Wu Zhao (also known as Wu Zetian) was a Chinese sovereign, who ruled officially under the name of her self-proclaimed 'Zhou dynasty', from 690 to 705. She was the only female emperor of China in more than four millennia.
Wu was a concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death she married his successor and ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's furen (variously translated as 'empress', 'wife', or 'first consort') in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 690, Wu Zhao ruled as effective sovereign until 705.
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