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6 - The reigns of the empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung (684–712)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Richard W. L. Guisso
Edited by
Denis C. Twitchett
Richard W. L. Guisso
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo, Ontario
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Summary

THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION (684–90)

The fourth T'ang emperor, who ascended the throne as Chung-tsung in the twelfth month of 683, was only the third son of Kao-tsung and the empress Wu. Since his chances for the succession had always seemed remote, he had been prepared neither by upbringing nor by his brief three years as heir apparent for his new dignity, and it was probably for this reason that his father's will had provided for the continuing political influence of the experienced empress Wu. Her intervention, strictly speaking, was to be permitted only ‘where matters could not be decided’, but she lost no time in showing that an honoured but impotent retirement as empress dowager was far from her mind. The first sign of this was her contravention of the will's provision that Chung-tsung should succeed immediately ‘in front of the coffin’; and in delaying the coronation a full week, she revealed both her own ambition, and the fact that she felt certain misgivings about her son's suitability. Too little is known of the character of the new emperor to make judgments on the validity of his mother's suspicions, but it is clear even at this stage of his career, that he had inherited at least one of his father's weaknesses, and had fallen under the domination of his own wife, the empress Wei. Within a month of his accession, he promoted her father, Wei Hsüan-chen, to the rank of chief minister.

Type
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The Cambridge History of China , pp. 290 - 332
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1979

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