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zetian wu

by Yu
from Flushing International High School

Zetian Wu is the only woman to become a ruler in Chinese history. She managed to rule China during one of its more peaceful and culturally diverse periods.

My hero is Zetian Wu. She was born on December 16, 625 A.D. She was the daughter of Shuihuo Wu, the founder of the Tang Dynasty. She lived in Wenshui, part of Bing Prefecture. She died in 705 A.D.

Before she died, she did a lot of things. These can be separated into two parts: good and bad. Her good accomplishments were that she found the best people to run the government, and treated those whom she trusted fairly. She reduced the military's size, and stopped the influence of aristocratic military men on government, by replacing them with scholars. She started using exams to choose people to run the government. Wu was also fair to peasants, lowering oppressive taxes, raising agricultural production, and strengthening public works. The bad things she did were that she raised the position of her mother's clan by giving her relatives high political posts, and before she became the ruler, she wanted to be the queen of the emperor, and so she killed her daughter, and blamed it on another wife. I chose Wu as my hero because of how smart and determined she was, and how she made a new dynasty, and made a better life for people.

This hero is important to my life. I want to be like her, to achieve many things, and to be a useful person. She did a lot of good things, and bad things as well. But, in the end, she also helped a lot of peasants, and also the Tang Dynasty. That's why I admire her.

I admire this person because, even though she was a woman, she was as strong as a man. She made a lot of mistakes, but she also helped people.

Page created on 1/8/2007 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 1/8/2007 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.