Empress Wu

Wu Zhao 武曌 (624-705), the only female emperor in Chinese history, was a pragmatist, painfully aware that to establish her sovereignty she needed to marshal every tool, symbolic or real, at her disposal. She emerged in the right place at the right time. Multi-ethnic, cosmopolitan and open, the early Tang dynasty (618-907) featured a lively commingling of nomadic, Central Asian steppe culture and traditional Confucian mores. Merchant caravans of laden Bactrian camels filled the Silk Road that linked Tang China to Central Asia and India, traveling to and from Chang’an and Luoyang, the grand twin capitals. Rather than being strictly confined to the inner quarters, women of this era were more visible, riding horses and donning male attire. Islamic mosques, Zoroastrian churches, Daoist abbeys and Buddhist monasteries all welcomed believers. Throngs heralding from all walks of life cheered at polo matches. Markets spilled over with Malayan patchouli, pepper from India, aromatic woods from Java, and Korean pine seeds, while in street stalls, Persians sold pilaf, figs and pistachios, and Turks hawked sesame buns and nang-bread.

Despite these fertile pre-conditions, the biological fact that Wu Zhao was a woman presented serious problems in her effort to assume the dragon