Tang society was more liberal than previous dynasties and allowed women more freedom to choose their lovers. However, class still determined a person's social standing.
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The super-elite of Tang society consisted of powerful regional aristocracies. These were families that cultivated loyalty and a sense of responsibility to one another.
Societal Expectations and Opportunities for Women
The Tang Dynasty was a time of cultural change in China. It was a time when women began to challenge the traditional roles they were relegated to in their society. Tang women were more assertive, more active and much less confined to the inner rooms of their houses. They rode horses, dressed as men and even participated in politics. Tang women were a more forceful presence in society than their predecessors and this made them ripe for ambitious female figures like Wu Zhao to begin their climb into the realm of power.
Although Confucianism emphasized the need for male superiority, it did not completely exclude women from positions that gave them influence over the emperor. For instance, some chaste widows and mothers of sons were able to attain positions unequalled to men, as the case of the empress Wu showed. She was a powerful figure who had the ability to manipulate her husband, the Emperor Gaozong, and as a result was able to gain power and influence.
Women were also encouraged to remarry and bear children, something that was important for the Chinese culture at this time. This was particularly the case for Tang women, who were not required to remain chaste after their husbands died. Moreover, divorced women were not stigmatised, and evidence of this can be found in documents and relics unearthed in Dunhuang.
Many Tang women used their literary talents to express their unfulfilled emotions about the repression they experienced in their societal position. Classical Taoism and Buddhism were popular at this time, and the ideas of both were promoting women’s empowerment through spiritual practice.
While the Tang era provided more opportunities for women, it was also an era of increased restrictions. These restrictions were largely caused by a belief in Neo-Confucian ideas that had been adopted by the ruling class. These themes believed that it was women’s ‘natural inferiority’ that allowed male hegemony.
One of the most influential female figures in Tang Dynasty was the empress Wu Zetian (624-705). She ruled China as empress for 30 years and emperor for 15 years, becoming the only female emperor in Chinese history. Although she was ruthless and brutal, she was also highly competent and her paranoid strictness led to massive decreases in corruption and a revitalization of the Chinese economy.
Wu Zhao
Wu was the first woman to rule China in her own right. She was also an early feminist. She changed the way women were promoted in the military, based on their skills, not family history. She used a large system of spies to keep tabs on those around her, rewarding those she deemed loyal and punishing those who were not. She was also a powerful leader who made intelligent decisions that helped China to prosper.
Although Wu was not born into a noble family, her intelligence and energy served her well. She was a quick learner who became skilled at government and politics. She consolidated and stabilized the Tang dynasty, and historians often call her one of the most powerful empresses in Chinese history.
Like all emperors of ancient China, she had to wrestle control away from her ineffectual husband. She did this by first having her youngest son, Ruizong, crowned emperor. She then took control of the reins herself, ruling from 690 until shortly before her death in 705 AD. She is renowned for her ability as an administrator, for her courage, and for her dominant personality. She was also known for her ruthlessness in crushing any opponents to her power.
Wu's reign was not without controversy, however. Two of her young companions were seen to be getting too powerful and could potentially undermine her authority. Fearing this, she had them killed. She also deposed her own ill-starred son and had him banished.
When she was still alive, it is reported that she wanted to give herself the highest rank of all imperial concubines, Chenfei (
Wu was also criticized for the way she handled her own children, with some even claiming she murdered them. Her ruthless ambition is undeniable, but her major accomplishments, which helped to bring prosperity and stability to Tang China, are difficult to overstate. She is remembered as one of the most powerful empresses of seventh-century China, and for her role in helping the Tang dynasty usher in what is widely considered to be a golden age of Chinese civilization.
Li Ye
In the Tang Dynasty, men took a greater role in public affairs than ever before. Civil service examinations allowed educated men without family connections to enter government, and the new class of literati helped to modernize Chinese culture by incorporating the ideas and practices of the Tang Dynasty with the more ancient culture of their ancestors.
During the Tang era, China subdued its nomadic neighbors in the north and northwest, securing peace on overland trade routes reaching as far as Syria and Rome. The Tang emperors also promoted the development of a scholarly bureaucracy and a culture of civil Confucianism, departing from the more militant ethos of the northern dynasties.
Wuhou was a daughter of the lower ranks from a minor aristocratic house in Taiyuan, but she was an excellent ruler and was the favorite wife of Emperor Gaozong. When he died, she usurped the throne and reigned for 15 years. Her motives were purely self-serving, but her actions had lasting impacts. Her policy of employing men regardless of their social standing transformed Tang society from a power base based on noble families to one dominated by a scholarly elite drawn from the gentry.
Although historians tend to dislike her for violating Confucian tradition, most would have to agree that she was a brilliant ruler. Her paranoid strictness and secret police were actually a positive influence for the people of China, reducing corruption and revitalizing the economy, which had been suffering badly before her rule.
Li Ye was also a strong patron of Buddhism, which was growing in popularity in the Tang period. She helped establish the Buddhist Academy in 684 and made it a place of learning for many of China's intellectuals.
The empress also promoted women's rights and helped women gain more opportunities in education, especially in higher education. The Tang era was a time of literary and scientific achievement. The renowned poet Li Bai was among the writers of this era, and his poems often focus on nature and friendship. The Tang era is also known for its mathematics, and Li Ye published and improved the tian yuan shu method for solving polynomial equations of one variable.
Lady Wang
Wu Zetian was one of the most powerful empresses of the Tang Dynasty. She was ruthless, but she also single-handedly ran a mighty empire and brought the Tang to a prosperous peak in Chinese history.
Wu was born in 624, the daughter of a supporter of the rebelling Li Yuan who became the first Tang Emperor Gaozu. Her father gave her a good education, and she was beautiful and intelligent. Her literary skills earned her a job as the emperor’s secretary, and she got to know imperial affairs.
Her beauty and intellect made her a favorite among the concubines, but it was her shrewdness that allowed her to rise as high as she did in court politics. She was able to use her status as a concubine and her knowledge of the political realm to eliminate rivals for the affections of the emperor and gain positions for herself.
She was a skilled manager of the state, a capable politician, and a competent military leader. She helped bring about social changes that shifted the power base away from military and political aristocrats toward those with scholarly skills. She even encouraged women to seek higher education, which was rare at that time.
But it was her willingness to break with centuries of tradition that caused the greatest uproar in Tang society. Until then, only men could be called “emperor,” and empresses were only second in official rank. Wu Zetian changed this and, at the same time, sparked a dynasty of her own.
Wu eliminated the 28 other concubines who might have supplicated the emperor for his affections, and she usurped the throne from Gaozong in 690. She named herself the empress and created a new, short-lived dynasty which she called the Zhou (not to be confused with China’s ancient Zhou dynasty). She continued to control the empire by eliminating rivals from the highest ranks of government. She murdered or deposed officials and put those loyal to her in key positions. She also introduced Buddhism to Tang, which eventually surpassed the native Confucian teachings in importance within the empire.
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