The Woman Who Had It All?

Carina Lau as Empress Wu in "Judge Dee"

I was watching Hark Tsui's "Judge Dee" (a quite entertaining movie, fits Robert van Gulik's original really well), then it occurred to me, was Empress Wu the "woman who had it all"?

In Chinese history, Empress Wu was a controversial figure. She was, in the thousand years of long list of Chinese emperors, the only bona-fide female one. And we are not only talking about just being a regent of a established dynasty. She had the ambition to usurp the Tang Dynasty and created a new one (you could say she rebranded it), Chou. Well, the Chou dynasty didn't last, but she was never treated as a true traitor (those were buried in the ashes by the Chinese historians and you almost never read about them) in history. Why? 

You see, here is the trick: she also happened to be the mother of the crown princes. Her "husband", the late emperor, had four sons, and they were all from her. Even if they were going to kill her to get back the throne, they couldn't deny that she's their mother, they were her flesh and blood. She knew it and leveraged it. She had conditioned her sons to fear her, she knew they were weak.

She knew her womanhood was her best weapon. She was beautiful, that was why she was sent to the harem of the aging emperor*. She was also smart enough to grab the attention of the then prince (a young man who was not sure of himself and forever under his father's shadow) and won his heart. After the old man died, she was sent to a Convent to be a nun (standard treatment for the previous emperor's concubines after his death). She managed to  get herself "rescued" back to the palace. (That of course didn't get her the approval of the moralists. After all, she slept with both father and son.) Her fertility was her greatest help. While the previous empress couldn't produce any heir, she quickly produced 4 sons for the emperor (and made sure no other woman was sharing her bed). She even had a daughter in her 40s!

She was full of energy. The emperor suffered from diabetes and often had headaches. She took over the responsibility (not doubt got a lot of thanks from the emperor) and soon started issuing her own "executive orders". The old guards hated her. They were either killed or banished. Even her sons was sent to far away places. But she's not a fool, she knew if there was one support she absolute needed, that was the support of the people she ruled. If she treated them well, whatever happened "inside the palace" was just "family business". She was right. She might be a dictator, but she was not an incompetent ruler. She used both carrots and sticks, even threw in a little bit religion (she spread the rumor that she was the Mila Budda reincarnated). When the time was right, she changed the name of the empire and ascended the throne. Tang was now Chou. She was the new emperor.

Though she was eventually dethroned (or you could call it a "forced retirement", it was planned by people she had promoted**, she seemed to have foreseen that, her sons were too scared of her to take any initiatives), she lived to an old age (80), and had numerous young lovers (gave those moralists/historians yet another reason to hate her). No other woman in Chinese history had ever surpassed her to become an emperor again. 

Looking at history 1300 years later, I sometimes wondered what she would think and pondered the price she paid to "have it all". What drove her? Was it pure survival instinct, or it had something more? Did she ever regret, feeling qualms for the blood in her hands***? Was it worth it? I knew I would not be able to find the answers from the history books. Empress Wu might have had it all, but she had yet to find her Hilary Mantel.

* Her family was very much like Anne Boleyn's family.
** Empress Wu seemed to be a firm believer of "keep your friend close but your enemies closer".
*** Rumor had it that she poisoned her first born so she could blame the accident to the then empress. Lady Macbeth would be proud.