The image of Wu Ze-tian (624-705) as an "incompetent ruler" in the "Old Book [on the] Tang" and "New Book [on the] Tang"

Abstract. In this work we analyze the chapters of the "Basic Records" (Ben ji 本紀) of the "Old Book [of] Tang" (Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書) and the "New Book [of] Tang" (Xin Tang shu 新唐書), as well as fragments of the "Biographies of Empresses [and] Concubines", dedicated to the only female emperor of China, Wu Ze-tian; I make the conclusion that the image of the empress corresponds to the traditional Chinese historiographic stereotype of a “bad ruler”. I also examine the letter of the famous poet Lo Bin-wang 駱賓王 (626–?) which condemns the activities of Wu Ze-tian; this letter shows that certain elements of a “bad ruler” stereotype were used by the contemporaries of the empress. In this study I used textological methods, including the method of structural analysis of texts in classical Chinese, and the comparative method to identify the general and the special in the images of Wu Ze-tian, created by the authors of Jiu Tang Shu and Xin Tang Shu.

Keywords: Wu Ze-tian, Wu Zhao, Jiu Tang Shu, Xin Tang Shu, Tang dynasty, the Great Zhou

For citation: Skrypnik E.S. The image of Wu Ze-tian (624-705) as an "incompetent ruler" in the "Old Book [on the] Tang" and "New Book [on the] Tang". // Modern oriental studies. 2022; 4 (3). P. https://doi.org/10.24412/2686-9675-3-2022-88-107