The Misunderstood Reign Of China's Only Empress | Wu Zetian | Absolute History

[Music] in China's Valley of the Kings there stands a tall carved stone it marks the tomb of a woman who rose from lowly concubine to become emperor of China the only woman to dare claim that title but China's female Emperor has gone down in history as a controversial and deeply divisive ruler to have a woman with such power really threatened the establishment not only did woods attend rock the boat in some ways she overturned it it would have been a very dangerous thing to get in the way of was it Yin since her death 1,300 years ago Wu Xia chair has been remembered as a callous tyrant who brought calamity to China but now extraordinary new discoveries are revealing a very different picture of her reign from ancient tombstones I've been waiting since this was excavated I am ecstatic to Buddhist temples I honestly wasn't expecting that that is really exciting seeing this with your eyes is incredible experience lost treasures have even more fantastic than I thought it would be now for the first time experts are discovering how one woman managed to rule all the Imperial China and whether rules a chan really was an evil dictator or one of the most misunderstood leaders in history the only female emperor in China's 2,000 years of Imperial history was named was it's yin move the celestial she first entered court in 637 ad as a 13 year old concubine part of the hareem of mistresses serving emperor tight sone of the Tong dynasty tongue-tied song had more than a hundred concubines by repute she was beautiful she was charming she was entertaining she also had a real zest for life concubine Wu soon got herself noticed when she enter the palace she quickly gained favour of this emperor and her relationship of become closer and with the rise her of her influence at court and she proved to be politically very very skilful and she's very shrewd when the old Emperor died Wu Zi Chen became at first concubine to his son GAO's own then in 655 he made her his Empress but emperor gaozong was a sickly man and gradually will became the real power behind the throne until in 690 with her husband dead Wolsey Qian stepped from the shadows and declared herself Emperor yet China's ancient chroniclers were scathing in their accounts of her rise to power history tells us the really dark and bleak picture about Empress Wu one of the most brutal stories we have is that she killed her own child just to frame the previous Empress and gain station at court we're also told that wooja had her two rivals legs and arms cut off and then dip them in a vat of wine and let them slowly bleed to death so this paints a picture of a devious manipulating calculating self-serving and absolutely ruthless Virago hell-bent on power even after she claimed the throne we're told was each urn was ruthless in her reign this is the tomb of would search in second son Lee Seon he was a threat to his mother Lucien was accused of treason and he was exiled to the most remote corner of the Chinese Empire locked in a room and forced to commit suicide by poisoning so this is a mother killing her own son so that she can hold on to power loser Chan led China for nearly 50 years according to legend she was a tyrant whose reign brought disaster to the Empire now archaeologists run earthing new evidence the challenges this version of Lou's story professor Zhang Zhang Lin is the world's leading archaeologists at the tongue era Kong horses here lyosha latitude issue in general thought unsure till one Concordia College in fashion Nicole Cooney Chadha phone for it won't be yes yet to be achieved or the phone for the Sanel will draw do you doubt yet handle issued each other Johnny challenge itself today the city of Xian has grown to encompass old Zhang Han Lue's capital but the population of twelve million Chan is rapidly expanding it's also home to professor Zhang's conservation facility historian dr. Harry Rothschild has heard about some intriguing recent finds that date to move rain whoa it's amazing seeing all these tongue artifacts I've been studying you Jiao woods attend for 17 years and finally here we are at Ground Zero you can sense her everywhere here in Chang on the figurines show life in whose capital the musicians traders and Nobles buried with the dead to ensure a comfortable afterlife but there's also something unexpected here a first clue to what was China was really like conducting yamada-shi medieval food JP I'm a little searching [ __ ] here who needed for leadership around that CEO to be a party he contracted it hunger education you can overcome even can drown the Milwaukee cannot see the hunger a fully hydron hydrogate initiation children and leave in youth attacks - a shocker for Caucasian and the young kid sleeping the Twitter photo before she Maya Talia would you wanna know creative wasn't sure how to fool the d-wave that are concerned he go he cannot caught it or see it hum the time the trilogy what only time the yellow say ah so we're looking at an unprecedented boost for the position of women you're talking about a female Emperor here after all and and so that translated directly in this sort of greater opportunity and greater freedom for women in the late 7th in early 8th century [Music] it seems like there may be more to lose adjourned omits the eye ancient chroniclers denigrated her rain but many recent tomb discoveries like the women in men's clothing hinted a rather different story [Music] professor Tanya egg felt is an expert on tunnel ureters she's on her way to see one of the most amazing archaeological finds in all Chinese history [Music] it's amazing it's even more fantastic than I thought it would be this is the fabled Phoenix crown of ancient China a long-lost treasure from the Tong era written about in ancient texts but never seen until now this priceless headdress is held under lock and key and can only be viewed by special appointment tanya believes that is a vital clue to the truth about wounded Chin's china there's an enormous amount to investigate in this piece looking closely the metal work is filigree and there's a lot of granulation granulation consists of tiny little beads of gold the whole crown is like a peacock displaying its tail there are very very fine flowers made of mother-of-pearl and pearl there are even fine bunches of grapes made of Chinese glass so really what we see here is something cosmopolitan and something rich something fashionable full of luxury items not only in the making of it but also in the imagery involved professors Young's team found the Phoenix crown in a grave that was already in exceptional find a tomb that had never been raided inside was a skeleton and on the skull the beehive hairstyle studded with jewels the skeleton was of a young woman named leech way a minor descendant of the tongue royal family for 18 months the team carefully picked out every single jewel and stone slowly piecing together the headdress to reveal its true glory but when they used x-ray chromatography to discover where the different jewels and stones came from they were in for a surprise [Music] the headdress has carnelian from Uzbekistan 2,900 miles to the west of shunga garnet from India 3000 miles southwest amber from Iran 4,000 miles away and ivory from Sri Lanka 4500 miles from Bruges capital the crown gives us clues about with such in society life was rich there's a lot of luxury it was a real high point in the arts what we can see here is the embodiment of all of the wealth and all of the treasure that the town court could attract [Music] which way wasn't even a princess if she was buried wearing this priceless headdress clear evidence of the extraordinary wealth of China at the time her tomb holds one final secret she was buried with the Jade silkworm in her hand another clue that reveals Wu's ambitions to make her China the wealthiest empire in the world [Music] in seventh century China a woman named Wu Zetian rose from lonely concubine Empress with her husband the emperor's sick she ruled the empire in all but name [Music] ancient chroniclers dismissed her reign as a time of calamity but today's experts think the truth may be very different in a tomb 50 miles northwest of wu's capital city Shangaan tonya ik Feld is investigating murals that provide strong evidence of Wu's influence and power here we can see a mural of foreign ambassadors coming to court ambassadors came from far and wide in this mural we can see a Mongolian a Korean and a tonsured monk perhaps from Rome or Syria there's a man from Shin Jung from Greece and from Persia it's interesting because we can see that the the ambassador's are in quite subservient positions their hands a class before them and seem quite in all of the situation the mural suggests that was a Chan was a respected international leader of her time I think what's the Chan was a consummate politician she saw advantage in the use of diplomacy rather than warfare and led a society that was quite open and open to foreigners many foreigners at high level beat a path to her door recent research the tests that there were 25,000 foreigners living in booze Japan many were traders and more than anything they were after one Chinese [Music] since the 4th millennium BC China had produced the finest quality silk by Wu's era the demand for Chinese silk had made it as valuable as gold the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road began in Chang'an spreading east and west linking China to other nations but by the mid 7th century bandits and robbers threatened to stop trade in its tracks new discoveries reveal Wu's urchins master strain she built military outposts far into Central Asia securing safe passage all along the Silk routes [Music] Harry Rothschild has come to the very start of the Silk Road in China to find the latest archaeological evidence of trade in Rouge capital this is incredible we've been allowed to come right down here into the Western market we're standing right on the edge of the canal looking right across into this square where you had all of these stalls arrayed where rows of iron mongers and butchers and Tanner's and silversmiths Goldsmith's calligraphy brush salesmen would be arrayed where you could find anything under the Sun if you get down closely here you can see ruts that have been left in in the earth from the carts that went over this bridge you really feel the ambience of the Western market in looser chen's chat on the east and west markets marked the start of the silver in the West market goods from lands to the west of jangan were bought and sold [Music] Silk Road trade not only made woves empire wealthy it brought so many foreigners to China that her capital became one of the first truly cosmopolitan cities in the world people from all across the world traveled to China and many chose to stay and this multicultural influence can still be felt to be present to Asia we are walking along the way street the Chinese Muslims sleep on the very heart of old Antanas it is bustling it is vibrant it is full of energy as you see by the milling bustle going on behind me now I think these are sugared figs or dried figs here these two these came from along the Silk Road from from Persia so this is a kind of wheat Colonel candy and he's pulling this taffy and then afterwards they'll take the taffy and they'll roll it out with pumpkin seeds or with sesame seeds and then turn it into this hard candy the sesame came from Persia and the Middle East along the Silk Road so this is this is sort of the fruit of something that was trafficked thirteen hundred years ago during woods at hands time I think in terms of the multiculturalism the vibrance the bustle the energy just the constant commercial buzz you have a great sense of what was going on during the time by 662 with her husband the Emperor ill Empress was at yen was an effective control of the whole Chinese Empire trade had brought wealth and luxury evident from the valuable artifacts that have been found and we'll wanted to flaunt this to the rest of the world to do this she planned the expansion of the Imperial Palace on a scale never seen before when archeologists first uncovered the foundations they were amazed by what they found this is one of the huge gated entrances rebuilt to scale on those very foundations this is danfung gate the southern gate of da ming palace just looking up at it it conjures a sense of awe for me it's a statement it provides a sense of Imperial grandeur it makes any one sort of standing before the gate feel a sense of their own smallness and insignificance Musa Chen's dharman Palace was the largest in the world completed in just three years the scale of the complex out Shan anything anyone had ever seen look at the size of da ming palace this is twice as big as old pompeii it's five times bigger than the Forbidden City of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Emperor's it's twenty-two times the size of the Acropolis a scope the grand juror it's it's absolutely staggering you can read about it but you don't really appreciate that magnitude until you step out on this balcony and you look out at this Vista there are archery grounds there are polo grounds cockfighting arenas places for drama troops to practice and that's just the beginning there were three or four more palaces beyond that emissaries coming from foreign countries would come in with their jaws dropping with just a sort of starry-eyed wonder and they would feel like they were looking at a celestial world a paradise on earth I do think that was about imposing her power with the majesty and size of da ming palace but harry thinks this place is unusual in more than just its extreme size Chung on when it was first designed was the model of perfect Imperial symmetry the old imperial palace was in the north central position within the Tong capital chang on this new da ming palace was outside of the city walls altogether it's very unusual to build a palace outside of this usual model of Imperial symmetry there's one good reason for 12 years Wu Chao had languished in the old Imperial Palace for her this was a chance to get a new start to distance herself from her lowly and obscure past as a fifth rank Talent here where you have this stunning new Imperial grandeur was an opportunity to sort of reinvent herself it's becoming clear that was the chair made China a global superpower contrary to how the legends were written she was at the center of a web of trade wealth and political influence that stretched from Japan to the Mediterranean [Music] in the seventh century whose the Chen's capital city jeonghan was in a class of its own so Chang'an during woods at Stan's time would have been an absolutely massive City there's supposed to be almost a million people living within the city walls and another million outside which just outclasses anything else in the world at that time [Music] Jonathan Dugdale from Birmingham University thinks he knows one reason for was a Chen's remarkable success she would win the support of the common people through the reinvigorated religion that was sweeping China Buddhism would xerton realized patronizing Buddhism was a great way to please the people and what better way than building new temples and pagodas so one of the main ones she built was this one right behind this the great wild goose pagoda the great goose pagoda was originally built in 652 as someone he studied pagodas for a long time this is particularly awesome the pagoda was an important temple housing sacred Buddhist writings but just 50 years after it was built it was destroyed in an earthquake whoo who had been brought up in the Buddhist faith spending time in a nunnery decided to rebuild the pagoda but on a much bigger scale Jonathan suspects that this new building was a record breaker and that will surpassed herself in her desire to make her mark in her people's faith and he thinks he can prove it I would really like to find out how tall this building was when wounds it's in rebuilt in because it'd be really interesting if she's decided to build it significantly bigger for a reason but first he has a problem to solve who's the Chen's pagoda was partially damaged by a second earthquake the top three floors toppled so jonathan has to work out how high her structure would have been with the missing floors 58 onwards and upwards 1c okay so that's boy steps to that and that brings us on the fourth floor now 35 36 37 38 what he's found a pattern I have a number of steps previous flaws we've gone from 43 to 42 38 37 so if the next floor is either 37 or 36 we should make an accurate calculation there's four 35 36 37 this is good we're still decreasing so this is good we might be able to do something last one 32 let's do the math people by working out the pattern and height of the steps per story is 86 Jonathan calculates with the missing three floors the true height of wu's pagoda was close to a staggering 300 feet high which would have made it not only the tallest brick pagoda in Asia but possibly one of the tallest buildings in the world at that time [Music] it would have been like nothing else that anyone had seen before in the cityscape now it still looks impressive but in those days it would have soared above absolutely everything else in the city who built this record-breaking structure as a statement targeted directly at her people there's so many different things she stands to gain from building a massive pagoda in such a visual space like this the majority of the population of Chang'an at this time are Buddhists and they will see that she's supporting Buddhism she's supporting their religion who's Achin ordered the building of new Buddhist temples in every town in her empire creating allies among the common people of China and she didn't stop there [Music] 250 miles east of Tonga in Holland province water caves historian Lou Young thinks they may be key to understanding who's power [Music] this is a sacred place for Buddhists the religion and pilgrims have been coming here for centuries but I have been told there is a connection there link and press were directly to their faith members of the elite paid vast sums to carve small caves into this sacred hillside there are over 1,400 housing over 100,000 Buddha figures the smallest is just an inch tall the biggest is an imposing 57 feet high commissioned by Wu Zhu Chen herself and it has a story to tell [Music] Wow Eston this impressive what a view it is gigantic the official name of this Buddha is pyro China which is the radiant Buddha of a great Sun this is basically a universal Buddha symbolized the the power and and dominance of this religion Musa Chen wanted to put herself at the heart of Buddhism in the eyes of her people to do this it's possible she took one audacious step and ordered the statue to be carved in her own image the legend says that this that who actually is modelled on her face she want to make this a statement of her power this will give her more credibility because this is the age of Buddhism and there's a massive follower of this particular religion and by creating this temple she basically put herself on the center stage of of not just religious action but also the society in general you know the seeing this with your eyes is incredible experience this is so impressive to me and I think she got what she wanted [Music] the lumen grottoes and the great goose pagoda suggest that was a Chan was a skillful tactician who knew how to use religion to promote her own status and keep her Empire happy about river from the giant buddha the series of very recent archaeological discoveries reveal another of the secrets of her success wow this is spectacular here in Hawaii on professor Wang Joo and his team have been excavating giant granaries designed for storing rice in fashion mm oh gosh other inscriptions enabled the team to date each granary precisely what kinda goes to one just as neither saw me anyway would mean 23 damaged area and the truth g-good sanctum 3 similar city to that reading was that hand operation no [ __ ] who the chen ordered rice from eastern china to be brought here by canal stockpiled in these vast grain stores then redistributed in times of need Anna's who will hold her duty and a lawyer answered had to deal with her agua Hawaii someone Angela visual diva hunting early on town else's language student portal and China Liang Sicheng hogs Antigua Liang Zhou monomer time during the early 7th century China suffered prolonged droughts leading to famines but under was a Chen improvements to the rice stores design were to prove invaluable hi you even had a girl sometimes you have to go to the computer and the trigger each young the genitive pathetic associate aging so internally also hydrogens and it was handwritten found on that - show me hiding a truly auntie roofied halogen non-friend senior engineer equal your total maple joke tom jobs and a woman [ __ ] English in there you are very partial attention to the attenti good cigar made me Midland Hannah you to the Negev agencies actually presented at our such young wasn't a good room for the action what a visit leon's Hamilton Korea you can see each share are babe it was the one that well the massive scale of this granary really testify the the power and the capability of Empress ORS regime and and she is a very capable ruler that the grain kept here can last for many years so this is not just contributed to the stability of her regime but also for the future of tang dynasty as well archaeology is revealing that Boozer Chen was an efficient administrator who ensured her people and her soldiers were always fed but despite her successes as a woman she could never rely on the support of the aristocratic establishment she needed allies so in a radical break with tradition whoo allowed commoners to join in the administration of her government [Music] she encouraged women to be entrepreneurs and permitted Chinese women to divorce and marry freely for the first time but in a moment of breathtaking audacity she even appointed a female prime minister by the name of Shangguan Juana Harry has been told of evidence professors Zhang's team have found in recent excavations in the Prime Minister's to suggesting her life had a controversial final chapter this is Shangguan ours epitaph I've been waiting since September of 2013 when this was excavated for a chance to actually see this in person and it's finally happening today so I am I am ecstatic in Omaha Akira hot salami yayi hood surrounding the area sure sure this says she had 47 springs and autumns at the time of her death Titian they got a kneeling that is the true Disher official but when Zhang's team found the prime minister's tomb it had been purposely destroyed and this destruction is key to understanding why the bleak picture of woozi Chen has been passed on through the centuries unit Hawk was with her the more she'll run led for the motion could although Fatiha hee ho to the confirm will be taken this was thorough kind of malicious and intentional destruction that had been done to the tomb at all Miss Anna konnichiwa solitary motion either English one call to you from future are you from once had a [ __ ] confound you know you can only enjoy thank got a motion about cousin Donna she be what does yoga mushi Tomoko pour 100 meters from no comment on you son triple inheriting the genetic moocher [Music] shangguan quanah's tomb had been dismantled by order of emperors wazoo lose a chance successor harry believes there is a direct link between this destruction and the chronicles the tell of Wu's evil and incompetence now that I know that Shangguan r's grave was dismantled this is part of an intentional process an intentional destruction of vestiges of female power during the late 7th and early 8th century the Confucian patriarchy striking back and reestablishing normative power [Music] by 690 ad who is a Chen had ascended the throne to become the first female emperor ever to rule the Chinese Empire but her opponents were determined to unseat her she had annihilated many many of her enemies but where there's power there are always rivals and there's always a contest although there is clearly more to lose at Chen than the ancient writers led us to believe there's also emerge that some of the tales of her callousness were not just propaganda art historian dr. Jenny Liu has discovered new texts in the tomb of was great granddaughter princess Yong tae that suggests even blood knew no mercy I've studied other princes epitaphs as well and this is a passage here which I've never seen you have the character for anger okay and anger at the at the two boys and their secret medicine so this passage tells you what happened to princess Yong tae these are characters that are usually used for the miscarriage or the loss of a child and it is the Jang brothers secret medicine or poison that made her miscarriage leading to her death this refers to it's a 10 because it's very possible that she was the instigator of the poison that Jon brothers were very close to her and they did her bidding and she was known to have pitted people against each other in court and she would cause one to poison or kill the other and she did this with officials and now it seems maybe she did it with her relations her kin almost the motive why why does she want then she was bearing the child of two of the strongest clans in contention for the throne and it might be possible that she did not want this child to be born no matter the gender it would have been a very dangerous thing to get in the way of was it yen [Music] [Music] as emperor of China who's a Chen had successfully fought off all rivals to hold on to power but the fight had been bloody what sir Chen became incredibly ruthless she had hundreds of members of the ruling family executed the violence and reign of terror you could say was extreme but she was not without a conscience she was very troubled by what she'd done with her mind turning towards her afterlife Wu wanted forgiveness of her sins she wrote a confession and had it engraved onto a golden tablet and had that tablet taken to a holy place to perform a sacred ritual [Music] so here we are on Mount song it's the central of the five sacred peaks of ancient China and it became a very important place in Woodson's later life in the year 700 Wu Zetian came to this mountain she had a golden tablet made on which she inscribed her sins which was then cast down the mountain as a form of absolution and we know precisely what that gold tablet said because nearly 1300 years later a farmer found it lying in the earth on the mountain slopes it's description was short but its message profound and said the ruler will Joe admires the true doubt with its long-lived immortal spirits her servant has been commissioned to go reverently to the pinnacle of the central peak of Mount song and cast the golden tally that might expiate her sinful nature what you can tell by the fact she's throwing away this tablet in such a visible fashion is that she's really trying to demonstrate to other people that she was repentant it's a very visible ceremonial thing it's it's saying I I have sinned and I wish to be absolved of these sins and and whether she actually believed that was the case or not I think is is less important than the impression it would create to other people [Music] the end of loser Chen's reign become fraught its scheming and rebellion among the male nobility at her court [Music] the higher she goes she becomes a tall poppy she becomes a bigger target [Music] jonathan has come to a remote location in the foothills of mount soon but will retreated to in her last year's it's awesome I've wanted to come here for a long time this is this is quite special this is the song a pagoda it's important in roots at Ian's life because she used to come here to worship it's 1,500 years old not only is it still standing it still looks still looks pretty good [Music] [Applause] [Music] so what's they sayin would have come into that probably into this very building because this is the original structure from 1500 years ago I've never seen anything high for four this is a phenomenal building you can feel why Woods that in would want to come here I mean Chang'an at this time is politically very difficult and she wants to come here to just escape all that it's it's a place of safety and refuge throughout her life whose at Yin had shattered Confucian tradition rising from a lowly concubine to become the only female emperor of China she had achieved much she made China a better place for women the Empire wealthy peaceful her capital city vibrant and cosmopolitan and her population fed and free to practice their religion ISM but the male establishment was closing in and the Shi Emperor was too old to fight back when once the tens rule came to an end she was 80 in effect she wasn't usurped she abdicated so she was still maintaining her own sense of control [Music] she lived for a few more months and she went quietly her time had come Emperor was at Yin died in 705 [Music] this is Chung Ling the Tong dynasty mausoleum complex her final resting place she's buried in a secret chamber deep inside the mountain alongside the Empress she succeeded her husband doubt so we're on the spiritual path walking toward would say tens tomb it's impressive it's daunting it's powerful the area that it covers is almost the same as the diamond Palace so it's a huge area the pastor was er turns to is protected by Imperial bodyguards and sculptures to ward off evil spirits [Music] beside the Gateway entrance the two sets of foreign emissaries lined up to pay homage being here is a really awesome experience it's so impressive would search in may have held power for more than half a century but in this place really her spirit and her sense of majesty and authority and power has lived on for many centuries standing alone juggling is the carved steely honoring Wu's urchins resting place by her decree it was left blank inviting historians to write of her achievements and they did sir distorting her story for centuries but having discovered more about her life what would today's experts now carve upon the stand I would wrote something long lines of she was women who did what she had to to stay in power she was a great leader she had a lot of political acumen but most of all I'd say she was the woman that proved that in a man's world he didn't need a man to lead it the one word that I would put is just maverick because of the way that she went about gaining power I'd write nothing for her entire idiosyncratic unprecedented political career defied labels and for thirteen hundred years she's defied historical verdict I think that the the blankness of the steely is a perfect Monument [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 2,558,877

Rating: 4.9167075 out of 5

Keywords: wu zetian documentary, absolute history, timeline, wu zetian, wu zetian (noble person), chinese history, china (country), zetian, rise of kingdoms wu zetian, wu, empress wu zetian, wu zetian bio, wu zetian music, talent for wu zetian, how good is wu zetian, wu zetian city defense, empress of china, tang dynasty, ruizong, chinese, the history of japan, ancient china, history of china, chinese culture, asian culture

Id: Yq-vW7xlGq8

Length: 48min 3sec (2883 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 18 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/_zomato_]

48 hours?! I'm impressed and unnerved

[u/dr_strange-love]

Wu Zetian ain't nothin' to fuck with

[u/ratz1988]

Coming back to find this