627-705
First Female Monarch

Rise to Power. Empress Wu, or Wu Zhao, challenged the patriarchal system by advocating women's intellectual development and sexual freedom. Born to a newly emerging merchant family in the Northeast, Wu Zhao had been a concubine of Li Shimin, or Taizong, founder of the Tang dynasty (618-907). In defiance of convention Emperor Gaozong started an affair with her, and she bore him a son in 652. She then began to plot against Gaozong's consort, Empress Wang, incriminating the empress in the death of Wu's infant daughter. By 655 she had consolidated her position after her son inherited the throne. Wu disposed of her enemies, first the former empress and then the high-ranking officials, who had strongly opposed her rise.

New Capital. To consolidate her power, in 657 Wu designated Luoyang as a second capital. By transferring the normal seat of the court from...