Breaking the Reputation of Female Rule in China: Daoism and the Rewriting of the History of the Reign of Wu Zhao (624-705)

Barrett, T.H.

Abstract

Usurpation by a woman made the reign of Wu Zhao a problem in the history writing of the restored Tang dynasty (618-907; interregnum 690-705) and thereafter that has often attracted the epithet ‘Confucian’. An examination of the rewriting of history to change the meaning of two miracles reported during her reign – the appearance of a new (though small) mountain and of Laozi, supposed ancestor of the Tang imperial line – shows that among those keen to repurpose these events were later Daoists, who were engaged in a long term struggle with the Buddhists, the main beneficiaries of her rule. This suggests that we need a more nuanced approach than simply designating all retrospective criticism of her as ‘Confucian’, even if the ultimate origins of the attempts at historical revision are as yet hard to discern.

Citation

Barrett, T. (in press). Breaking the Reputation of Female Rule in China: Daoism and the Rewriting of the History of the Reign of Wu Zhao (624-705). NAN NÜ: Men, Women and Gender in China, 21(2), 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685268-00212P01

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 27, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Dec 11, 2019
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2025
• Journal: NAN NÜ: Men, Women and Gender in China
• Print ISSN: 1387-6805
• Electronic ISSN: 1568-5268
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 183-193
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685268-00212P01
• Related Public URLs: https://brill.com/view/journals/nanu/21/2/article-p183_1.xml