THE CHINESE
FIRST FEMALE RULER
“She killed
her daughter, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her
mother, “ the chronicles say. But is the empress unfairly maligned? Her name was Wu ZeTian, and in the seventh
century A.D. she became the only woman in more than 3,000 years of Chinese
history to rule in her own right.
In the
earlier periods of China’s history, women were rarely chosen by their people. They
came to power, mostly by default or stealth; a king has no sons, or an
intelligent queen usurped the powers of her useless husband. However, they
rose, but it has always been harder for a woman to rule effectively compare to
a man. Wu ZeTian has every claim to be considered a great empress. She held
power in one guise or another for like more than half a century, then as the
power behind the throne held by her youngest son and finally as monarch.
Wu ZeTian
was determined to be the ruler, always determined. She could do anything to
achieve her goal to be the ruler. At
last, Wu ZeTian achieved it but the ways she used was cruel yet ruthless. According to the histories of that period,
she smothered her own week-old daughter and blamed the baby’s death on Empress
Wang, the Emperor’s first wife and the last person to have held her.
Although Wu
ZeTian had did many serious mistake or either some inexcusable ones, but she
was determined to achieve her goal and she didn’t even think of giving up
during her hard times yet continues on. Wu Zetian’s journey life had taught me
and inspired me that we shouldn’t give
up easily although it’s the hard times and continue on strong. One day, we will
achieve our goals, our destiny…
KAI
XIN (299 words)
