👿 Look, I know some of you baddies out there are dying to know the content of 羅織經, Luozijing (Classic of Accusation). Luckily, somebody was kind enough to put up the text online. Original Chinese: zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E7%BE%85%E7%B9%94%E7%B6%93 Original Chinese & Commentary: kknews.cc/history/9nlmlm5.html
First to come here. As always I get to learn a lot about East Asian history rom this channel. Thanks for your hard work. By the way you should check out OverSimplified, he also makes great historical videos
I'm glad I recently discovered this channel. I'm woefully ignorant of Asian history and culture. These vids are detailed yet concise. Simplified enough so a dummy like me can comprehend. And done with a good sense of humor.
Although Wu is rightly remembered for being 'Evil', it is often forgotten that she was actually relatively popular at the time, and treated the lower classes very well. She listened to the concerns of her subjects directly, and issued many edicts that supported the lower classes. She also recruited many commoners into her government, giving them important roles and very generous pay.
How much of those 'evil' came from smear campaigns by henchmen of her usurper son and those who got laid off for incompetence during her administration? Chinese diasporas only got access to Song Dynasty copies of records made hundreds of years after her death, while Mainland scholars got the old ones from Tang Dynasty archives. They do not know the whole story. On top of that, how many of her stories aren't real, but embellished by generations of minstrels just like Three Kingdoms?
@@thanakonpraepanich4284 Exactly! Add to that general prejudice against women in power, and it is not surprising at all that she has been painted as such an 'Evil' leader.
supporting the plebs??? hmmmmm i remember reading a wikipedia article of roman emperor nero en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero who was known for instigating the 64 AD burning of rome and the first persecution of christians. and yet like empress wu, nero was a populist (pro pleb as opposed to the optimates; pro aristrocrats) who spent lots of government funding on public projects, and also he imposed heavy tax on the aristrocrats (guess how they felt about that). so probably nero's legacy was under pro aristrocrat propaganda and/or his 'tyranny' was exaggerated. that and turning back by a century, ahhh yes... julius fukking caesar, a great general of the gallic wars and his civil wars against his former friend pompey (HE WAS A CONSUL OF ROME!!! [and so was caesar before taking over gaul]), a victim of sulla's policy of political purging after winning a civil war for the optimates against gaius marius (who was caesar's uncle and was young at the time), a people lover, and killed surrounded by friends (and enemies; both populist and optimates and sometimes former) for being in absolute power/breaking the laws of republic constitution/being a king (an absolute no no for rome). yeah right, i heard the republican system had been a *dying meme* ever since the murders of the gracchi brothers. yes, caesar was an ass for power hunger, BUT AT LEAST HE DID THE COMMONERS JUSTICE and then at the same time, cleo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra, what did she do to the commoners??? "At the beginning of her reign, local officials harassed destitute farmers by collecting taxes during a famine and drought. Cleopatra curtailed these predatory measures and introduced relief efforts such as releasing grain from the royal granary." and then after the 27 bc final war of the roman republic, caesar octavian augustus (caesar's grandnephew) waged propaganda against her for being on the side of antony
I personally find Wu Zetian to be one of the most interesting parts of World History that goes unsung by most Historians, as well as her neighbor, also a Woman in power, who was in charge of the Tibetan Empire named Khi ma Lod (or Thrimalo) who ruled at several intervals of time right next door. But bravo on highlighting this little tale, one mustn't forget the minutia of History either as every little bit helps build the truer context. Great work CJ.
Wu Zetian Started a lot of wars though, against Tibetans, Turkic people, Turkic people got kicked to west. She funded the blood civil war in Korea, a lot of people dead of it. She had a harem consisted by 600 most famous men of time, their ages between 13-65. The real most uncomfortable thing happened there, How dare a woman use men as pets in a male dominated world? And her name is super as well, Zetian means "yet, myself is the heaven". while other emperors only dare to declare "I'm the son of heaven" at most. Basically her broke all the rules and values of China. By the fact 2 emperors loved her, her look should be great but why didn't her be counted as one of 4 greatest beauties of Chinese history? The reason, other beauties all accept fate and men's privilege. She never, she is the freaking EMPEROR!
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One note: Macchiavelli the Prince isn't satire, many of his tips were used and have been used by rulers to gain and keep power. If it was meant to be satire, then our world has fallen very deep.
Of course it was not satire (that must be a weird interpretation or a mishap) but it was not intended for lowly minions of an evil power-mongering organization, but for actual political leaders
The Prince is definitely not a satire, and is as real as the Art of War. I think the reason why it is regarded by some as a satire, is to present the Renaissance Italy as a peaceful and cooperative state.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a manual for learning how to effectively wield power as a Prince in Renaissance Italy. Notwithstanding that he fell out of favour, and was forced out of politics, his observations and advice were informed by experience and his political values. Machiavelli is a fruitful source of realpolitik.
It was during Wu Zetian rule that that Tang Dynasty i believ became a truly golden age of cosmopolitan era. She have done evil things within the court. A dangerous person within the imperial noble circle. In my opinion, she is a calculative woman who play the game of thrones really well. I do think Wu Zetian is fully aware about such deed she has to do and i think its a bitter pill for her to swallow to ensure the stability of her imperial court. But for the common people and the entire nation it was the time of prosperity. Commerce, technology, social stability greatly improved. Knowledge and the arts have flourished, and commoner have enjoyed better rights specially womens rights. If i'll be transported back in time during the ancient dynasties, i will choose the tang dynasty to see its splendor and the beauty of the daming palace.
Despite Judge Dee was very against Wu Zetian taking the throne she never did anything to him even punished some court officials for trying to frame/bad-mouthing him. Because of this some thinks that she secretly love him
I dunno about that... It might be one of those Cdrama thing that got popular. Then again, many powerful women are interested in men they couldn't get. Just like powerful men do with women.
@@CoolHistoryBros Yeah, I got this from a document somewhere awhile ago. Even that one said it was a rumor since she never acted on it or wrote about her feeling
@@arbood26 She has 2 emperor husband when she was a concubine then many male-concubines as emperor, 2 of whom(brothers, one of them was her daughter lover) took power when she was old & weak, ironically using the same trick she once did when her husband was sick. But the court has learn from history & kill them before they purge the court, then the court reinstall her useless 3rd son(she kept all her sons stupid as they have more legitimate claim to the throne thus could overthrow her) as the new emperor
fascinating tidbit into the world of palace intrigue during the Lady Emperor‘s reign；hardly anything could escape her informants so all this prolly happened under her own quiet notice，but its a favourite topic of online TV dramas visiting that bygone age
Sun tzu and his beautiful art of war is but a mere glimpse of political/ war/ spiritual/cultural classics that China has to offer. Kudos 👍Your show has taught me of an obscure text that needs translation and put into modern readers hands. Thanks
Discovered this channel a week ago and really enjoying all the fascinating history! Might you do a video explaining why The Three Kingdoms novel portrays Cao Cao as a scoundrel and Liu Bei as the hero?
I will go into Three Kingdoms before the middle of the year, but the answer to that question is simple. The folk stories, opera and novels' audience are peasants. So that's why they made Liu Bei, the peasant underdog the hero. Also, it was perfomed a lot during the Yuan dynasty when the Han Chinese felt oppressed by their Mongol overlord and the idea of reviving the Han dynasty sounds like an attractive idea.
Liu bei fits the Confucius ideology better. And as you may already have known, in ancient china (and partly even the modern china) whoever wins the favour from the Confucius scholars, wins the ultimate right to rule the country. After a quick wikipedia search, cao cao installed the late han dynasty puppet emperor on the throne in order to gain power. Politically, there is nothing wrong with his methodology, numerous people did the same in history, but the action was probably least approved by Confucius teaching. Liu be had a reputation for being benevolent, and had royal connection to the han dynasty. In Confucius view, the mandate of heaven was not lost if there was still a capable ruler from the ruling family. And the romance of kingdom was written by a Confucius scholar, so it was probably a way to express the injustice the author felt about the real history.
@@CoolHistoryBros Three Kingdoms has two version : Luo Guanzhong (novel) and Chen Suo (historical). I wish you could share the both version as well like the previous story of Sun Jian who give the seal rather than keep it.
The male historians and her successors doesn't have the balls to accomplish what this woman had done so i think they smeared her as evil... Besides history is written by the living. Either way Her accomplishments are mind boggling, she's one bad-ass chick. I really want to know the workings of her brains.
could be. but at the same time, could all the accusation against her simply be written off just because she face discrimination as a woman? She may be discriminated against, but that does not mean she is innocent.
Being a ruler in the past doesn't guarantee you a"innocence" every ruler had blood on their hands ,i think,being "ruthless" and maintaining that kind of imagery is the way of life for them to send message out to their opponents, being a female ruler at that time period can be hard,it was a male dominated 'organisation' so that's pretty much likely,and they feel threatened by what they perceive as a "weak lowly female" whose only position at that time is seen as a material possession ,a child bearing machine,a decorative iteam, and a pawn. Forgive my english, I'm not a native English speaker.
@@thisnthat7760 Your English is fine, don't worry. One thing about historical figures for me is that are we sure we know everything about them? like Wu Zetian being a woman may gets her biased comments in the history books, so maybe her evil is exaggerated. One the other hand there are people that say it is because of sexual discrimination that all the evil deeds are made up, she is then upheld to a very high model for woman etc. But how do we know it is true or false. On one hand you have man that wants to bash her, one the other hand you have woman that praise her out of their desire to have a figure of empowerment to look up to.
@@gooddreams8495 so far all we know about her is from those historical records ,i don't think anyone can say that "this is a fact" , throughout history kingdom raised up and faded away and so on so forth, various rulers both male and female, history written and rewritten.anybody can either idealise or demonize past or present public figures, and personally i think its amusing to look up at them from both sides.
Great video. however, The Prince was not a satire. Machiavelli was a pragmatist. Even if he preferred Republics, he understood sometimes ruling by a Prince was nessicary. And many people actually misinterpret the Prince. It is not that bad of a book. The moral of the book is, if you have to do something evil, do not overdo it.
the more that good people understand Evil and Power, the better they can defend themselves against evil power. So yes, the book should be broadly translated.
I have to admit that till this day I often saw empress Zhou as a cold and cruel woman, who will take every chance to gain more power over her own children. Although this picture might be not totally wrong it’s good to know that there are other sides too. Does anybody knows the light novel “the world online” Di Renjie is a prominent figure in it.
Keep in mind if she didn't struggle hard, she should had been killed in her young age. the queen had the right and intentions to kill her. Her first husband the emperor pre-ordered to kill her after he was dead (Yet, he has soft heart when dealing women he actually love, he canceled the order, instead send her to a monastery) Her second husband another emperor also had a plan to remove her. If that was you, what could you do? accept the fate others arranged for you?
Yes, I do want to read that kind of book. In a world ruled by cynics disguised as good Samaritans and/or strong men.. Sharpening your lucidity is a virtue. Praising yourself for being naïve, straightforward and natural, is a crime ... As in rhetoric, you owe yourself not only to be rational, you also have to know all the mechanisms of sophisticated cheating: the paralogics reasoning that are not clumsiness, but whose aims are to deceive. (Pardon my grammar, I'm not use to English language.)
Many male historians may have a dark thought of HuanDi Wu, BUT she had added another 15 magnificent years to the Tang Dynasty. This is irrefutable. She deserves great respect.
@@Samperor Some said those are not 100% real because historians hate her, they may lied a lot, but using males as pets wasn't lie according to many serious history records. It is impossible that all the historians of her time lied.
Yes yes! you used the correct title for her. It is not Empress but EMPEROR! Many western documentaries, well all of them, got it wrong by calling her an Empress, thus, erasing all her accomplishments. This is a woman who ruled as if she was a man.
I just love this clip. Why don't you create another clips of Empress Wu. I think. There's a lots to tell from different angle or other book from ancient china which's talking about Empress Wu. Can't wait to see your new historical clips about her.
Zhou dynasty, A Vassal/Foreign state that crushed Real China "shang dynasty", leading the nation to a better future. Zhou people didn't have the right to replace shang, yet people still accepted Zhou and count it as a Chinese dynasty. Wu's situation is kinda similar, She didn't have the right to replace Tang dynasty, Yet she took the ruling right, Using the name of Zhou means she promised people that they will have great future just like what Zhou dynasty had done to people.
@@武當山-f6d there is the term empress regent and empress regnant An regent is a ruler who reigns on behalf of someone (usually one not old enough to rule like a son or nephew or whatever) A regnant is a ruler who reigns by their own right. And that is exactly what Empress Wu was, an empress regnant
上无不智，臣无至贤。功归上，罪归己。戒惕弗弃，智勇弗显。虽至亲亦忍绝，纵为恶亦不让。诚如是也，非徒上宠，而又宠无衰矣。 No one who can be a master is not wise, and no one who can be a minister is extremely virtuous. The credit is given to the master and the sin to himself. Guard and vigilance must never be discarded, and intelligence and courage must never be revealed. Even to the closest people, you must have the heart to push them to the end, even if using vicious means, you should never avoid it. If you really do this, the master will not only favor you, but also the favor will not fade at all.
Empress: Should i execute this official? Sure he tried to overthrow me. But he has proven useful. Former colleague: Do it your majesty. If you do not shake a rat from your neck. Eventually he will bite your head off.
When Wu declared the Zhou dynasty, was she attempting to restore the pre-imperial China Zhou dynasty (western and eastern Zhou), or was the dynasty she created just using the same name as Zhou? I don't think she claimed any direct descendant from the Zhou kings
It is possible! Think of Zhou dynasty, A Vassal/Foreign state that crushed Real China "shang dynasty", leading the nation to a better future. Zhou people didn't have the right to replace shang, yet people still accepted Zhou and count it as a Chinese dynasty. Wu's situation is kinda similar, She didn't have the right to replace Tang dynasty, Yet she took the ruling right, Using the name of Zhou means she promised people that they will have great future just like what Zhou dynasty had done to it people. If Japanese in WW2 took China, likely they also will do some promises and try to fulfill it, to declare their ruling right.
@@武當山-f6d if the Japanese took China it is more than likely that the Chinese would eventually rebel, Japan at the time was extremely cruel and would do anything to enforce its rule. I doubt Japan would do even the smallest things to keep China's people happy, since they viewed the Han Chinese and Manchus as inferior people
@@MUNTINGINC Sure thing, Chinese rebeled to Chin Dynasty (The first actual united China), To north Jin dynasty, To mongol and Manchu's fake China, And to Communist China too. Surely the Japanese ruled China won't be different, However that will cost a lot of time, Because in real life the Japanese weren't as cruel as the world formerly believed to be. There are 2 examples, Japanese built Taiwan well, And North east China under Japanese rule keep remain as some of the richest area in Asia of that era. If Japanese didn't made big mistakes, they prabably would rule quite a long time just like what the Manchus had done
@@MUNTINGINC Mongols and Manchus also viewed Chinese people as inferior people, Communists also viewed Chinese people as inferior people judged by how they treated foreigners and how they treated Chinese people. They all ruled China quite a long time. Mongol empire ruled China for 83 years, Manchu empire ruled China for 291 years, Communists ruled China for almost 100 years. If Japanese didn't lost the world war2, They can rule China too, not sure how long but should be longer than mongols.
Well... hard to blame the bad things she did because of the environment she lived, if not for that she looks like not a bad person. Also, I like the cartoon you did for her here, it's cute, cute!
Can you please do a video about the Qianling Mausoleum? It's where Tang Gaozong & Wu Zetian were buried, & the largest mausoleum in the world, but so little is known about it that most websites do not mention it in their lists of largest mausoleums in the world.
@@williamwan3712 - Sure, that guy. How did he become so popular when his stories are so boring and poorly written? And nope, my mind can't associate him with neither love nor craftiness, sorry.
Personally, I think she wouldn't be as hated if she didn't change the dynasty name. Which honestly was fairly pointless, she wasn't going to live forever, and would eventually past on the title to a successor, she has no real means to ensure what she changed remains. All she did was making it easier to attack her.
Historically Confucians were always opposed to female rulers. I believe the reasons were: 1. It means all the male contenders were too weak or dumb to compete, implying the dynastic culture is dysfunctional 2. In order to thrive in a highly patriarchal system, the female ruler must keep her subordinates divided. This leads to domestic instability and paralysis Wuzetian was a visionary ruler. But other female rulers like Cixi who were reactionary would use her tricks to maintain power to the detriment of the empire.
There is also the situation with last King of Shang Dynasty and Daji who is documented in Sima Qian's work, and later figures in the Ming Dynasty novel Fengshen Bang. Confucius' family is a cadet branch of the Shang so reading up on that last King gives some context to how he thought. See also the meeting with Lady Nanzi. It is also feasible that Women had relatively higher status than say in the later dynasties(Lady Fuhao for example), so Confucianism could have been a way to counter Women led Rebellions too(Southern China has had this more often in later centuries with one of the most recent being Ching Shih's fleet).
He sorta reminds me of Clodius Pulcher in ancient Rome, the aristocrat who got himself adopted into a plebian family so he could run for the office of Tribune of the Plebs (a plebian political office who could veto pretty much anything the Senate came up with, and whose person was sacrosanct from injury or prosecution). He was also cut from the same cloth as Lai Junchen, and also liked to make false accusations and the like. He also controlled Rome's streets through its gangs and used violence to intimate political opponents and disrupt elections when his patrons (Caesar and Pompey) thought they couldn't win. Looks like some things are universal across cultures.
Wu ZeTian can be compared to Three Kingdom's Cao Cao and Qin Dynasty's First Emperor. All three got good sides and yes, very bad sides within their reign.
Varies by dialect of Mandarin as well. For example, Sichuanese people tend to pronounce Zhou as Zou, while closer to Beijing and Manchuria the J pronunciation is more a thing.
@@MysteriousStranger007 Indeed, in all my lessons I am endlessly taught that Zh has a slight vibrating feel to it, which separates it from Ch which has a harsher feel to it that isn't vibrated. While Z is the same Z sound as in Western languages, Zoo, Zach, Zane, etc. But I am aware of regional dialects that change certain initials. For instance, I live in Nanchang as a teacher right now so instead of Sh- as in Laoshi, or Si-shi-si (that's a fun one) it seems to be a more enunciated Si- sound, so Laoshi becomes LaoSi and si-shi-si becomes si-Si-si. I imagine in this case it is a slightly different dialect than we may be taught in our classes.
Should call her Zhao Wu or Wu Zhao武曌, that is her real name. Wu Zetian is kind of well-known but unofficial, just like quoting Jackie's full name as Jack.
Lai had no plot to take over. That was other officials that use made up charge against him because he was so hated. Many other of his charges were not false but treason was false.
Corrupted officials existed throughout Chinese history. So does the rightoues ones. These experiences are recorded in books, annals, poetry, plays, etc.
First to come here. As always I get to learn a lot about East Asian history rom this channel. Thanks for your hard work. By the way you should check out OverSimplified, he also makes great historical videos
Love your content! Just wanna say that I think its incorrect to call The Prince a work of satire. Even though it seems incompatible with his previous work, the detail that he goes into and the content itself feels more sincere than not. I would call it propoganda, and it might be the single most successful propoganda work (if not The Aeneid) because it does compile a legitimate framework for both autocratic rule and countersubversion. Its likely he wrote it to get back in favor with the ruling elite, who absolutely loved the work. I think it covers a practical point of view of organized evil, but also has a subtext of how one conquer's their own desires and mind.
Actually empress dowager Cuxi was the last emperor/empress de facto of China, although she was not counted a real Empress, for she ruled in the name of her son....!!
disney looking for girl power in chinese history: pick mulan me: was mulan an empress? does she successfully maintaining a large empire and expanding it? sure mulan isn't as ruthless as wu zetian but sometimes when you have a big empire you need to be ruthless to maintain order, cleopatra is less ruthless than wu zetian still manage to maintain egypt and making it flourished but still treated as a seductress until today
Omg man please do a separate video on wu zetian. She murdered her own baby to depose the current empress when she was a concubine. She has such a fascinating life. She was evil for sure
The story of her murdering her own baby is questionable at best. Considering that story only pops up in any historical documents long after her death and she was vilified. But you never know, she was pretty ruthless. I could definitely see her using her baby's naturally occurred death and claiming it was a murder by the empress.
@@ffn8917 I do think there's a big difference in exhiling her adult son and then killing him on claims of treason and strangling a baby to frame a rival. Like, who knows? History is very muddled considering that we only get Wu Zeitans enemies saying these things and her enemies had every reason to discredit her to start a new dynasty. History is full of examples of famous rulers being written about post death having done unspeakable things (bathing in bathtubs full of blood of virgins, inserting babies into their mothers impailed bodies so they could die together), even when there's no evidence for these things beyond the people who have every reason to hate them. Now usually, this doesn't occur out of nowhere. I have no doubt Wu was ruthless and she killed many people to get her way, including her own heirs who were a threat to her throne. But actually, killing family members in Chinese emperor's history certainly isn't something limited to Wu Zeitan. There were plenty of emperor's that killed their brothers, and their own rebellious children, sometimes on nothing more than information from their advisors, just like Wu. So let's not pretend that this is something out of the norm for emperors. Wu is unique in the way the aristocracy was set up for males only she could not keep her power once a viable male came into existence. And her power was so tentative that she played a very vicious game to keep it and killed many people. Obviously, she was vicious to keep her power but the question is did she strangle her own baby or was it propaganda after her death? Since it was written by those she had made enemies of we'll never know. All I'm saying is we shouldn't pretend that we have definitive proof because we don't. History is written by the victors and considering the history Wu had her scribes write during her reign was completely scrapped after her death and rewritten by her enemies, in the long run Wu Zeitan definitely lost.
Chinese equivalent of "The Prince" but played straight? Indeed, good thing it hasn't been translated into English, for The Prince is plenty misunderstood and misquoted on its own.
@@kimarous - Misquoting is absolutely normal. A lot of people do it out pure propaganda impulses: they write something that they like, they paste the face of Einstein by its side and voilá... "alternative truth". The most misquoted person ever, after Einstein, is probably Gandhi. Nobody (but me) ever quotes his: "the real difference is not between those who fight with weapons and those who fight with nonviolence, the real difference is between those who fight and those who do not". It's not a reason not to translate a book. People should be able to read it in full and make their own opinions even if wrong. As for the specific misquote: Machiavello did wrote it. It has a context, which is that of "when in danger" (in a crisis), as you underline but do not reveal, but it's much more dangerous to go around "burning books" than misquoting them. The context is also of promoting both love and fear in balance, which is not contrary to the "missquote" but rather a nuance to it and good startpoing in an open debate to unveil the psycho before you. I'm pretty sure people can missquote in Chinese as well anyhow. And considering that in 100 or so it will replace English as world language, your attitude is only delying the unavoidable.
@@LuisAldamiz in whom do you refer, "psycho"? You make quite the prophecy that Chinese will overtake English as the world's dominant language, can you impart some of your reason as to why?
I don't know what is worse, Taizong apologism or Wu Ze Tian apologism. Probably hitler apologism but anyone is better than hitler, even Taizong and Wu Ze Tian.
The true heir of the great emperor who yank the command away from the incompetent son, save the legacy of her husband from destruction and usher its second golden age?
👿 Look, I know some of you baddies out there are dying to know the content of 羅織經, Luozijing (Classic of Accusation). Luckily, somebody was kind enough to put up the text online.
Original Chinese:
zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E7%BE%85%E7%B9%94%E7%B6%93
Original Chinese & Commentary:
kknews.cc/history/9nlmlm5.html
First to come here. As always I get to learn a lot about East Asian history rom this channel. Thanks for your hard work. By the way you should check out OverSimplified, he also makes great historical videos
Any translations?
@@mobeenkhan824 Run it through google/baidu translate.
I'm glad I recently discovered this channel. I'm woefully ignorant of Asian history and culture. These vids are detailed yet concise. Simplified enough so a dummy like me can comprehend. And done with a good sense of humor.
Your pronounciation is spot on. Especially on the Majapahit video.
Although Wu is rightly remembered for being 'Evil', it is often forgotten that she was actually relatively popular at the time, and treated the lower classes very well. She listened to the concerns of her subjects directly, and issued many edicts that supported the lower classes. She also recruited many commoners into her government, giving them important roles and very generous pay.
Neat
How much of those 'evil' came from smear campaigns by henchmen of her usurper son and those who got laid off for incompetence during her administration?
Chinese diasporas only got access to Song Dynasty copies of records made hundreds of years after her death, while Mainland scholars got the old ones from Tang Dynasty archives. They do not know the whole story.
On top of that, how many of her stories aren't real, but embellished by generations of minstrels just like Three Kingdoms?
@@thanakonpraepanich4284 Exactly! Add to that general prejudice against women in power, and it is not surprising at all that she has been painted as such an 'Evil' leader.
supporting the plebs??? hmmmmm i remember reading a wikipedia article of roman emperor nero en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero who was known for instigating the 64 AD burning of rome and the first persecution of christians. and yet like empress wu, nero was a populist (pro pleb as opposed to the optimates; pro aristrocrats) who spent lots of government funding on public projects, and also he imposed heavy tax on the aristrocrats (guess how they felt about that). so probably nero's legacy was under pro aristrocrat propaganda and/or his 'tyranny' was exaggerated.
that and turning back by a century, ahhh yes... julius fukking caesar, a great general of the gallic wars and his civil wars against his former friend pompey (HE WAS A CONSUL OF ROME!!! [and so was caesar before taking over gaul]), a victim of sulla's policy of political purging after winning a civil war for the optimates against gaius marius (who was caesar's uncle and was young at the time), a people lover, and killed surrounded by friends (and enemies; both populist and optimates and sometimes former) for being in absolute power/breaking the laws of republic constitution/being a king (an absolute no no for rome). yeah right, i heard the republican system had been a *dying meme* ever since the murders of the gracchi brothers. yes, caesar was an ass for power hunger, BUT AT LEAST HE DID THE COMMONERS JUSTICE
and then at the same time, cleo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra, what did she do to the commoners??? "At the beginning of her reign, local officials harassed destitute farmers by collecting taxes during a famine and drought. Cleopatra curtailed these predatory measures and introduced relief efforts such as releasing grain from the royal granary." and then after the 27 bc final war of the roman republic, caesar octavian augustus (caesar's grandnephew) waged propaganda against her for being on the side of antony
They just hated her because she’s a woman, that’s all.
I personally find Wu Zetian to be one of the most interesting parts of World History that goes unsung by most Historians, as well as her neighbor, also a Woman in power, who was in charge of the Tibetan Empire named Khi ma Lod (or Thrimalo) who ruled at several intervals of time right next door. But bravo on highlighting this little tale, one mustn't forget the minutia of History either as every little bit helps build the truer context. Great work CJ.
Wu Zetian Started a lot of wars though, against Tibetans, Turkic people, Turkic people got kicked to west. She funded the blood civil war in Korea, a lot of people dead of it. She had a harem consisted by 600 most famous men of time, their ages between 13-65. The real most uncomfortable thing happened there, How dare a woman use men as pets in a male dominated world? And her name is super as well, Zetian means "yet, myself is the heaven". while other emperors only dare to declare "I'm the son of heaven" at most. Basically her broke all the rules and values of China. By the fact 2 emperors loved her, her look should be great but why didn't her be counted as one of 4 greatest beauties of Chinese history? The reason, other beauties all accept fate and men's privilege. She never, she is the freaking EMPEROR!
In Triads Hung Mafia. china 900 after Budha dead is rise sect Triads Hung have 200-800 secte type,and in Triads have Prophet SinKun 2 the Prophet Yusup woman call Inu Sancu Tekun Loa'ah/Xia Ci Molly/Wo SamKok have hell,Wayil,her just one have thinker/Brain,and have 13000 type human.the Triads Hung after clash Boxer 1-2 1825-1914/1924 ended ???? But they work is real Beijing Emperor amd Kalifa Islam Ottoman DOOM /CHAOS .
@@lunassr7212 What are you saying? It looks like random words and numbers strung together.
Exist ot no exist The Secret is still there unthoucable with years etc.
@@武當山-f6d Oh so Wu Zetain is Nohime plus the scheming brain of Oda Nobunaga.
I really love how full of personality the 2D puppets are.
Thank you! Wu Zetian is one of my favourite historical figures, and again you provide information that is hard to reach for non-Mandarin speakers.
One note: Macchiavelli the Prince isn't satire, many of his tips were used and have been used by rulers to gain and keep power. If it was meant to be satire, then our world has fallen very deep.
Of course it was not satire (that must be a weird interpretation or a mishap) but it was not intended for lowly minions of an evil power-mongering organization, but for actual political leaders
@@LuisAldamiz IKR
The Prince is definitely not a satire, and is as real as the Art of War.
I think the reason why it is regarded by some as a satire, is to present the Renaissance Italy as a peaceful and cooperative state.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a manual for learning how to effectively wield power as a Prince in Renaissance Italy. Notwithstanding that he fell out of favour, and was forced out of politics, his observations and advice were informed by experience and his political values. Machiavelli is a fruitful source of realpolitik.
@@BigHenFor this is what I meant
It was during Wu Zetian rule that that Tang Dynasty i believ became a truly golden age of cosmopolitan era. She have done evil things within the court. A dangerous person within the imperial noble circle. In my opinion, she is a calculative woman who play the game of thrones really well. I do think Wu Zetian is fully aware about such deed she has to do and i think its a bitter pill for her to swallow to ensure the stability of her imperial court. But for the common people and the entire nation it was the time of prosperity. Commerce, technology, social stability greatly improved. Knowledge and the arts have flourished, and commoner have enjoyed better rights specially womens rights. If i'll be transported back in time during the ancient dynasties, i will choose the tang dynasty to see its splendor and the beauty of the daming palace.
A very different sort of "Book of Evil" from the Necronomicon! Not what I was expecting.
What can be more evil than lawfare?
You wanna summon the great old ones？
@@LuisAldamiz I always that being of above the law while prosecuting others for infractions was the most evil.
Despite Judge Dee was very against Wu Zetian taking the throne she never did anything to him even punished some court officials for trying to frame/bad-mouthing him. Because of this some thinks that she secretly love him
I dunno about that... It might be one of those Cdrama thing that got popular. Then again, many powerful women are interested in men they couldn't get. Just like powerful men do with women.
@@CoolHistoryBros Yeah, I got this from a document somewhere awhile ago. Even that one said it was a rumor since she never acted on it or wrote about her feeling
Did wu zetian have many husbands??... I mean... A male emperor can have a harem, so why the female can't do that...
@@arbood26 she did have more than one boy friend at the same time.
@@arbood26 She has 2 emperor husband when she was a concubine then many male-concubines as emperor, 2 of whom(brothers, one of them was her daughter lover) took power when she was old & weak, ironically using the same trick she once did when her husband was sick. But the court has learn from history & kill them before they purge the court, then the court reinstall her useless 3rd son(she kept all her sons stupid as they have more legitimate claim to the throne thus could overthrow her) as the new emperor
fascinating tidbit into the world of palace intrigue during the Lady Emperor‘s reign；hardly anything could escape her informants so all this prolly happened under her own quiet notice，but its a favourite topic of online TV dramas visiting that bygone age
Sun tzu and his beautiful art of war is but a mere glimpse of political/ war/ spiritual/cultural classics that China has to offer. Kudos 👍Your show has taught me of an obscure text that needs translation and put into modern readers hands. Thanks
Last time I was this early the warring states were still warring
Hey cool history bros. This week I finished watching all your videos. I really love it
Very interesting. I'm half East Asian and I love China and Its history. 😛
Ah, come on translate the book for us! Be a Bro, Bro.
Hey I might just do it myself lol
Never, destroy that book for the good of the universe
It does sound pretty interesting, if slightly nefarious. I'd be down to read it if it ever is translated.
I would like to read the translation...
There actually is a translated copy offered on Amazon...but it’s admittedly rather poorly edited and translated judging by the preview of it.
Thank you for further confirmation that history is full of too many jerks. 😓 Loved this video.
Finally someone who actually admits she was emperor of Zhou and not the dowager of Tang. ❤
Discovered this channel a week ago and really enjoying all the fascinating history! Might you do a video explaining why The Three Kingdoms novel portrays Cao Cao as a scoundrel and Liu Bei as the hero?
I will go into Three Kingdoms before the middle of the year, but the answer to that question is simple. The folk stories, opera and novels' audience are peasants. So that's why they made Liu Bei, the peasant underdog the hero. Also, it was perfomed a lot during the Yuan dynasty when the Han Chinese felt oppressed by their Mongol overlord and the idea of reviving the Han dynasty sounds like an attractive idea.
Liu bei fits the Confucius ideology better. And as you may already have known, in ancient china (and partly even the modern china) whoever wins the favour from the Confucius scholars, wins the ultimate right to rule the country. After a quick wikipedia search, cao cao installed the late han dynasty puppet emperor on the throne in order to gain power. Politically, there is nothing wrong with his methodology, numerous people did the same in history, but the action was probably least approved by Confucius teaching. Liu be had a reputation for being benevolent, and had royal connection to the han dynasty. In Confucius view, the mandate of heaven was not lost if there was still a capable ruler from the ruling family. And the romance of kingdom was written by a Confucius scholar, so it was probably a way to express the injustice the author felt about the real history.
Thanks! We have a similar situation with English history with the depiction of different kings in the Robin Hood stories.
@@CoolHistoryBros Three Kingdoms has two version : Luo Guanzhong (novel) and Chen Suo (historical). I wish you could share the both version as well like the previous story of Sun Jian who give the seal rather than keep it.
maybe because liu bei is an underdog :3
another great video brutha i hope your channel blows up soon such a shame that a channel of this caliber aint more popular
The male historians and her successors doesn't have the balls to accomplish what this woman had done so i think they smeared her as evil... Besides history is written by the living. Either way Her accomplishments are mind boggling, she's one bad-ass chick. I really want to know the workings of her brains.
could be. but at the same time, could all the accusation against her simply be written off just because she face discrimination as a woman? She may be discriminated against, but that does not mean she is innocent.
Being a ruler in the past doesn't guarantee you a"innocence" every ruler had blood on their hands ,i think,being "ruthless" and maintaining that kind of imagery is the way of life for them to send message out to their opponents, being a female ruler at that time period can be hard,it was a male dominated 'organisation' so that's pretty much likely,and they feel threatened by what they perceive as a "weak lowly female" whose only position at that time is seen as a material possession ,a child bearing machine,a decorative iteam, and a pawn.
Forgive my english, I'm not a native English speaker.
@@thisnthat7760 Your English is fine, don't worry. One thing about historical figures for me is that are we sure we know everything about them?
like Wu Zetian being a woman may gets her biased comments in the history books, so maybe her evil is exaggerated.
One the other hand there are people that say it is because of sexual discrimination that all the evil deeds are made up, she is then upheld to a very high model for woman etc.
But how do we know it is true or false. On one hand you have man that wants to bash her, one the other hand you have woman that praise her out of their desire to have a figure of empowerment to look up to.
@@gooddreams8495 so far all we know about her is from those historical records ,i don't think anyone can say that "this is a fact" , throughout history kingdom raised up and faded away and so on so forth, various rulers both male and female, history written and rewritten.anybody can either idealise or demonize past or present public figures, and personally i think its amusing to look up at them from both sides.
This channel is so underrated 👍
Great video.
however, The Prince was not a satire. Machiavelli was a pragmatist. Even if he preferred Republics, he understood sometimes ruling by a Prince was nessicary. And many people actually misinterpret the Prince. It is not that bad of a book. The moral of the book is, if you have to do something evil, do not overdo it.
the more that good people understand Evil and Power, the better they can defend themselves against evil power.
So yes, the book should be broadly translated.
What can I say, the man chose a very specific career path and he stuck to it.
She also put alot of women into power. She was breaking Glass ceilings before Glass ceilings was a term.
Cool History Bros, you guys are really cool
I have to admit that till this day I often saw empress Zhou as a cold and cruel woman, who will take every chance to gain more power over her own children. Although this picture might be not totally wrong it’s good to know that there are other sides too. Does anybody knows the light novel “the world online” Di Renjie is a prominent figure in it.
Keep in mind if she didn't struggle hard, she should had been killed in her young age. the queen had the right and intentions to kill her. Her first husband the emperor pre-ordered to kill her after he was dead (Yet, he has soft heart when dealing women he actually love, he canceled the order, instead send her to a monastery) Her second husband another emperor also had a plan to remove her. If that was you, what could you do? accept the fate others arranged for you?
Yes, I do want to read that kind of book. In a world ruled by cynics disguised as good Samaritans and/or strong men.. Sharpening your lucidity is a virtue. Praising yourself for being naïve, straightforward and natural, is a crime ...
As in rhetoric, you owe yourself not only to be rational, you also have to know all the mechanisms of sophisticated cheating: the paralogics reasoning that are not clumsiness, but whose aims are to deceive.
(Pardon my grammar, I'm not use to English language.)
Indeed, I would read the book if it was available.
It's important to understand human darkness.
I want to read it! I bet it would do wonders for my career
thank you for this channel! it gives light to history's "dark side of the moon", for those like me eclipsed by eurocentrism!
Many male historians may have a dark thought of HuanDi Wu, BUT she had added another 15 magnificent years to the Tang Dynasty. This is irrefutable. She deserves great respect.
A harem consisted by 600 pet men, That means something to the historians of a male dominated world.
@@武當山-f6d did she really? Or was it to make her look bad?
Why did she changed the name of the dynasty?
@@Samperor Some said those are not 100% real because historians hate her, they may lied a lot, but using males as pets wasn't lie according to many serious history records. It is impossible that all the historians of her time lied.
Why male?
Yes yes! you used the correct title for her. It is not Empress but EMPEROR! Many western documentaries, well all of them, got it wrong by calling her an Empress, thus, erasing all her accomplishments. This is a woman who ruled as if she was a man.
Machiavelli's The Prince is a complex work, but it's in no way intended to be satirical.
In the description, you mixed up 舊唐書 the Old Book and 新唐書 the New Book. Thanks for the video, entertaining and informative.
I think i will be her supporter. She did help people.
Fun fact: Judge Dee is the basis of the celebrated fictional work of Judge Judy.
I feel fortunate to visit Qianling. :)
I just love this clip. Why don't you create another clips of Empress Wu. I think. There's a lots to tell from different angle or other book from ancient china which's talking about Empress Wu.
Can't wait to see your new historical clips about her.
Wu Zetian was brilliant!!!
Why did she choose the dynastic name of Zhou? What connection did she have with the ancient Zhou?
Nothing. Her Zhou dynasty with the last name Wu, she made her kids changing their last names from Li to Wu.
Zhou dynasty, A Vassal/Foreign state that crushed Real China "shang dynasty", leading the nation to a better future. Zhou people didn't have the right to replace shang, yet people still accepted Zhou and count it as a Chinese dynasty. Wu's situation is kinda similar, She didn't have the right to replace Tang dynasty, Yet she took the ruling right, Using the name of Zhou means she promised people that they will have great future just like what Zhou dynasty had done to people.
Woman of culture indeed !
A harem consisted by 600 pet men!
@@武當山-f6d If an Emperor is normally / usually have thousands of concubine, why can't an Empress have the similar? XD XD
@@ecrush5080 She is not a empress though, A empress still submissive to someone. She is a female emperor.
@@武當山-f6d Yes u are right! XD
@@武當山-f6d there is the term empress regent and empress regnant
An regent is a ruler who reigns on behalf of someone (usually one not old enough to rule like a son or nephew or whatever)
A regnant is a ruler who reigns by their own right. And that is exactly what Empress Wu was, an empress regnant
I'd like to get a copy of that book. I've read Machiavelli's The Prince and Sun Zi's The Art of War.
上无不智，臣无至贤。功归上，罪归己。戒惕弗弃，智勇弗显。虽至亲亦忍绝，纵为恶亦不让。诚如是也，非徒上宠，而又宠无衰矣。
No one who can be a master is not wise, and no one who can be a minister is extremely virtuous. The credit is given to the master and the sin to himself. Guard and vigilance must never be discarded, and intelligence and courage must never be revealed. Even to the closest people, you must have the heart to push them to the end, even if using vicious means, you should never avoid it. If you really do this, the master will not only favor you, but also the favor will not fade at all.
Empress: Should i execute this official? Sure he tried to overthrow me. But he has proven useful.
Former colleague: Do it your majesty. If you do not shake a rat from your neck. Eventually he will bite your head off.
Can you do one on the Ming dynasty? That has plenty of stories too
When Wu declared the Zhou dynasty, was she attempting to restore the pre-imperial China Zhou dynasty (western and eastern Zhou), or was the dynasty she created just using the same name as Zhou? I don't think she claimed any direct descendant from the Zhou kings
It is possible! Think of Zhou dynasty, A Vassal/Foreign state that crushed Real China "shang dynasty", leading the nation to a better future. Zhou people didn't have the right to replace shang, yet people still accepted Zhou and count it as a Chinese dynasty. Wu's situation is kinda similar, She didn't have the right to replace Tang dynasty, Yet she took the ruling right, Using the name of Zhou means she promised people that they will have great future just like what Zhou dynasty had done to it people. If Japanese in WW2 took China, likely they also will do some promises and try to fulfill it, to declare their ruling right.
@@武當山-f6d if the Japanese took China it is more than likely that the Chinese would eventually rebel, Japan at the time was extremely cruel and would do anything to enforce its rule. I doubt Japan would do even the smallest things to keep China's people happy, since they viewed the Han Chinese and Manchus as inferior people
@@MUNTINGINC Sure thing, Chinese rebeled to Chin Dynasty (The first actual united China), To north Jin dynasty, To mongol and Manchu's fake China, And to Communist China too. Surely the Japanese ruled China won't be different, However that will cost a lot of time, Because in real life the Japanese weren't as cruel as the world formerly believed to be. There are 2 examples, Japanese built Taiwan well, And North east China under Japanese rule keep remain as some of the richest area in Asia of that era. If Japanese didn't made big mistakes, they prabably would rule quite a long time just like what the Manchus had done
@@MUNTINGINC Mongols and Manchus also viewed Chinese people as inferior people, Communists also viewed Chinese people as inferior people judged by how they treated foreigners and how they treated Chinese people. They all ruled China quite a long time. Mongol empire ruled China for 83 years, Manchu empire ruled China for 291 years, Communists ruled China for almost 100 years. If Japanese didn't lost the world war2, They can rule China too, not sure how long but should be longer than mongols.
Love it
Hey man whats up with your iother channel No more gaming Vids..?
Well... hard to blame the bad things she did because of the environment she lived, if not for that she looks like not a bad person.
Also, I like the cartoon you did for her here, it's cute, cute!
I found Luozijing also resemble Malleus Maleficarum, at least partly...
I thought it was gonna be about the ancient (or medieval) Chinese version of Lovecraft.
Well, if I didn't have a reason to learn Chinese, I certainly do now! I want to read the Evil Book!
Can you please do a video about the Qianling Mausoleum? It's where Tang Gaozong & Wu Zetian were buried, & the largest mausoleum in the world, but so little is known about it that most websites do not mention it in their lists of largest mausoleums in the world.
Im Asking myself what has been going on in the mountains of Tibet, so far we havent heard from them
The most evil book ever was not the Necronomicon but a manual of lawfare? I'm surprisingly not surprised, really.
I'a I'a.Cthulhu Fhatgn!
@@williamwan3712 FTR I consider Cthulhu books utterly boring. So much that I can't even recall the (quite famous) author's name right now.
@@LuisAldamiz You mean H.P. Lovecraft? Love + Craft isn't that simple?
@@williamwan3712 - Sure, that guy. How did he become so popular when his stories are so boring and poorly written?
And nope, my mind can't associate him with neither love nor craftiness, sorry.
@@williamwan3712 - Also I thought the Necronomicon was a Hollywood invention, my bad.
Personally, I think she wouldn't be as hated if she didn't change the dynasty name. Which honestly was fairly pointless, she wasn't going to live forever, and would eventually past on the title to a successor, she has no real means to ensure what she changed remains. All she did was making it easier to attack her.
Historically Confucians were always opposed to female rulers. I believe the reasons were:
1. It means all the male contenders were too weak or dumb to compete, implying the dynastic culture is dysfunctional
2. In order to thrive in a highly patriarchal system, the female ruler must keep her subordinates divided. This leads to domestic instability and paralysis
Wuzetian was a visionary ruler. But other female rulers like Cixi who were reactionary would use her tricks to maintain power to the detriment of the empire.
There is also the situation with last King of Shang Dynasty and Daji who is documented in Sima Qian's work, and later figures in the Ming Dynasty novel Fengshen Bang. Confucius' family is a cadet branch of the Shang so reading up on that last King gives some context to how he thought.
See also the meeting with Lady Nanzi.
It is also feasible that Women had relatively higher status than say in the later dynasties(Lady Fuhao for example), so Confucianism could have been a way to counter Women led Rebellions too(Southern China has had this more often in later centuries with one of the most recent being Ching Shih's fleet).
Being above the law is evils desire.
China does have many brilliant books. Luozhijing Aka Classics on Conspiracy Framing Others is available in Amazon
Yes. Yes I would read the book.
One thing that was made during Emperor Wu's reign was divorce which is both good and bad innour time
Hey when you will be making video on three kingdom and bold generals like cao cao and liu bie
He sorta reminds me of Clodius Pulcher in ancient Rome, the aristocrat who got himself adopted into a plebian family so he could run for the office of Tribune of the Plebs (a plebian political office who could veto pretty much anything the Senate came up with, and whose person was sacrosanct from injury or prosecution). He was also cut from the same cloth as Lai Junchen, and also liked to make false accusations and the like. He also controlled Rome's streets through its gangs and used violence to intimate political opponents and disrupt elections when his patrons (Caesar and Pompey) thought they couldn't win. Looks like some things are universal across cultures.
現在流傳的《羅織經》大概率是僞書，其中，“世”、“民”、“治”等字都不做避諱，在唐朝是不可能的，而且在《舊唐書》《資治通鑒》等典籍中記载，此書不過一卷。
Why is #17 changed in the Phoenix orders of deliciousness foods 🤔
Wu ZeTian can be compared to Three Kingdom's Cao Cao and Qin Dynasty's First Emperor. All three got good sides and yes, very bad sides within their reign.
One question: shouldn't we pronounce Zhou dinasty as "Jou dinasty" instead of "zou", like Dong Zhuo for example is pronunced "Dong Juo"?
The "Zhou" for Zhou dynasty is not pronounced the same way as Dong Zhuo's "Zhuo".
@@CoolHistoryBros I see thanks
Varies by dialect of Mandarin as well. For example, Sichuanese people tend to pronounce Zhou as Zou, while closer to Beijing and Manchuria the J pronunciation is more a thing.
@@MysteriousStranger007 Indeed, in all my lessons I am endlessly taught that Zh has a slight vibrating feel to it, which separates it from Ch which has a harsher feel to it that isn't vibrated. While Z is the same Z sound as in Western languages, Zoo, Zach, Zane, etc.
But I am aware of regional dialects that change certain initials. For instance, I live in Nanchang as a teacher right now so instead of Sh- as in Laoshi, or Si-shi-si (that's a fun one) it seems to be a more enunciated Si- sound, so Laoshi becomes LaoSi and si-shi-si becomes si-Si-si. I imagine in this case it is a slightly different dialect than we may be taught in our classes.
In fact the pronunciation of 周 Zhou sounds more like "Joe". 東周East Zhou= Dong Joe, a guy with "big gun" lol
Di Renjie Did what was needed, not what was righteous.
You should be hierd to illustrate a book on chinese history!
Your art is just appealing man~
Only downside of this channel is just finding it cause I wanna watch all these videos
Should call her Zhao Wu or Wu Zhao武曌, that is her real name. Wu Zetian is kind of well-known but unofficial, just like quoting Jackie's full name as Jack.
Love the videos still waiting for one on white lotus 🙄
Lai had no plot to take over. That was other officials that use made up charge against him because he was so hated. Many other of his charges were not false but treason was false.
Yes. Yes I want to read it. Defense against the dark arts.
Damn, I just got the 36 Stratagems in the mail today. But a *cursed* book with such an interesting story? How can we get this translated??
What’s next, Battle of Talas or Anxi Rebellion?
Lai Junchen sounds like a real version of Littlefingers in GOT
I can't help but see Goofy's ears when I look at those hats.
Can you also make a video about Wu Zetian's toy boys薛懷義 / 沈南璆 / 張義之 / 張昌宗?
Corrupted officials existed throughout Chinese history. So does the rightoues ones. These experiences are recorded in books, annals, poetry, plays, etc.
First to come here. As always I get to learn a lot about East Asian history rom this channel. Thanks for your hard work. By the way you should check out OverSimplified, he also makes great historical videos
But don't watch his 3 kingdoms video
From what I read in the comments, there is a rock roll, in Mandarin
any of the Polish here remember the time when your queen was a king (queen regnant)???
Love your content! Just wanna say that I think its incorrect to call The Prince a work of satire. Even though it seems incompatible with his previous work, the detail that he goes into and the content itself feels more sincere than not. I would call it propoganda, and it might be the single most successful propoganda work (if not The Aeneid) because it does compile a legitimate framework for both autocratic rule and countersubversion. Its likely he wrote it to get back in favor with the ruling elite, who absolutely loved the work. I think it covers a practical point of view of organized evil, but also has a subtext of how one conquer's their own desires and mind.
i want more please korea series and more
yes, give me evil book now
Actually empress dowager Cuxi was the last emperor/empress de facto of China, although she was not counted a real Empress, for she ruled in the name of her son....!!
Her son and her sister's son
@@williamwan3712
Yes...
By that definition Cu Xi was an Empress Regent, dunno about the translation in Chinese tho
@@shanedoesyoutube8001
Yes,
Someone like Cao Cao in ancient China who had more power than the emperor himself....
She's also fond of Buddhism.
To smart to be completely evil? That's the type of woman that has you tricked into believing as such.
disney looking for girl power in chinese history: pick mulan
me: was mulan an empress? does she successfully maintaining a large empire and expanding it? sure mulan isn't as ruthless as wu zetian but sometimes when you have a big empire you need to be ruthless to maintain order, cleopatra is less ruthless than wu zetian still manage to maintain egypt and making it flourished but still treated as a seductress until today
You just misspelled the Wild Goose Pagoda as "Wild Goos Pagoda" here, You Tried 😺👍
Omg man please do a separate video on wu zetian. She murdered her own baby to depose the current empress when she was a concubine. She has such a fascinating life. She was evil for sure
She also killed her own son, the crown prince who was against the way she governed and reported to his father.
The story of her murdering her own baby is questionable at best. Considering that story only pops up in any historical documents long after her death and she was vilified. But you never know, she was pretty ruthless. I could definitely see her using her baby's naturally occurred death and claiming it was a murder by the empress.
The fact that she killed her other son let's us know she had no problem killing her own children for political advantage.
“She murdered her own baby ” thing is basically fake
@@ffn8917 I do think there's a big difference in exhiling her adult son and then killing him on claims of treason and strangling a baby to frame a rival. Like, who knows? History is very muddled considering that we only get Wu Zeitans enemies saying these things and her enemies had every reason to discredit her to start a new dynasty. History is full of examples of famous rulers being written about post death having done unspeakable things (bathing in bathtubs full of blood of virgins, inserting babies into their mothers impailed bodies so they could die together), even when there's no evidence for these things beyond the people who have every reason to hate them.
Now usually, this doesn't occur out of nowhere. I have no doubt Wu was ruthless and she killed many people to get her way, including her own heirs who were a threat to her throne. But actually, killing family members in Chinese emperor's history certainly isn't something limited to Wu Zeitan. There were plenty of emperor's that killed their brothers, and their own rebellious children, sometimes on nothing more than information from their advisors, just like Wu. So let's not pretend that this is something out of the norm for emperors. Wu is unique in the way the aristocracy was set up for males only she could not keep her power once a viable male came into existence. And her power was so tentative that she played a very vicious game to keep it and killed many people.
Obviously, she was vicious to keep her power but the question is did she strangle her own baby or was it propaganda after her death? Since it was written by those she had made enemies of we'll never know. All I'm saying is we shouldn't pretend that we have definitive proof because we don't.
History is written by the victors and considering the history Wu had her scribes write during her reign was completely scrapped after her death and rewritten by her enemies, in the long run Wu Zeitan definitely lost.
Enjoyable...and I thought the Tudors were bad!
Chinese equivalent of "The Prince" but played straight? Indeed, good thing it hasn't been translated into English, for The Prince is plenty misunderstood and misquoted on its own.
Why is The Prince "misunderstood"? I've read it several times and it's quite straightforward.
@@LuisAldamiz The issue is more people who HAVEN'T read it, yet parrot the misquote of "It is better to be feared than loved" out of context.
@@kimarous that was posed as a question, not a statement I thought.
@@kimarous - Misquoting is absolutely normal. A lot of people do it out pure propaganda impulses: they write something that they like, they paste the face of Einstein by its side and voilá... "alternative truth".
The most misquoted person ever, after Einstein, is probably Gandhi. Nobody (but me) ever quotes his: "the real difference is not between those who fight with weapons and those who fight with nonviolence, the real difference is between those who fight and those who do not".
It's not a reason not to translate a book. People should be able to read it in full and make their own opinions even if wrong.
As for the specific misquote: Machiavello did wrote it. It has a context, which is that of "when in danger" (in a crisis), as you underline but do not reveal, but it's much more dangerous to go around "burning books" than misquoting them. The context is also of promoting both love and fear in balance, which is not contrary to the "missquote" but rather a nuance to it and good startpoing in an open debate to unveil the psycho before you.
I'm pretty sure people can missquote in Chinese as well anyhow. And considering that in 100 or so it will replace English as world language, your attitude is only delying the unavoidable.
@@LuisAldamiz in whom do you refer, "psycho"? You make quite the prophecy that Chinese will overtake English as the world's dominant language, can you impart some of your reason as to why?
I don't know what is worse, Taizong apologism or Wu Ze Tian apologism. Probably hitler apologism but anyone is better than hitler, even Taizong and Wu Ze Tian.
Wu ZeTian's Daughter Princess Taiping plsssss 💕
He is morriarty to De
Not that smart
Wu Zetian is basically the Catherine II of East Asia
The true heir of the great emperor who yank the command away from the incompetent son, save the legacy of her husband from destruction and usher its second golden age?
@@thanakonpraepanich4284 yep, definitely
Naa she is more similar to Kosem Sultana of Ottoman Empire.
Too smart to be completely evil? Intelligence is no deterrent to wickedness, often times in history it has acted as an accelerator.
Think of Darth Plagueis the Wise and The Senate
@@shanedoesyoutube8001 😂 Exactly!
Do you know a book titled "The Art of the Deal", verry malicious 🥶
MAGA!!!!!
@@williamwan3712
Wu clan and Trump clan probably cut from the same cloth; they have to be sharp or be wiped out.