The Villainous Image of Wu Zetian: Revisiting Origins and Analyzing Contexts

Abstract

Economic prosperity and cultural achievements under the reign of Empress Wu Zetian were recognized by her seventh century contemporaries. After the May Fourth Movement, twentieth century intellectuals, historians and politicians considered her as a skillful politician, but negative collective memories of her were also constructed in diverse Chinese literary genres during the Fengjian period. This research investigates the origins of negativity and underlying factors by revisiting the memory text presenting the villainous image of Wu Zetian as ruining states, promiscuity, and ruthlessness in official Tang dynasty court histories. Additionally, the dominant discourse ideology is studied by consulting Pre-Qin to Han texts by Confucius and his disciples and books for women by elite Han to Tang period female authors, with social, political and cultural contextual analysis of memory and discourse texts. Results indicate a political agenda motivating an official memory contestation by Tang dynasty court elites promoting the Western Zhou dynasty natural law maintenance concept; the latter deep-rooted discourse supported male-dominated politics and economics in a gender and social hierarchical division of labor. Chinese patriarchal society has long confined women to the private domestic realm through the doctrine of following and dependency.