BREAKING NEWS! EMPRESS WU STRANGLES OWN DAUGHTER AND FRAMES LI ZHI'S FORMER WIFE!

Empress Wu, only female ruler of the Tang dynasty and former concubine to Emperor Li Zhi before he named her his wife, replacing his former wife Wang , Empress Wu took power after Li Zhi was left paralyzed and half blind by a stroke. Empress Wu was a ruler who expanded land and improved trading during the Tang Dynasty. She ruled until she died and passed her power on to her son Li Xian. Empress Wu had a daughter before her reign as empress. Wang was accused of strangling Empress Wu's newborn daughter and had her arms and legs torn off and her remains thrown into a wine vat. Empress Wu was thought of as one of the Tang Dynasty's best rulers, but that statement may have changed because of the information we received early this morning.
We were given information stating that Empress Wu's accusation on Wang was false. Wang did not murder Empress Wu's daughter. Empress Wu, in order to get rid of Wang , suffocated her own newborn daughter and framed Wang for the crime. Empress Wu had the arms and legs of Wang and Li Zhi's favorite concubine, Xiao, amputated and thrown into a wine vat simply because she did not like them. At the time, the imperial family was given anything they wanted. If they wanted grapes, they were given grapes. If they wanted peoples arms and legs torn off, then peoples arms and legs came right off. When Empress Wu said that Wang killed her daughter and that she wanted her tortured and killed, that was exactly what she got. empress Wu framed a woman she did not like and got away with murdering her own daughter.

Opinion/Editorial: Emperor Xuanzong's Obsession with Yang Guifei

In 690 B.C.E, during the tang dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong came into power. Xuanzong was consiered one of the greatest emperors of the Tang dynasty. He was named "Brilliant Emperor". Xuanzong was a great emperor, he fought to expand land and change trading traditions of China to the western countries. During his reign, Xuanzong became obsessed with a concubine named Yang Guifei. Yang Guifei was pampered by the emperor. She abused his affection to get her family and friends into high ranked political positions. She got her cousin, Yang Gouzhang, to be Chief Minister of The Secretariat. In her new life, Yang Guifei became fond of a soldier who was fat and gross, but he had prevailed in battle many times for the emperors army. His name was An Lushan. The emperor was grateful for his victories so he allowed Yang Guifei to adopt this man as her son. Yang Gouzhang was afraid that her cousins new affection for this man would place his job security in jeopardy. So, he decided to battle An Lushan. This went on for a while until An Lushan decided he had had enough and assembled an army of 150,000 men and march into Luoyang. An Lushan and his army caused death and destruction to China. Xuanzong saw that An Lushan was headed straight for Chang'an, he panicked. During the night the emperor fled the palace with Yang Gouzhang and Yang Guifei. The emperor was stopped by Tibetan guards and the guards killed Yang Gouzhang on the spot. The guards would not let Yang Guifei to pass through with Xuanzong.In order to get out alive the emperor was forced to order the execution of his beloved concubine. An Lushan never found Xuanzong but shortly after, the emperor abdictated and gave the throne to his son.
Xuanzong should not have treated a concubine like royalty. Doing so caused death and destruction to china. If Xuanzong had treated Yang Guifei like a regular concubine and not a he would treat his wife, then he would have ruled longer than 43 years, China's city of Luoyang would not have been destroyed and the lives of Chinese citizens would not have been lost. Reasons why this statement is correct are that Yang Guifei appointed her cousin Chief Minister of the Secretariat and he was not fit for the position. He had little knowledge on politics. His not having enough knowledge could have led to him making decisions that would hurt China. Another is that the battle between An Lushan and Yang Gouzhang went on too long and An Lushan decided to get an army of 150,000 men and march into one of China's greatest cities and killing Chinese citizens and destroying their homes. The last reason is that when the Emperor fled with Yang Gouzhang and Yang Guifei, they were stopped by Tibetan guards and then they killed Yang Gouzhang on the spot and the emperor ordered Yang Guifei's execution. The concubine that Xunzong obssesed over ended up being strangled in a small hut in Tibet. This also ended Xuanzong's reign as emperor.
One might argue that Xuanzong was not fit to be an emperor and if he had not made that mistake then China would not have moved on as fast. It could be argued that An Lushan was the hero of that time because he forced Emperor Xuanzong to flee. That is wrong because Xuanzong, along with Tang Taizong and Empress Wu, was one of the greatest emperors of the Tang dynasty until he became obsessed with Yang Guifei and made bad choices. If Xuanzong had not become obsessed with Yang Guifei then he would not have been responsible for death and destruction to China and he may have ruled longer than 43 years.

Map of Tang Dynasty

This is a map of the Tang Dynasty. (618-906) The orange is the territory controlled by the Tang during their reign. The dotted line are the borders of current day China. One of the Tang's emperors, Tang Taizong, was a very wise ruler and also made it a goal for himself to expand the borders of the Tang's borders. The Tang lost a lot of land before Taizong's reign but he was able to regain most of that land. The Tang were lucky to have a ruler like Tang Taizong.

Interview with Empress Wu

Reporter: Empress Wu, great to see you, I've got a few questions for you.

Empress Wu: Sure lets get started.

Reporter: During your reign, did you face many challenges? Did they have to do with your concubine background?

Empress Wu: I had to deal with all kinds of challenges such as the Mongols and trying to expand land. A challenge that had to do with my background was getting rid of Li Zhi's first wife Wang. I was his concubine and he replaced her with me as his wife and she was not happy about it. I wanted to get rid of Wang so I strangled my newborn daughter and blamed it on Wang. Li Zhi ordered to have her arms and legs amputated and to have the remains thrown into a wine vat.

Reporter: I see...Why did you strangle your own daughter? You don't think you could have done something else to get rid of Wang?

Empress Wu: Well I wanted to have power very badly and framing her for murder was an easy way to have her taken care of. So i strangled my daughter and i knew once Wang was out of the way, nothing could stop me from becoming Empress. I think that i could have blamed her on a crime that was not murder, but i was looking for a quick way to get rid of her. I could have blamed her of thievery, thus having her hands cut of but I dont think that would make her leave.

Reporter: How did you get power?

Empress Wu: My original plan was to take my time and slowly manipulate Li Zhi. I was slowly getting closer toward being Empress and then Li Zhi became paralyzed and half blind because of a stroke. I was named the Emperor.

Reporter: When you die or step down from power, who will be your successor?

Empress Wu: My son Li Xian will be my successor when I die. I plan to be in power until I die. I believe that he will take in my foot steps and lead china as I have

Reporter: Thank you for your time Empress Wu.

Empress Wu: Sure thing.

Invention of the Tang: Tang-Yulin

During the Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 CE), the Tang-Yulin was invented. The

Tang-Yulin was an object placed on the floor, it had a water powered fan and two

rising jet streams of mountain water. The fan blew out towards the rising streams

creating a mist of cold mountain air. The Tang-Yulin became the world’s first air

conditioner. Rich families and the imperial family used the Tang-Yulin. This was

an important invention to the Tang Dynasty because during hot summer days the

people were and getting heat stroke. The people of the Tang did not have swimming

pools to cool off in. The Tang did never thought to pour water on their heads or

necks because they thought it was immature and a waste of water. The Tang did not

have the things we have now to cool off in the summer and that is why the Tang-

Yulin was important.

The Tang-Yulin was created during the Tang Dynasty. The Tang-Yulin was

the first air conditioner and was used to cool off the emperor and richer families on

hot days. Exclusively the imperial family and richer families used the Tang-Yulin.

The poor could not afford to make or purchase Tang-Yulins. Before the Tang-Yulin

people used paper fans or their hands to try and cool down. The poor families did

that even after the Tang-Yulin. On hot days the farmers of china would work under

the hot sun and leave the fields to come back to more heat.

The Tang-Yulin has really changed people’s lives in many ways. For example,

emperors could possibly live longer because they would not be at a risk for heat

stroke and also the same for the heirs to the throne. The Tang-Yulin did not change

many peoples lives because it was only an air conditioner, but still it was a great

invention and the idea still lives today.

Religion/Culture of The Tang

The religion of the Tang dynasty is Buddhism and Confucianism. Confucianism is important because everyone was treated equally because Confucius taught to his students was "Do not do to others what you would not want done to you." Confucianism had 5 basic relationships. Ruler and subject, husband and wife, father and son, older sibling and younger sibling and friend and friend. Confucius believed that society worked well when all people acted properly based upon their roles and relationships with others. When everybody in society showed respect towards elders and acted properly, the dynasty was peaceful. Buddhism is a religion that practices being mindful and aware of thoughts and actions. The Buddha taught that living a moral life and developing wisdom and understanding was the correct way of life. Buddhism had a great impact on Chinese and Asian culture Another religion is Legalism. This religion would be bad for the Tang Dynasty because the emperor has more power and anyone who questioned or protested against the emperor or government was killed or banished to China's northern frontier to die. Legalism would be a bad religion for the Tang Dynasty. Confucianism and Buddhism were the right religions for the Tang Dynasty because they ruled for over 200 years

End Of the Tang Dynasty

Toward the end of the Tang Dynasty, many young emperors had come and gone and done nothing during their reign. There were many fights for power between eunuchs. Tian Lingzi manipulated the last emperors like they were his pets. Angry peasants rebelled in 847. They were bombarded with high taxes and they had suffered through floods and droughts. They had had enough. They did not want taxes, they wanted a government that would help them in their time of need. Soon gangs of bandits joined the rebellion and Huang Chao and hid gang went to Guangzhou and slaughter many of the foreign merchants in that city. Upon receiving word of Huang Chao closing in on Chang 'an, the emperor fled just like Xuanzong from An Lushan. Huang Chao reached the Tang capital and established a new Dynasty. The reign of Huang Chao did not last long because he was a gang member and not suited to be an Emperor. Huang Chao's Dynasty was over after only 4 years, his own forces, upset with Huang Chao's government, killed him. The Tang emperor returned to Chang' an when he heard that Huang Chao was dead. The Tang was nearling its end because Tang officials were making their own decisions and Then Zhu Wen killed the Tang Emperor and named his heir Emperor. After the heir could not rule any better than the his father, Zhu Wen killed him and Established the Liang Dynasty.