualities she had as a ruler, mercy probably wasn´t one of them. We are dealing with a ruthless and power-hungry autocrat, using all the usual methods of her day to get ahead (including the inevitable assassinations by poisoning). It´s also quite funny that one of the sycophantic scholars is named Rotschild! 

That being said, Wu Zetian´s story might nevertheless be worth your time.