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Empress Wu the Great : Tang dynasty China
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ISBN: 9786611793883 1281793884 087586662X 9780875866628 9780875866604 0875866603 0875866603 0875866611 Year: 2008 Publisher: New York : Algora Pub.,

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Abstract

Europe and Great Britain have had many sovereign queens in the course of history. In ancient China, there was none of that. Only one Empress ever ruled China in her own name - Empress Wu. Given her startling performance in a world of deadly intrigue and shifting loyalties, Wu is still respected as an effective and clear-sighted ruler.


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Wu Tse-tʻien and the politics of legitimation in Tʻang China
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ISBN: 0914584111 9780914584117 Year: 1978 Publisher: Bellingham Western Washington


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Emperor Wu Zhao and Her Pantheon of Devis, Divinities, and Dynastic Mothers
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ISBN: 9780231539180 Year: 2015 Publisher: New York, NY

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Wu Zhao (624-705), better known as Wu Zetian or Empress Wu, is the only woman to have ruled China as emperor over the course of its 5,000-year history. How did she-in a predominantly patriarchal and androcentric society-ascend the dragon throne? Exploring a mystery that has confounded scholars for centuries, this multifaceted history suggests that China's rich pantheon of female divinities and eminent women played an integral part in the construction of Wu Zhao's sovereignty. Wu Zhao deftly deployed language, symbol, and ideology to harness the cultural resonance, maternal force, divine energy, and historical weight of Buddhist devis, Confucian exemplars, Daoist immortals, and mythic goddesses, establishing legitimacy within and beyond the confines of Confucian ideology. Tapping into powerful subterranean reservoirs of female power, Wu Zhao built a pantheon of female divinities carefully calibrated to meet her needs at court. Her pageant was promoted in scripted rhetoric, reinforced through poetry, celebrated in theatrical productions, and inscribed on steles. Rendered with deft political acumen and aesthetic flair, these affiliations significantly enhanced Wu Zhao's authority and cast her as the human vessel through which the pantheon's divine energy flowed. Her strategy is a model of political brilliance and proof that medieval Chinese women enjoyed a more complex social status than previously known.

The woman who discovered printing
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ISBN: 9780300127287 0300127286 Year: 2008 Publisher: New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press

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This beguiling book asks a set of unusual and fascinating questions - why is early Chinese printing so little acknowledged, despite anticipating Gutenberg by centuries? Why are the religious elements of all early printing overlooked? And why did printing in China not have the immediate obvious impact it did in Europe? T. H. Barrett, a leading scholar of medieval China, brings us the answers through the intriguing story of Empress Wu (AD 625-705) and the revolution in printing that occurred during her rule. Linking Asian and European history with substantial new research into Chinese sources, Barrett identifies methods of transmitting texts before printing and explains the historical context of seventh-century China. He explores the dynastic reasons behind Empress Wu's specific interest in printing and the motivating role of her private religious beliefs. He also deduces from eighth- and ninth-century Chinese records an explanation for the lesser impact of the introduction of printing in China than in Europe. As Renaissance Europe was later astonished to learn of China's achievement, so today's reader will be fascinated by this engaging perspective on the history of printing and the technological superiority of Empress Wu's China.

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