Editing Wu Zetian (section)

== Wu Zhou dynasty ==
{{main|Zhou dynasty (690–705)}}
[[File:Luoyang_in_Sui_&_Tang_Dynasties_(10233766646).jpg|thumb|Model of [[Luoyang]] palace city during Wu Zetian's reign]]

In 690, Wu Zetian founded the [[Zhou dynasty (690–705)|Wu Zhou dynasty]], named after the historical [[Zhou dynasty]] (1046–256 BC). The traditional historical view is to discount the Wu Zhou dynasty: dynasties by definition involve the succession of rulers from one family, and the Wu Zhou dynasty was founded by Wu and ended within her lifetime, with her abdication in 705. The alternative is to view the Wu Zhou dynasty as the revival of the historical Zhou dynasty, which was ruled (at least nominally) by the [[Jī (surname)|Ji]] family, almost a thousand years before. Either way, the Wu Zhou dynasty was a brief interruption of the Li family's Tang dynasty, not a fully realized dynasty. But Wu's claim to found a new dynasty was little opposed at the time (690).<ref>{{harvp|Paludan|1998|p= 101}}</ref> The 15-year period that Wu designated as her "Zhou dynasty", considered in the context of nearly a half century of ''de facto'' and ''de jure'' rule ({{Circa|654}}–705), reveals a remarkable and still debated period of history.<ref>{{harvp|Fairbank|1992|pp= 81–82}}</ref> In this context, designating a new dynasty with her as emperor can be seen as part of her power politics and as the culmination of her rule. Though Wu's Zhou dynasty had its own notable characteristics, they are difficult to separate from Wu's reign of power, which lasted for about half of a century.

Wu's consolidation of power in part relied on a system of spies. She used informants to choose people to eliminate, a process that peaked in 697 with the wholesale demotion, exile, or killing of various aristocratic families and scholars, furthermore prohibiting their sons from holding office.<ref name="Paludan, 99">{{harvp|Paludan|1998|p= 99}}</ref>

Wu eliminated many of her real, potential, or perceived rivals to power by means of death (including execution, suicide by command, and more or less directly killing people), demotion, and exile. Mostly this was carried out by her secret police, led by people like Wao Ganjun and [[Lai Junchen]], who were known to have written the ''Manual of Accusation'', a document detailing steps for interrogation and obtaining confessions by torture. One of these methods, the "Dying Swine's Melancholy" ({{lang|zh|死猪愁}}), which merely indicated a level of pain inflicted by a torture device, seems to have been conflated in the years following Wu's death with the story of the "human swine" torture conducted by [[Empress Lü Zhi]], in which [[Consort Qi (Han dynasty)|her victim]] had her eyes gouged out, hands and feet chopped off, ears burnt, and was imprisoned in a latrine.<ref>{{ cite book
| author1= Sima Qian | author1-link= Sima Qian
| author2= Sima Tan| author2-link= Sima Tan
| script-title=zh:史記
| title= Shiji | title-link= Shiji
| orig-year= 90s BCE
| year = 1959 | publisher= Zhonghua Shuju
| chapter=[[:zh:s:史記/卷009|9: 呂太后本紀]]
| language= zh
}}</ref>

Wu targeted various people, including many in her own family. In reaction to an attempt to remove her from power, in 684, she massacred 12 entire collateral branches of the imperial family.<ref name="Paludan, 99" /> Besides this, she also altered the ancient balance of power in China dating to the [[Qin dynasty]]. The old area of the [[Qin (state)|Qin state]] was later called [[Guanzhong]]—literally, the area "within the fortified mountain passes". From this area of northwest China, the Ying family of Qin arose, unifying China into its first historical empire. During the [[Han dynasty]], [[Sima Qian]] records in his ''[[Shiji]]'' that Guanzhong had three-tenths of China's population but six-tenths of its wealth.<ref>{{harvp|Cotterell|Cotterell|1975|p= 90}}</ref> Additionally, at the beginning of Wu's ascendency, Guanzhong was still the stronghold of the most nationally powerful aristocratic families, even though economic development in other parts of China had improved the lot of families in other regions. The Guangzhong aristocracy was not willing to relinquish its hold on the reins of government, but some of the more newly wealthy families in other areas, such as the [[North China Plain]] or [[Hubei]], were eager for a larger share of national power. Most of the opposition to Wu was from the Guangzhong families of northwest China. Accordingly, she repressed them, instead favoring less privileged families, thus raising to the ranks of power many talented but less aristocratic families, often recruited through the official examination system.<ref name="Cotterell and Cotterell, 144">{{harvp|Cotterell|Cotterell|1975|p= 144}}</ref> Many of those so favored originated from the North China plain.<ref>{{harvp|Fairbank|1992|p= 81}}</ref> Through a process of eliminating or diminishing the power of the established aristocracy, whom she perceived as disloyal to her, and establishing a reformed upper class in China loyal to her, Wu made major social changes that historians are still evaluating.
[[File:洛阳明堂天堂遗址中明堂的复原模型 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Model of {{ill|Bright Hall|zh|明堂}} of Luoyang commissioned by Wu Zetian (original 294 ''chi'' = 93m tall).<ref>《资治通鉴·唐纪·唐纪二十》：辛亥，明堂成，高二百九十四尺，方三百尺。凡三层：下层法四时，各随方色。中层法十二辰；上为圆盖，九龙捧之。上层法二十四气；亦为圆盖，上施铁凤，高一丈，饰以黄金。中有巨木十围，上下通贯，栭栌棤藉以为本。下施铁渠，为辟雍之象。号曰万象神宫。</ref> Many major construction projects were started during Wu Zetian's time.]]
Many of Wu's measures were popular and helped her to gain support for her rule. Wu came to power during a time in China in which the people were fairly contented, the administration was run well, and the economy was characterized by rising living standards.<ref name="Paludan, 96" /> For the most part, as far as the masses were concerned, Wu continued in this manner. She was determined that free, self-sufficient farmers continue to work their own land, so she periodically used the [[Equal-field system|''juntian'', equal-field system]], together with updated census figures to ensure fair land allocations, reallocating as necessary.<ref name="Fairbank, 82" /> Much of her success was due to her various edicts (including those known as her "Acts of Grace"), which helped satisfy the needs of the lower classes through various acts of relief, her widening recruitment to government service to include previously excluded gentry and commoners, and her generous promotions and pay raises for the lower ranks.<ref name="Paludan, 100" />

Wu used her military and diplomatic skills to enhance her position. The [[Fubing system|''fubing'' system]] of self-supportive soldier-farmer colonies, which provided local militia and labor services for her government, allowed her to maintain her armed forces at reduced expense.<ref name="Fairbank, 82" /> She also pursued a policy of military action to expand the empire to its furthest extent ever up to that point in Central Asia. Expansion efforts against [[Tibet]] and to the northwest were less successful. Allying with the Korean kingdom of Silla [[Goguryeo–Tang War|against Goguryeo]] with the promise of ceding Goguryeo's territory to Silla, Chinese forces [[Silla-Tang War|occupied Goguryeo]] after its defeat, and even began to occupy Silla territory. Silla resisted the imposition of Chinese rule, and by allying with Goguryeo and Baekche, was able to expel its former ally from the peninsula. Hong argues that Silla's success was in part due to a shift in Wu's focus to Tibet and inadequate support for the forces in the Korean peninsula.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hong|first1=Wongtaek|title=Korea and Japan in East Asian History: A Tripolar Approach|pages=244–245| date=2006 | isbn=9788985567039 }}</ref> In 694, Wu's forces decisively defeated the Tibetan–Western Turk alliance and retook the [[Four Garrisons of Anxi]].<ref>{{harvp|Beckwith|2009|pp=130–131}}</ref>

In 651, shortly after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]], the first Arab ambassador arrived in China.<ref name="Paludan, 96" />

===Reform of the imperial examination system===
One apparatus of government that fell into Wu's power was the [[imperial examination]] system, the basic theory and practice of which was to recruit into government service those men who were the best educated, most talented, and had the best potential to perform their duties, and to do so by testing a pool of candidates to determine this. This pool was male only, and the qualified pool of candidates and resulting placements into official positions was on a relatively small scale at the time Wu took control of government. The official tests examined things considered important for functionaries of the highly developed, bureaucratic government structure of the imperial government, such as level of literacy in terms of reading and writing and possession of the specific knowledge considered necessary and desirable for a governmental official, such as [[Confucianism|Confucian]] precepts on the nature of virtue and theory on the proper ordering of and relationships within society. Wu continued to use the imperial examination system to recruit civil servants, and introduced major changes to the system she inherited, including increasing the pool of candidates permitted to take the test by allowing commoners and gentry, previously disqualified by their background, to take it. In 693, she expanded the governmental examination system and greatly increased the importance of this method of recruiting government officials.<ref name="Paludan, 97" /> Wu provided increased opportunity for the representation within government to people of the [[North China Plain]] versus people of the northwestern aristocratic families, and the successful candidates recruited through the examination system became an elite group within her government.<ref name="Fairbank, 82">{{harvp|Fairbank|1992|p= 82}}</ref> The historical details of the consequences of Wu's promoting a new group of people from previously disenfranchised backgrounds into prominence as powerful governmental officials, and the examination system's role, remain debated by scholars of this subject.