Wu Zetian was a famous female emperor in China, and for thousands of years in China, she was the only woman who actually ascended the throne as emperor and ruled China for fifteen years. But why was it that in that era of male superiority and female inferiority, Wu Zetian was able to rule China smoothly? What kind of means did she use? What tools are available?
Use Buddhism
The biggest reason is because of the use of Buddhism. The Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, the largest Buddha statue Lushena Buddha was built during the Wu Zetian period, which also shows the prosperity of Buddhism during the Wu Zetian period, but why did she spend so much money to build such a large Buddha statue in Longmen?
Because, for the sake of her own dominance, she advocated Buddhism and used Buddhism. The Buddhist scriptures speak of the equality of all beings, and this equality refers not only to the equality of all biological species, but also to the equality of men and women. And Wu Zetian female emperor took the throne, the ancient idea of male superiority and female inferiority is very serious, even if Wu Zetian has officially ascended the throne, there are still many voices of opposition, and even Li Tangzong's office has raised an army to attack him.
Although some people can send troops to quell the chaos, this is not a long-term solution, and if a country has a long-term war, the collapse of the regime is not far away, and Wu Zetian knows this truth better than anyone. So she thought of using religion.
Promote Buddhism
Ancient rulers used religion to maintain their rule, and even Li Tang's emperors were the same, but they did not need to consider the issue of male superiority and female inferiority, they only needed to use religion to package themselves. When people mention Buddhism, influenced by journey to the West, many people may think that it is wrong for Buddhism to attach importance to Buddhism at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty. And what Li Tang chose for himself was Taoism. The reason is very simple, because at the beginning of the establishment of Taoism, in order to put gold on their faces, the originator of Taoism was the famous Lao Tzu, whose name was Li Tan and surnamed Li.
The tang dynasty's national surname was Li, so the Li family, who came from the nobility of Longxi, also packaged themselves well like the emperors of previous dynasties, and promoted the increasingly mature Taoism. In this way, Taoism, which was native to China, was already very mature in the Tang Dynasty, and Lao Tzu was listed as the head of the Three Qings, saying that the Li clan was their descendants, and the ancients had a natural trust and respect for religion for social reasons.
At the initiative of the Li Tang rulers, the people transferred the worship of the Taoist god Taishang Laojun to the Li Tang rulers. And Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne is undoubtedly a public blow to everyone, in addition to the social atmosphere of male superiority and female inferiority, it is more based on Li Tang's use of Taoist influence to shape himself and make the people accept their rule, such as Li Shimin's title of ''Heavenly Khan'".
Wu Zetian took the throne, not only the female title of emperor, but also for the people, it was "stealing the sky and changing the day", and it was not only li Tangzong who could not accept it, but also ordinary people. And Wu Zetian was very familiar with such a situation, and Li Tang borrowed Taoism to say that he was a descendant of Lao Tzu to achieve the effect of being borrowed by her who did not change the soup. She asked her male pet to find a story of a woman calling herself emperor, so Xue Huaiyi did not fail in her mission and found her the story of the pure light goddess.
It is said that the Pure Light Heavenly Lady heard about the Dharma, reincarnated as a woman, and finally became the king to enlighten the people. At that time, the story of the Goddess of Heavenly Light was not famous in the Tang Dynasty, but was called Maitreya Buddha by everyone, for which she also forged a commentary on a sutra: that is, the explanation of this sutra is sparse, implying that Wu Zetian is the reincarnation, to become a queen, the people of the world will worship and submit.
The results are remarkable
Under such propaganda, Wu Zetian's position was basically stable, plus the rebels were taken down by her troops, and she herself was also very generous, Luo Binwang, an anti-thief aid, because he was grateful for his good literary talent, decided not to kill him, such Wu Zetian had an imperial grace.
During her reign, her political achievements were also good, and she also had great respect for talents, opened a palace examination, and selected a lot of talents, who made great contributions to the emergence of the Kaiyuan prosperous era after Li Longji took the throne later, such as the well-known Yao Chong, who was selected at the time of Wu Zetian, and later Yao Chong, and even the official to the prime minister. Coupled with the assistance of religion, her rule tended to stabilize.
The social ethos of Datang
The reason why Wu Zetian can find the corresponding character for himself in the Buddhist scriptures is inseparable from the tolerant and inclusive atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty. Although Datang advocated Buddhism, it did not prohibit or exclude religions imported into China from abroad. Therefore, Buddhism is popular in the folk, and its practice of not rejecting other religions is also very beneficial to Wu Zetian's propaganda of Buddhism.
Because the people accept it, there is not so much confinement, if it is a country that completely prohibits other religions, the resistance to suddenly promoting another religion will be very large, which is equivalent to changing people's concepts, and even for the people, it is reshaping their three views. Chinese can't even accept cutting hair and changing hairstyles during the Qing Dynasty, let alone gods? It is the tolerance of Datang that gives the people freedom of thought, there is no absolute control over people's thoughts like later dynasties, free people can accept other religions, naturally can also accept the teachings of religion, under the subtle, naturally can also accept a female emperor, which is the reason for the self-confidence of Datang culture, the beneficial impact on the people.
In a society where men are inferior to women, Wu Zetian's move is equivalent to explaining to the world through religion that women can also be good emperors and can also succeed to the throne, so she also appointed Shangguan Wan'er as the female prime minister. And Wu Zetian's own political achievements are the best answers she can give to the world. Wu Zetian directly advertised himself as Maitreya Buddha, all in order to get better support.
This is her wit, but also her obedience, but also her wrist as a politician who took over the government affairs during the tang gaozong period. If you abandon the characteristics of her gender and look at her simply with the eyes of the emperor, not with a ridiculous eye, just discuss why she still has a lot of male pets in her old age, combined with her identity as an emperor, everything will be more logical. In this way, she ruled the Tang Dynasty for more than ten years, and there was nothing worth arguing about.