Wu Zetian: from the palace to the throne

Wu Zetian entered the palace of Emperor Taizong at fourteen as a low-ranking consort, according to the Old Book of Tang. Taizong was the father of Li Zhi, later Emperor Gaozong. When Taizong died, Wu left the palace and entered Ganye Temple as a Buddhist nun. Gaozong later saw her there, recalled her to court and appointed her Zhaoyi, a senior consort. She first served the father, then returned to court under his son.

Wu became Gaozong’s empress in 655. These changes in rank placed her within the centre of Tang court life, where succession, family ties and access to the emperor shaped political influence.

In 655, Gaozong deposed Empress Wang and made Wu his empress. The Old Book of Tang says that Gaozong suffered from illness in later years and entrusted the review of official memorials to the empress. It records that the pair were called the “Two Sages.” The phrase points to Wu’s role in government beside Gaozong.

When Gaozong died in 683, their son Li Xian took the throne as Emperor Zhongzong. Wu became empress dowager and governed in his name. In 684 she removed him and installed another son, Li Dan, as Emperor Ruizong. The throne passed between her sons, while Wu remained in control of the court. Her authority grew through these successions, from empress alongside Gaozong to regent after his death.

In 690, Wu took the imperial title for herself and proclaimed a new Zhou dynasty. Her action formally interrupted Tang rule; she no longer governed in the name of a son. Court officers and institutions continued to administer the realm, while Wu presented herself as sovereign.

The family line remained central to the political settlement. Li Xian, removed in 684, returned as emperor in 705 after Wu yielded power. His restoration brought the Tang dynasty back to the throne. The chronology is clear: Wu served as Gaozong’s empress, governed as empress dowager after his death, ruled as Zhou emperor, then transferred power to Li Xian.

In 705, amid a court coup, Wu yielded the throne to Li Xian, who resumed the title Emperor Zhongzong and restored Tang rule. Wu died later that year. The Old Book of Tang records that her final instructions removed the imperial title from her posthumous designation and returned her to the Tang ancestral order. In 706 she was buried with Gaozong at Qianling.

Her path from Taizong’s palace to Gaozong’s empress, then to regent and Zhou emperor, ended within a Tang imperial mausoleum. The succession and burial dates link the court relationships of her life to Qianling’s stone landscape. The monuments let later generations encounter the rulers whose political histories met beneath Mount Liang.