{"slug": "wu-zetian", "label": "Wu Zetian", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9738", "qid": "Q9738", "description": "founding empress of Zhou dynasty (r. 690–705); de facto ruler of Tang dynasty from 665 to 690", "entries": 14, "years": 13, "span": [559, 706], "span_label": ["559 CE", "706 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Deaths", "count": 3}, {"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 3}, {"title": "Births", "count": 2}, {"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 2}, {"title": "Health & Medicine", "count": 1}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 1}, {"title": "Crime & Justice", "count": 1}, {"title": "Culture & Society", "count": 1}], "related": [{"slug": "tang-dynasty", "label": "Tang dynasty", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "emperor-gaozong-of-tang", "label": "Emperor Gaozong of Tang", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "history-of-china", "label": "History of China", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "japan", "label": "Japan", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "emperor-tenmu", "label": "Emperor Tenmu", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "china", "label": "China", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "chinese-buddhism", "label": "Chinese Buddhism", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "taoism", "label": "Taoism", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "goguryeo", "label": "Goguryeo", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "korean-peninsula", "label": "Korean peninsula", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "chang-an", "label": "Chang'an", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "tarim-basin", "label": "Tarim Basin", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": 559, "year_label": "559 CE", "section": "Births", "date": null, "text": "Wu Shihuo, father of Wu Zetian (d. 635)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350439939#Births", "title": "559", "revid": 1350439939, "section": "Births"}}, {"year": 624, "year_label": "624 CE", "section": "Births", "date": "February 17", "text": "February 17 – Wu Zetian, Empress of the Zhou dynasty (d. 705)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1343884392#Births", "title": "624", "revid": 1343884392, "section": "Births"}}, {"year": 635, "year_label": "635 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": null, "text": "Wu Shihuo, father of Wu Zetian (b. 559)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364906250#Deaths", "title": "635", "revid": 1364906250, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": 660, "year_label": "660 CE", "section": "Health & Medicine", "date": null, "text": "Emperor Gao Zong suffers from an illness (possibly slow-poisoning). His wife Wu Zetian starts to rule the Chinese Empire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1359584981#Korea", "title": "660", "revid": 1359584981, "section": "Events › By place › Korea"}}, {"year": 665, "year_label": "665 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Wu Zetian, the wife of the Chinese emperor, unofficially becomes an absolute ruler by eliminating her political rivals.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340805187#Asia", "title": "665", "revid": 1340805187, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 668, "year_label": "668 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Chinese troops sent by the Tang dynasty emperor Gao Zong complete their expedition in the Korean Peninsula. Leaders of the expedition have been selected by the emperor's powerful concubine Wu Zetian. The kingdom of Goguryeo is overthrown; the Unified Silla period starts.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340805218#Asia", "title": "668", "revid": 1340805218, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 684, "year_label": "684 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "January 3", "text": "January 3 – Zhong Zong succeeds his father Gao Zong, and becomes emperor of the Tang dynasty. His mother Wu Zetian remains the power behind the throne in China.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340805928#Asia", "title": "684", "revid": 1340805928, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 685, "year_label": "685 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "Empress Wu Zetian sends a pair of giant pandas to the Japanese court of Emperor Tenmu, as a diplomatic gift (approximate date).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364749113#China", "title": "685", "revid": 1364749113, "section": "Events › By place › China"}}, {"year": 690, "year_label": "690 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "October 16", "text": "October 16 – Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty, and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire as \"Holy and Divine Emperor\". She becomes the first and only female \"emperor\" in 5,000 years of Chinese history. Wu Zetian changes the dynasty's name to the Zhou Dynasty, and begins to murder throne pretendants and ministers who try to oppose her. During her reign she elevates the status of Buddhism above Taoism.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340806273#Asia", "title": "690", "revid": 1340806273, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 692, "year_label": "692 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "Empress Wu Zetian regains control of the Kingdom of Khotan in the Tarim Basin (Northwest China).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340806257#Asia", "title": "692", "revid": 1340806257, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 698, "year_label": "698 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "July 22", "text": "July 22 – Wu Chengsi, nephew of Chinese sovereign Wu Zetian", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340806584#Deaths", "title": "698", "revid": 1340806584, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": 705, "year_label": "705 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "December 16", "text": "December 16 – Wu Zetian, Empress of the Zhou Dynasty (b. 624)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340807090#Deaths", "title": "705", "revid": 1340807090, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": 705, "year_label": "705 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "February 22", "text": "February 22 – Empress Wu Zetian is deposed in a coup d'état organized by her chancellor Zhang Jianzhi, after a 15-year reign. His chief ministers gain support from some generals to seize the imperial palace and execute the Zhang brothers. They reinstall her son Zhong Zong, whom she deposed 15 years ago, restoring the Tang dynasty. This marks the end of the short-lived Zhou dynasty in China.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340807090#Asia", "title": "705", "revid": 1340807090, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 706, "year_label": "706 CE", "section": "Culture & Society", "date": "July 2", "text": "July 2 – Emperor Zhong Zong has the remains of his mother and recently deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui, all interred in the same tomb complex as his father and Wu Zetian's husband Gao Zong, outside Chang'an, known as the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang, which will then remain unopened until 1960.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1367660928#China", "title": "706", "revid": 1367660928, "section": "Events › By place › China"}}]}