First, birth:
Wu Zetian was born in Lizhou (now Guangyuan, Sichuan) and Chang 'an (now Xi 'an, Shaanxi) in the seventh year of Wude (624). ? [5]? There are two half-brothers, Wu and Wu, and two half-sisters. One is Wu Shun, a Korean wife (Wu Shun is called a sister in history books and a sister in Wu Shun's epitaph), and the other is Mrs. Guo.
Second, acceded to the throne.
In the first year of God's will (690), Wu Zetian announced that she would change the Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty, establish herself as emperor, make Luoyang her capital and establish the Wu Zhou Dynasty. In the second year (69 1) in July, Farming and others wrote four volumes of The Great Cloud Sutra, saying that Wu Zetian was the incarnation of Maitreya Buddha and should be the master of the world, and Wu Zetian ordered its promulgation.
Extended data:
There have been different opinions on Wu Zetian since the Tang Dynasty. The emperors in the early Tang Dynasty were all her direct descendants, and the Confucian orthodoxy had not fully occupied the dominant position, so the evaluation of Wu Zetian at that time was still relatively positive.
However, with the passage of time, especially Sima Guang's History as a Mirror, Wu was severely criticized. After Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism occupied a dominant position in China's thought, ignoring women's views decided to evaluate Wu Zetian. For example, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wang Fuzhi, a famous thinker, once commented on Wu Zetian as "a place where ghosts and gods can't tolerate, and where subjects complain."
However, it is undeniable that Wuhou was good at governing the country, attached importance to recruiting talented people, and created the "palace examination" system of the imperial examination, which enabled him to reuse such famous ministers as Di, Zhang Jianzhi, Huan, Jing Hui and Yao Chong.
During the reign of Wu Zetian, the national policy was steady, the military strategy was appropriate, the culture was revived, and the people were rich, so she was known as the legacy of Zhenguan, which laid the foundation for the long-term stability of her grandson Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Wu Zetian made great contributions to history.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Wu Zetian