Wu Zetian, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetWu Zetian
founding empress of the Zhou Dynasty
Date of Birth: 17-Feb-0624
Place of Birth: Guangyuan, Sichuan, China
Date of Death: 16-Dec-0705
Profession: poet, empress consort
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 
About Wu Zetian
- Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), alternatively named Wu Zhao, Wu Hou (Empress Wu), during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou, in English as Empress Consort Wu, was a Chinese sovereign who ruled unofficially as empress consort, power behind the throne, and later officially as regent, empress dowager, empress regnant.
- For twenty-five years, she worked as a co-ruler of her husband and sons and for 15 years she worked in her own name (??) during the brief Zhou dynasty (?, 690–705), which interrupted the Tang dynasty.
- Wu was the sole officially recognized empress regnant of China in more than two millennia. Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong.
- After his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (??, empress consort, title for the reigning emperor's main consort) in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this.
- After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal to the emperor's until 705.The importance to history of Wu Zetian's period of political and military leadership includes the major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia, and engaging in a series of wars on the Korean Peninsula, first allying with Silla against Goguryeo, and then against Silla over the occupation of former Goguryeo territory.
- Within China, besides the more direct consequences of her struggle to gain and maintain supreme power, Wu's leadership resulted in important effects regarding social class in Chinese society and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education, and literature.
- Wu Zetian also had a monumental impact upon the statuary of the Longmen Grottoes and the "Wordless Stele" at the Qianling Mausoleum, as well as the construction of some major buildings and bronze castings that no longer survive. Besides her career as a political leader, Wu Zetian also had an active family life.
- Although family relationships sometimes became problematic, Wu Zetian was the mother of four sons, three of whom also carried the title of emperor, although one held that title only as a posthumous honor.
- One of her grandsons became the renowned Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.
Read more at Wikipedia