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Hey guys! I'm a long time viewer and I was ecstatic when I heard Wu Zeitian would be the subject of the newest series! I loved the video, but as a Sinologist I had two things i wanted to submit me for lies (I'm giddy to be able to contribute to that fun tradition!) At 2:30 you said that China was a land steeped in Confucianism. While Confucianism has undoubtedly played an important role on Chinese culture, the early Tang dynasty was a period of relative weakness for Confucian philosophy. Buddhism and Daoism were far more popular with elites and commoners and Confucianism does not experience a consistent revival until Hanyu in the 9th century and the Song in the 11th century CE. While Wu Zeitian was heavily criticised on gendered lines, most of the Confucian histories referenced were written under the Song dynasty (960-1279) especially Sima Guang who was a major Confucian revivalist. At 2:54 you mentioned that Confucianism had a hardlock on court officials. While it was certainly politically influential, the examination system was nowhere near as staunchly Confucian or organised as it would become under the later Song dynasty. In fact, most officials were selected by "recommendation" by noble patrons and Wu Zeitian likely played a role in standardising these exams to make them more meritocratic. Lastly, at 2:38 you call Buddhism a newly arrived religion, but Buddhism was very well established and Sinsicized by the 7th century CE. Buddhism was first attested to in 65 CE, flourished during thee chaos following the Han dynasty and received state support from both the Northern Wei (386-535) and Liang dynasty (502-557) which gave it isntitutional and popular support. It was a factor in both the minds of commoners, elites, and emperors and played a significant role in the Sui reunification of China, the Tang dynasty's rise to power and Wu Zhao's eventual empressship. Please keep up the great work!
And she happens to be the ONLY female ruler in Chinese history to rule in her own right instead of just ruling through her husbands/sons. The only other woman to have been declared empress regnant was a peasant rebel leader by the name of Chen Shuozhen, who interestingly enough was contemporary to Wu Zetian, and was declared "Huangdi" by her allies about a decade before Wu took center stage in Chinese politics. She styled herself Emperor Wenjia, and her people saw her as a deity with magic powers. Although in her case, she only 'reigned' for about two months before her rebellion was put down by Tang imperial troops, with Emperor Wenjia being killed in action. Unfortunately she is not considered a legitimate empress by historians.
She wasn't just an Empress, she was the first female Emperor. An Empress is the first spouse of an Emperor, and Emperor is the highest authority in the Tang Dynasty.
@@Mistshock To be exact, she was the first empress regnant. In English, an empress can be either the sovereign or the sovereign's spouse. In fact, in Chinese both the term for the sovereign 皇帝 (huángdì) and 皇后 (huánghòu) are technically semantically gender-neutral. They are only gendered by connotation since all huángdì had been male before Wu Zetian, hence the convention to specify that she was a "female huáng" when technically that isn't necessary. Calling Wu Zetian "the first female emperor" is technically a mistranslation. The correct translation is that she was the first empress regnant, as opposed to an empress consort. Extra History tries to simplify the explanation at risk of misleading viewers because also the title they say means "empress" semantically just means "consort".
I remember seeing a documentary on Wu. The researcher on the documentary said one of the best proofs that she was at least a decent if not a good empress was because they have public works that have been attributed to her and work to counter the stories of her terrible dictatorship
@@ecurewitz IT goes a bit deeper than that. That metaphor of Confucianism as a filing cabinet is quite fitting. Their society had a rigid order and she was the outlier on many levels. Rigid orders really don't like outliers. Her being a woman, while crucial (as given their worldview would be most antinatural), is only one of the many things that broke their mental schemes. Things are rarely, if ever, so simple.
Decent? Under her 40-year reign, China grew larger, corruption in the court was reduced, its culture and economy were revitalized, and it was recognized as one of the great powers of the world. That's more than decent if you ask me.
I can only imagine since countless cases match this 'problem, that most stories are highly fictitious. My vast reading showed me ad nauseam that truth is facade and there is only 'the story, a story, his story..🤷♂️
Then not wanting to give sources "to get people to do their own research" is really just code for "we occasionally commit plagiarism and don't like making it easy for you to figure that out"
0:52 In Asian culture, it’s extremely common to invoke both gods and men as some primordial force, which is real useful if you’re trying to revolt against a royal. When Vietnam declared independence from China (again) in the 1420s, they too said “how can Heaven and Earth forgive this? Who dares to command gods and men to tolerate this?”
Their ruler is supposed to be the “son of haven” precisely for this reason . You rebel or go against the emperor- you are rebelling against haven and the gods
Fun fact, Wu Zetian was the one who gave Japan its name. The English name Japan was derived from the Chinese word "日本", meaning "the home of the rising sun", because Japan is to the east of China. Even though this name had been used since Sui dynasty, but Wu Zetian was the ruler who made it official.
This woman is proof that there is no such thing as "pure good" or "pure evil". She proves that the world is extremely complex, as are people. She's been accused a lot of bad things (some of which are true), but she was also a gifted ruler who genuinely wanted to help the people.
@@arhambliss8606 Can you deliever source because all that I could found that she lost some territory in the middle part of her reign but conquered it back later on.
@arhambliss8606 Source for that? None of the histories I've read of her have ever said that, and most of them tend to be biased against her. In fact, they all agree that she _expanded_ the Empire in several wars in Tibet and Central Asia. The terroritory that was "lost" was also gained under her and never firmly held.
@@arhambliss8606 I disagree. She reigned for forty years and during this time China's economy and culture grew and became one of the world's foremost superpowers of the era.
Wu Zetian is an amazing figure, all the more so because her story hasn’t inspired many stories or later figures who emulated her, due to the slander and historical editing to downplay her role, yet she seems to very accurately portray a complex archetype in history.
acturally she did inspired many stories or later figures who emulated her decades after her death. In the decades after her death, there was a period that some princess/empress who acturally tried to take the throne, and thats quite rare throughout chinese history
Another addition to the Badass Women Monarch Squad: Eleanor of Aquitaine Hasepshut Catherine the Great Theodora, Empress of Byzantium Maria Theresa, Holy Romam Empress Cleopatra Queen Nzinga St. Olga of Kiev Wu Zetian
Correction on the word of "emperor" in Mandarin. There is a word for empress, but it's not related to gender. That's just how the word was translated by history because it's the role equivalent in European monarchy. The original words were not based on gender, but on hierarchy. You have "wang shang" which means the "higher emperor", and "wang hou" which means the lower/rear emperor. A backup emperor, if you prefer that was the wife. Some history sees it as a thing akin to vice presidents, where in the event the higher emperor goes down, it is up tot he lower emperor to maintain power until a new high emperor can be instated. But the hierarchy was still gender based, just that the nature of the words were not. The concept of a female emperor would later come to be known as 女王, or female emperor.
To further clarify this for everyone, in English the words _emperor_ and _empress_ are distinguished by gender, not role. An _empress_ can be either a sovereign or the sovereign's spouse. The respective English terms for these where needed for clarity are empress regnant and empress consort. In contrast, in Chinese 皇帝 (huángdì) and 皇后 (huánghòu), meaning the imperial sovereign and imperial consort respectively, are semantically gender-neutral words. Wu Zetian did not call herself "female emperor"; she just called herself _huángdì_ because it was the proper sovereign title and semantically gender-neutral. What confuses people is that _huángdì_ and _huánghòu_ do have gendered _connotations_ owing to the fact all _huángdì_ were male except Wu Zetian. This is why she is typically called 女皇 _nühuáng_ to be extra clear that we're talking about a _female_ huángdì although this is not semantically necessary. The correct translation of Wu Zetian's position is not "emperor" or "female emperor". She was the first _empress regnant_ in Chinese history (if you discount an infant princess of Northern Wei that held the position for several hours). While I'm at it, 后 (hòu) was also originally the title of the kings of the Xia dynasty before it came to mean "consort", which is why translating it as "empress" is also misleading.
It's usually done through a "Great Man" perspective though, which doesn't teach you how to do History so much as to tell stories about individuals. But, for example, Lincoln didn't win the Civil War literally by himself; there was a whole myriad of social, political, economic, and military factors at play, and ignoring those sorts of things in the present on the basis that we believe the aggrandized stories of the past is a great way to get your teeth kicked in. No harm in entertainment, but that's really what this is, not an actual history class.
@@MrAcuriteOf1337 I agree it is centralized on people not exactly countries but considering that this is on youtube it is great for this kind of content.
Amidst all the fame of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism-there are those people who fall into Fǎjiā getting forgotten. Enough of that though. Wu Zetian's been one of my more amusing favourite Chinese historical figures since I was in my early teens, so it's kind of amusing to see her getting mentioned more nowadays.
I love this episode and I LOVE the story of Wu Zetian, it is sad that she isn't talked about much in history. Could you possible do a series or an episode about the 1837 Rebellion in Upper and Lower Canada?
Wu Zetian is an interesting historical figure because despite being a competent and capable leader, all the lies written about her make her the living embodiment of the quote "You will never find an unbiased source of history."
@@EksaStelmere tbh Nero sucked as an Emperor. He was more of an Artist then an Emperor and hold great disdain for the senate, but "Nero fiddled while Rome burned!", give me a break.
@@petarpoljak6918So basically one of the main differences between how history sees Wu Zetian vs Nero is that Nero really did suck eggs at governance, is what I’m hearing. Which would make sense.
I just watched Xiran Jay Zhao do a two part on Wu Zetian, and it was a fantastic two hours of silly court intrigue and a badass woman. Edit: kinda like tsarina Catherine the Great.
Another factor to consider as regards the expanding role of women during the Tang dynasty is that, over the several centuries of rule by Turkic nomads prior to the Tang, the Chinese aristocracy had absorbed a lot of cultural influences from steppe societies, which tended to be less strictly patriarchal than traditional Confucianism.
Another factor to consider is that back in the day there was quite a few powerful women in china. For example the famous maiden of yue who was also the first swordswomen in history
Great to see a series on her! I hope this series is good and well-researched, as they usually are. (I still have PTSD from oversimplified’s over-oversimplified three kingdoms video)
Hi Mr.Zhonghua! Love your videos(especially the zhang zongchang ones lol). Started learning mandarin some time ago in hopes of being able to study in China. 我爱中华！ Also yeah the three kingdoms video was quite...awful 💀
@@genericeuropean3745 Could have sworn I replied to this a few days ago.. must not have gone through. Thanks for the support! I’m glad I can further understanding and interest of China through some of my videos.
This is so cool, seeing you do a seires on her. I read a book recently in which the protagonist was Zetian in a fantasy world, and have been interested in her since.
I've seen a couple of people suggest Xiran Jay Zhao's videos on Wu Zetian, but nobody has mentioned their book yet! If you want a retelling of Wu Xetian's life through the lens of Qi-Powered, Pacific-Rim style Giant Mecha, you should definitely take a look at Iron Widow :)
Can't believe you guys are doing Wu Ze Tian!! I read about her when I was young and she's just RUTHLESS. Thankful I was not alive during that time period.
If i had a nickel for every time extra credits started a new series on a topic i just finished teaching in class I'd have 6 nickels. Which actually is quite a few
I AM LITERALLY TAKING A COURSE ON THIS AND WU XETIAN WILL ULTIMATELY BE ON MY EXAM SO THANK YOU EXTRA HISTORY FOR MAKING SURE I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS o7
Exicited to see where this series goes! Also, having recently rewatched the Admiral Yi series, it was cool seeing the different yet similar ways the Confucian ideals affected each, both during their lives and how their historians wrote about them, despite the fact they lived almost 1000 years apart.
Please do the Greek war of independence of 1821 against the ottoman empire next I've been asking for this since the first episodes of the sengoku Jidai!
I'm looking forward to these episodes. Confucian traditional historians really did her injustice. Curious to see how you would handle this, especially about her baby
I heartily recommend Xiran Jay Zhao's "How a Nun Baceme China's Only Female Emperor" series of videos, if you want to go over the subject in more detail without leaving Ytube.
I just wanted to recommend to anyone interested in more Chinese history, as well as other East Asian and some Southeast Asian history, the Cool History Bros channel. They also have a video on Wu Zeitan. I think he's Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese from his accent and style of humour.
Among the hundreds of Chinese emperor, she was above average, and that means something when comparing with hundreds of people, but the tragety for Wu Zetian is that she was sandwiched between the greatest emperor (Taizong) and dynamic emperor (Xuanzong). As a ruler, she wasnt that good when comparing with her predecessor and sucessor.
Xuanzong of Tang was not a great emperor at all. The empire went into sharp decline under him and he relied heavily on less than trustworthy people like Li Linfu. Do you mean her son, Zhongzong? Zhongzong was not that great of a ruler compared to Taizong or Wu. Zhongsong’s early reign was mostly his mother, rather than any ability or influence he had personally.
Having visited Xi'an and Luoyang several years ago, I'm happy you're doing this series as she is a fascinating figure and perhaps a bit over-maligned by the Confucians in her day for even if she did what they said, though it does not excuse her, it was behavior no different than many male emperors before and after.
I remember I got into an argument with my history professor when she said 'If women ruled the World, it would be completely different, they don't act like men in power. I told her to look up Wu Zetian, Catherine the Great, or Elizabeth II. Nothing would be different.
Testosterone is the biological reason behind the psychological drive for power….And everyone know men are high in testosterone as their main hormone. Women who end up in positions of power thanks to their ambition and effort, they are definitely high in testosterone than average females and even males.
@@atgay2640This is not true. Testosterone is linked to higher aggression, but not the desire for control. The desire for power/control seems motivated more by a host of environmental factors, coupled with hereditary influence, like being born in a wealthy, influential family, upbringing etc.
Elizabeth II had no political influence. She was a figurehead. Her power lay in her wealthy estates, but parliament was the one with the actual political influence.
What are you talking about? Elizabeth was massively powerful and is one of the main reasons why England stayed Protestant. She put down the Catholic uprising and killed Bloody Mary. @@thenablade858
This is a great introduction into Wu Zertian. And for those who want the full story in more detail (it only gets crazier trust me) I recommend Xiran Jay Zhao for the wildest ride in history that is Wu Zertian. Their videos are awesome and they provide a lot of fascinating insights into Chinese culture and the subtleties in the things done and said, that makes it possible to understand the layers of implications and plotting taken by those in Wu Zertian’s life story. It’s incredibly well presented and easy to follow and being Chinese themself, they pronounce everything. I probably rewatch the whole thing twice a year lol
The main reason for supporting Buddhism was because of the rising power of the Tibetan empire which was a big threat to Tang China ..... Wu did a lot to incorporate Buddhism in the Tibetan fabric since the religion is extremely peaceful and in sharp. contrast to Tibet's original shamanistic religion which was very violent ..... Biddhism had a calming effect on the Tibetan ruling dynasty and thus Wu was highly favourable to it ......
Now this is a new and interesting series. Not that I expected anything less from you, guys. Since you've picked up on powerful and influential women, can I make a suggestion? Would you be interested in making a series about the tsarina Maria feodorovna of Russia (1847-1928)? She might not have ruled Russia in her own right, but she was a prominent figure in the courts of three Russian tsars (her father-in-law Alexander II, her husband, Alexander III and her son, Nicholas II). She was greatly involved in charity, education and the head of the russian red cross. In fact, the Russian people, as well as the nobility, liked and respected her far more than they ever did her daughter-in-law, Alexandra. I really think that she deserves her own series, but what do you think?
At 2:13. "Empress" in Chinese is 皇后, which literally means "behind the emperor," not "emperor's wife." Chinese empresses didn't even get a proper title of "wife" (which would've implied control of the imperial household, which she was not allowed to have). They were just mere appendages to the emperor, so were treated as such. Except for the few exceptionally fearsome ladies who attained this position and acted very much NOT like someone dutifully following "behind the emperor."
Taizong deserves a series his reign extended China to it’s greatest range, started the Tang golden era and after his death his rule was considered the gold standard for all other future emperors Kings and Generals have a great video on him
If anyone is interested in historical fiction, the book "Di Gong An" recounts a (probably fictional) series of murder mysteries, which end up being solved by a local judge (Di Renjie) who later ended up as an advisor in Empress Wu's court.
I love ancient Chinese history like this that doesn't get as much attention. The stories of those times are always very interesting to learn about. Do you have any plans on doing one about Liu Bang?
❤❤❤ A good lesson to historians, history is rarely objective, so having critical mind is important. ❤❤❤ Empress Wu Zetian history is a good lesson or practice on how to studie politics and history. ❤❤❤ ❤❤❤ Wu Zetian is going to give us a good education and history of the most powerful woman. ❤❤❤ Who will show us what is needed to survive in, nest of Viper-Cobras, the Imperial Court. ❤❤❤
Wu Zetian is a very interesting and complex historical figure. I watched several documentary videos about her, I'm really looking forward to the continuation of her story on this Channel Btw, i even make fictional character based on her
It happened at least one more time. King Jadwiga was also a female monarch with the title of a king. King title was gender neutral (the name for a wife of a male king is queen, the name for a husband of a female king is king regent).
Since you just did a series on a leader in the game Civilization 6, here's a crazy idea, why not do more? Might even get a nice sponsor deal from 2k out of it.
Wu Zetian, just like pretty much all powerful women in history, has her legacy written down by men, and so it's no wonder that so many sees her as the villain. Meanwhile, if we're honest, male rulers have often done equally heinous, if not worse, things in their rise the top and during their rule
By the way, there is an intriguing adventure game called "Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders" set during Wu Zetians reign and featuring the empress as a central character.
To get your donation matched (up to $100) through December 31st, 2022, go to www.GiveWell.org/ and right before checkout, pick TH-cam from the “How did you hear about us” dropdown menu, and enter Extra Credits.
Thanks for Watching!
Love your content guys! You're the Best 😊😊😊❤❤❤❤
I've been waiting for this series ever since I saw the results on the community posts! It's already off to a good start. :)
When Napoleon?????
2022 lol?
Hey guys! I'm a long time viewer and I was ecstatic when I heard Wu Zeitian would be the subject of the newest series! I loved the video, but as a Sinologist I had two things i wanted to submit me for lies (I'm giddy to be able to contribute to that fun tradition!)
At 2:30 you said that China was a land steeped in Confucianism. While Confucianism has undoubtedly played an important role on Chinese culture, the early Tang dynasty was a period of relative weakness for Confucian philosophy. Buddhism and Daoism were far more popular with elites and commoners and Confucianism does not experience a consistent revival until Hanyu in the 9th century and the Song in the 11th century CE. While Wu Zeitian was heavily criticised on gendered lines, most of the Confucian histories referenced were written under the Song dynasty (960-1279) especially Sima Guang who was a major Confucian revivalist.
At 2:54 you mentioned that Confucianism had a hardlock on court officials. While it was certainly politically influential, the examination system was nowhere near as staunchly Confucian or organised as it would become under the later Song dynasty. In fact, most officials were selected by "recommendation" by noble patrons and Wu Zeitian likely played a role in standardising these exams to make them more meritocratic.
Lastly, at 2:38 you call Buddhism a newly arrived religion, but Buddhism was very well established and Sinsicized by the 7th century CE. Buddhism was first attested to in 65 CE, flourished during thee chaos following the Han dynasty and received state support from both the Northern Wei (386-535) and Liang dynasty (502-557) which gave it isntitutional and popular support. It was a factor in both the minds of commoners, elites, and emperors and played a significant role in the Sui reunification of China, the Tang dynasty's rise to power and Wu Zhao's eventual empressship.
Please keep up the great work!
Admittedly, managing to become an Empress when there was zero precedent alone shows the strength of her political skills.
And she happens to be the ONLY female ruler in Chinese history to rule in her own right instead of just ruling through her husbands/sons. The only other woman to have been declared empress regnant was a peasant rebel leader by the name of Chen Shuozhen, who interestingly enough was contemporary to Wu Zetian, and was declared "Huangdi" by her allies about a decade before Wu took center stage in Chinese politics. She styled herself Emperor Wenjia, and her people saw her as a deity with magic powers. Although in her case, she only 'reigned' for about two months before her rebellion was put down by Tang imperial troops, with Emperor Wenjia being killed in action. Unfortunately she is not considered a legitimate empress by historians.
She wasn't just an Empress, she was the first female Emperor. An Empress is the first spouse of an Emperor, and Emperor is the highest authority in the Tang Dynasty.
@@Mistshock To be exact, she was the first empress regnant. In English, an empress can be either the sovereign or the sovereign's spouse. In fact, in Chinese both the term for the sovereign 皇帝 (huángdì) and 皇后 (huánghòu) are technically semantically gender-neutral.
They are only gendered by connotation since all huángdì had been male before Wu Zetian, hence the convention to specify that she was a "female huáng" when technically that isn't necessary.
Calling Wu Zetian "the first female emperor" is technically a mistranslation. The correct translation is that she was the first empress regnant, as opposed to an empress consort.
Extra History tries to simplify the explanation at risk of misleading viewers because also the title they say means "empress" semantically just means "consort".
She should have explain everything in Fate Grand Order.
@@Cyfiero no, 皇后 is female,
I remember seeing a documentary on Wu. The researcher on the documentary said one of the best proofs that she was at least a decent if not a good empress was because they have public works that have been attributed to her and work to counter the stories of her terrible dictatorship
The best evidence of Wu’s capabilities is even her worst critics begrudgingly acknowledged her as a capable administrator.
It seems sexist men were jealous of her abilities
@@ecurewitz IT goes a bit deeper than that. That metaphor of Confucianism as a filing cabinet is quite fitting. Their society had a rigid order and she was the outlier on many levels. Rigid orders really don't like outliers. Her being a woman, while crucial (as given their worldview would be most antinatural), is only one of the many things that broke their mental schemes. Things are rarely, if ever, so simple.
Decent? Under her 40-year reign, China grew larger, corruption in the court was reduced, its culture and economy were revitalized, and it was recognized as one of the great powers of the world. That's more than decent if you ask me.
There’s no such thing as a morally good emperor.
Given the introduction about historical records, I will be very interested for Lies and hearing where this series' source material came from.
I can only imagine since countless cases match this 'problem, that most stories are highly fictitious.
My vast reading showed me ad nauseam that truth is facade and there is only 'the story, a story, his story..🤷♂️
Where can I even find the source material for these series?. I guess I can google them but I would like to see a link in the video description.
They probably had to make do either what they had
@@neotheone5559they’ve said previously that they don’t like to give out their sources in the description. So that more people do their own research
Then not wanting to give sources "to get people to do their own research" is really just code for "we occasionally commit plagiarism and don't like making it easy for you to figure that out"
0:52 In Asian culture, it’s extremely common to invoke both gods and men as some primordial force, which is real useful if you’re trying to revolt against a royal. When Vietnam declared independence from China (again) in the 1420s, they too said “how can Heaven and Earth forgive this? Who dares to command gods and men to tolerate this?”
So is Heaven and Earth
Haha, imagine trying to challenge the divine right to rule…
Their ruler is supposed to be the “son of haven” precisely for this reason . You rebel or go against the emperor- you are rebelling against haven and the gods
no, there is no such record they said this in 1420
@@xinyiquan666 look up “Binh Ngo Dai Cao”
Fun fact, Wu Zetian was the one who gave Japan its name. The English name Japan was derived from the Chinese word "日本", meaning "the home of the rising sun", because Japan is to the east of China. Even though this name had been used since Sui dynasty, but Wu Zetian was the ruler who made it official.
Wait, really? That’s so cool!
This woman is proof that there is no such thing as "pure good" or "pure evil". She proves that the world is extremely complex, as are people.
She's been accused a lot of bad things (some of which are true), but she was also a gifted ruler who genuinely wanted to help the people.
Yet the empire declined under her reign with huge territory lost.
@@arhambliss8606 Can you deliever source because all that I could found that she lost some territory in the middle part of her reign but conquered it back later on.
@arhambliss8606 Source for that? None of the histories I've read of her have ever said that, and most of them tend to be biased against her.
In fact, they all agree that she _expanded_ the Empire in several wars in Tibet and Central Asia. The terroritory that was "lost" was also gained under her and never firmly held.
@@arhambliss8606 I disagree. She reigned for forty years and during this time China's economy and culture grew and became one of the world's foremost superpowers of the era.
How do you know she genuinely wanted to help peasants? Do you know what is women are wonderful effect is?
Wu Zetian is an amazing figure, all the more so because her story hasn’t inspired many stories or later figures who emulated her, due to the slander and historical editing to downplay her role, yet she seems to very accurately portray a complex archetype in history.
acturally she did inspired many stories or later figures who emulated her decades after her death. In the decades after her death, there was a period that some princess/empress who acturally tried to take the throne, and thats quite rare throughout chinese history
@@wmhld, Yup Empress Wei (Wu's daugther-in-law) tried to do the same but got overthrown quickly after to prevent another usurper of the Tang Dynasty.
Only one episode in, and I already like her more than Cleopatra.
Another addition to the Badass Women Monarch Squad:
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Hasepshut
Catherine the Great
Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
Maria Theresa, Holy Romam Empress
Cleopatra
Queen Nzinga
St. Olga of Kiev
Wu Zetian
@@Analog_Anarchistcleopatra isnt really badass though
@@cryopex9976 what do you mean? Wasn't she like insanely educated and knew like 8 languages?
@@Analog_Anarchist I would add Zheng Yi Sao to that list
u forgot jean of arc@@Analog_Anarchist
Correction on the word of "emperor" in Mandarin. There is a word for empress, but it's not related to gender. That's just how the word was translated by history because it's the role equivalent in European monarchy. The original words were not based on gender, but on hierarchy. You have "wang shang" which means the "higher emperor", and "wang hou" which means the lower/rear emperor. A backup emperor, if you prefer that was the wife. Some history sees it as a thing akin to vice presidents, where in the event the higher emperor goes down, it is up tot he lower emperor to maintain power until a new high emperor can be instated. But the hierarchy was still gender based, just that the nature of the words were not. The concept of a female emperor would later come to be known as 女王, or female emperor.
Thanks
To further clarify this for everyone, in English the words _emperor_ and _empress_ are distinguished by gender, not role. An _empress_ can be either a sovereign or the sovereign's spouse. The respective English terms for these where needed for clarity are empress regnant and empress consort.
In contrast, in Chinese 皇帝 (huángdì) and 皇后 (huánghòu), meaning the imperial sovereign and imperial consort respectively, are semantically gender-neutral words. Wu Zetian did not call herself "female emperor"; she just called herself _huángdì_ because it was the proper sovereign title and semantically gender-neutral.
What confuses people is that _huángdì_ and _huánghòu_ do have gendered _connotations_ owing to the fact all _huángdì_ were male except Wu Zetian. This is why she is typically called 女皇 _nühuáng_ to be extra clear that we're talking about a _female_ huángdì although this is not semantically necessary.
The correct translation of Wu Zetian's position is not "emperor" or "female emperor". She was the first _empress regnant_ in Chinese history (if you discount an infant princess of Northern Wei that held the position for several hours).
While I'm at it, 后 (hòu) was also originally the title of the kings of the Xia dynasty before it came to mean "consort", which is why translating it as "empress" is also misleading.
Thanks for the explanation. I just read that in Cantonese and it makes me so much sense now.
@@Cyfiero Double boost. Further clarification is good!
I enjoy how this isn’t small segments but nearly entire classes of histories
If only my history classes were this good
@@kevinchong5424 heh
It's usually done through a "Great Man" perspective though, which doesn't teach you how to do History so much as to tell stories about individuals. But, for example, Lincoln didn't win the Civil War literally by himself; there was a whole myriad of social, political, economic, and military factors at play, and ignoring those sorts of things in the present on the basis that we believe the aggrandized stories of the past is a great way to get your teeth kicked in. No harm in entertainment, but that's really what this is, not an actual history class.
@@MrAcuriteOf1337 I agree it is centralized on people not exactly countries but considering that this is on youtube it is great for this kind of content.
The last part introducing the sponsor fricking killed me, 10/10, I love the humour of the Extra History team.
I was shocked by it lmao
Amidst all the fame of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism-there are those people who fall into Fǎjiā getting forgotten. Enough of that though. Wu Zetian's been one of my more amusing favourite Chinese historical figures since I was in my early teens, so it's kind of amusing to see her getting mentioned more nowadays.
She was in Civ 5
"And the real victims are the historians who were deprived of non biased sources!"
I love this episode and I LOVE the story of Wu Zetian, it is sad that she isn't talked about much in history. Could you possible do a series or an episode about the 1837 Rebellion in Upper and Lower Canada?
my Canadian history sense was Tingling!
The Chevalier of Lorimier is an important figure in Québécois history, deeply loved by independantists.
This woman was so ruthless. This is gonna be an amazing series! Wish you all a happy new year 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Wu Zetian is an interesting historical figure because despite being a competent and capable leader, all the lies written about her make her the living embodiment of the quote "You will never find an unbiased source of history."
She's right up there with Emperor Nero for "Wow, I'm sure none of these historical documents by people that hated 'em are biased."
@@EksaStelmere tbh Nero sucked as an Emperor. He was more of an Artist then an Emperor and hold great disdain for the senate, but "Nero fiddled while Rome burned!", give me a break.
@@petarpoljak6918So basically one of the main differences between how history sees Wu Zetian vs Nero is that Nero really did suck eggs at governance, is what I’m hearing. Which would make sense.
I just watched Xiran Jay Zhao do a two part on Wu Zetian, and it was a fantastic two hours of silly court intrigue and a badass woman.
Edit: kinda like tsarina Catherine the Great.
That's how I learned about her as well. Iron Widow is on my to read list.
I love Xiran’s videos dude. Their 2 part series on Wu Zetian is great
Another factor to consider as regards the expanding role of women during the Tang dynasty is that, over the several centuries of rule by Turkic nomads prior to the Tang, the Chinese aristocracy had absorbed a lot of cultural influences from steppe societies, which tended to be less strictly patriarchal than traditional Confucianism.
Another factor to consider is that back in the day there was quite a few powerful women in china. For example the famous maiden of yue who was also the first swordswomen in history
Turkic? Xianbei is Mongolic speaking and which only ruled north China, not the whole China
Ah yes, Wu Zetian - my favourite Civilisation V Leader. And of course a fascinating historical figure. Looking forward to this series!
And VI too, if you buy the right DLC that is. Basically it's spies galore.
She is also featured in Easytech's game European War 7: Medieval as a cameo.
Great to see a series on her! I hope this series is good and well-researched, as they usually are.
(I still have PTSD from oversimplified’s over-oversimplified three kingdoms video)
Some uh.. curious pronunciation, but that’s fine.
Hi Mr.Zhonghua!
Love your videos(especially the zhang zongchang ones lol).
Started learning mandarin some time ago in hopes of being able to study in China. 我爱中华！
Also yeah the three kingdoms video was quite...awful 💀
@@genericeuropean3745 Could have sworn I replied to this a few days ago.. must not have gone through.
Thanks for the support! I’m glad I can further understanding and interest of China through some of my videos.
This is so cool, seeing you do a seires on her. I read a book recently in which the protagonist was Zetian in a fantasy world, and have been interested in her since.
Iron Widow, perchance~?
@@SenMysrana Yes indeed, and I'm glad somebody knows of it
I've seen a couple of people suggest Xiran Jay Zhao's videos on Wu Zetian, but nobody has mentioned their book yet!
If you want a retelling of Wu Xetian's life through the lens of Qi-Powered, Pacific-Rim style Giant Mecha, you should definitely take a look at Iron Widow :)
“She killed her whole family!”
I mean to be fair, almost all monarchs did this, too, so.
Well literally almost every monarch/royalty in every other regions in the past did these normally like it was just another tuesday
Can't believe you guys are doing Wu Ze Tian!! I read about her when I was young and she's just RUTHLESS. Thankful I was not alive during that time period.
If she was ruthless, then why many historians regard her one of the greatest emperors in chinese history? You seem to know little about her.
If i had a nickel for every time extra credits started a new series on a topic i just finished teaching in class I'd have 6 nickels. Which actually is quite a few
I AM LITERALLY TAKING A COURSE ON THIS AND WU XETIAN WILL ULTIMATELY BE ON MY EXAM SO THANK YOU EXTRA HISTORY FOR MAKING SURE I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS o7
Right off the bat, her life already sounds like a drama show that goes off the rails more than once!
more like once and never finds them again
It goes off the raill and somehow flying now
it lost the rail from the jump
And there's definitely plenty of TV series based on her already.
also whats that saying again? "behind every man in power is a woman or something?"
Oh, this is brilliant! Her story is so incredible, so I'm really excited to see you tell it. As always, a great choice of subject matter!
I like to imagine her as kind of what Theodora could have been if Justinian bit it first and she managed to maintain power after.
Exicited to see where this series goes!
Also, having recently rewatched the Admiral Yi series, it was cool seeing the different yet similar ways the Confucian ideals affected each, both during their lives and how their historians wrote about them, despite the fact they lived almost 1000 years apart.
Please do the Greek war of independence of 1821 against the ottoman empire next
I've been asking for this since the first episodes of the sengoku Jidai!
Chinese History is often complex; can’t wait for more content from this channel!!!
Survey says: Looks and brains are a powerful combination.
I'm looking forward to these episodes. Confucian traditional historians really did her injustice. Curious to see how you would handle this, especially about her baby
I heartily recommend Xiran Jay Zhao's "How a Nun Baceme China's Only Female Emperor" series of videos, if you want to go over the subject in more detail without leaving Ytube.
I was just thinking about under-studied dynastic China was! Wu Zetian is such an interesting historical story
I just wanted to recommend to anyone interested in more Chinese history, as well as other East Asian and some Southeast Asian history, the Cool History Bros channel. They also have a video on Wu Zeitan. I think he's Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese from his accent and style of humour.
Civ 5 has permenantly tarnished how I view Wu Zetian, she's the only AI that has reliably destroyed me on multiple occasions
Among the hundreds of Chinese emperor, she was above average, and that means something when comparing with hundreds of people, but the tragety for Wu Zetian is that she was sandwiched between the greatest emperor (Taizong) and dynamic emperor (Xuanzong). As a ruler, she wasnt that good when comparing with her predecessor and sucessor.
Xuanzong of Tang was not a great emperor at all. The empire went into sharp decline under him and he relied heavily on less than trustworthy people like Li Linfu. Do you mean her son, Zhongzong? Zhongzong was not that great of a ruler compared to Taizong or Wu. Zhongsong’s early reign was mostly his mother, rather than any ability or influence he had personally.
@@thenablade858 Xuanzong simply lived way toooooo long, he was quite good in his early days
Been looking forward to this one. I’ve heard about her through pop culture but never through a historical documentary
Having visited Xi'an and Luoyang several years ago, I'm happy you're doing this series as she is a fascinating figure and perhaps a bit over-maligned by the Confucians in her day for even if she did what they said, though it does not excuse her, it was behavior no different than many male emperors before and after.
WU!!!!!! So happy to see her get a series!!!
Wu Zetian really was the main character
I remember I got into an argument with my history professor when she said 'If women ruled the World, it would be completely different, they don't act like men in power. I told her to look up Wu Zetian, Catherine the Great, or Elizabeth II. Nothing would be different.
Don't forget Margaret Thatcher or Golda Meir...
Testosterone is the biological reason behind the psychological drive for power….And everyone know men are high in testosterone as their main hormone. Women who end up in positions of power thanks to their ambition and effort, they are definitely high in testosterone than average females and even males.
@@atgay2640This is not true. Testosterone is linked to higher aggression, but not the desire for control. The desire for power/control seems motivated more by a host of environmental factors, coupled with hereditary influence, like being born in a wealthy, influential family, upbringing etc.
Elizabeth II had no political influence. She was a figurehead. Her power lay in her wealthy estates, but parliament was the one with the actual political influence.
What are you talking about? Elizabeth was massively powerful and is one of the main reasons why England stayed Protestant. She put down the Catholic uprising and killed Bloody Mary. @@thenablade858
I love seeing these as soon as they come out, I love your guys content.
Looking forward to this one, the court intrigue and gruesome tales will make this one of the wildest series you've done I'm sure!
Hell yeah! I had to write a paper on Empress Wu in college! I've been waiting for her to show up here!
This is a great introduction into Wu Zertian. And for those who want the full story in more detail (it only gets crazier trust me) I recommend Xiran Jay Zhao for the wildest ride in history that is Wu Zertian. Their videos are awesome and they provide a lot of fascinating insights into Chinese culture and the subtleties in the things done and said, that makes it possible to understand the layers of implications and plotting taken by those in Wu Zertian’s life story. It’s incredibly well presented and easy to follow and being Chinese themself, they pronounce everything. I probably rewatch the whole thing twice a year lol
Everything I learned about Wu Zetian I learned from Xiran Jay Zhao and I'm quite thankful for it!
The main reason for supporting Buddhism was because of the rising power of the Tibetan empire which was a big threat to Tang China ..... Wu did a lot to incorporate Buddhism in the Tibetan fabric since the religion is extremely peaceful and in sharp. contrast to Tibet's original shamanistic religion which was very violent ..... Biddhism had a calming effect on the Tibetan ruling dynasty and thus Wu was highly favourable to it ......
And across the universe, history buffs of all kinds grabbed some popcorn before sitting down, because they all knew this was going to be awesome
Yaaay! Finaly a series aboyt Wu Zetian! My day is made.
So excited for this series and finally seeing Wu in a new light.
Xiran Jay Zhao felt waves in the universe with the upload of this
Now this is a new and interesting series. Not that I expected anything less from you, guys.
Since you've picked up on powerful and influential women, can I make a suggestion? Would you be interested in making a series about the tsarina Maria feodorovna of Russia (1847-1928)?
She might not have ruled Russia in her own right, but she was a prominent figure in the courts of three Russian tsars (her father-in-law Alexander II, her husband, Alexander III and her son, Nicholas II). She was greatly involved in charity, education and the head of the russian red cross. In fact, the Russian people, as well as the nobility, liked and respected her far more than they ever did her daughter-in-law, Alexandra.
I really think that she deserves her own series, but what do you think?
Definitely!! That would be interesting 🥰
At 2:13. "Empress" in Chinese is 皇后, which literally means "behind the emperor," not "emperor's wife." Chinese empresses didn't even get a proper title of "wife" (which would've implied control of the imperial household, which she was not allowed to have). They were just mere appendages to the emperor, so were treated as such. Except for the few exceptionally fearsome ladies who attained this position and acted very much NOT like someone dutifully following "behind the emperor."
impeccable timing EC !!
This was a good video. Wu Zetian seems like a very interesting historical figure.
Yeahhh! I love Wu Zeitan! She's such a cool story of women taking control in China! So cool!
Taizong deserves a series his reign extended China to it’s greatest range, started the Tang golden era and after his death his rule was considered the gold standard for all other future emperors Kings and Generals have a great video on him
If anyone is interested in historical fiction, the book "Di Gong An" recounts a (probably fictional) series of murder mysteries, which end up being solved by a local judge (Di Renjie) who later ended up as an advisor in Empress Wu's court.
I love ancient Chinese history like this that doesn't get as much attention. The stories of those times are always very interesting to learn about. Do you have any plans on doing one about Liu Bang?
YES
I just bought Total War Three Kingdoms for the steam sale and started reading up on Chinese history, perfect timing!
Edit: I love this game
im so glad i found you oversimplified left a hole in my heart u filled
Wu Zetian: History's Greatest Gitlboss
More like history's greatest jezebel.
Very happy to see an episode on Wu Zetian!
this is a nice episode , keep up the good work
❤❤❤ A good lesson to historians, history is rarely objective, so having critical mind is important. ❤❤❤ Empress Wu Zetian history is a good lesson or practice on how to studie politics and history. ❤❤❤
❤❤❤ Wu Zetian is going to give us a good education and history of the most powerful woman. ❤❤❤ Who will show us what is needed to survive in, nest of Viper-Cobras, the Imperial Court. ❤❤❤
Wu is actually the best
Yes! One of my favorite historical figures!😄
Wu Zetian is a very interesting and complex historical figure. I watched several documentary videos about her, I'm really looking forward to the continuation of her story on this Channel
Btw, i even make fictional character based on her
All Iron Widow fans, where we at?
so nice to learn about this since I knew nothing about it till now!
FINALLY I AM IN THE CREDITS WOOO
Thanks so much for supporting the crew on Patreon!
Been waiting for this series! Thanks!
Great one to cover! Cant wait for the rest, love what you do
This episode is really great tbh
This channel has very interesting topics, good job all who made this :)
Hey you could make a series on Taizong too, he’s one of the greatest emperors of Chinese history after all!
Aw yeah! The second i realised that this is a new video, I jumped from joy
It happened at least one more time. King Jadwiga was also a female monarch with the title of a king. King title was gender neutral (the name for a wife of a male king is queen, the name for a husband of a female king is king regent).
Extra History almost got SPICY with this one! Y'all need to learn to chill!!!
OMG FINALLY A WU ZETIAN VIDEO
YESSS!!! best story ever
For all the alleged things she did, at least she didn't shoot the messenger
“Hated by Gods and Men” sounds like a boss subtitle.
Now I'm going to have Turandot stuck in my head all day!
Awesome as always thanks
If we’re going to be doing a series or two on the great tyrants of history, consider finally doing that season on atilla the hun
Since you just did a series on a leader in the game Civilization 6, here's a crazy idea, why not do more? Might even get a nice sponsor deal from 2k out of it.
Speaking of wu zetian, you gotta make a video about jing ke
Oh hey, a series on Empress Nite-Brite (i hope I'm not the only one here who likes history and Fate lol)
8 months late, but no, you're not alone.
Finally my wish has come true 😍 Wu Zetian ❤
Can you do a video series on the Tibetan empire?
Wu Zetian and Hatshepsut... Two bad ass ladies, demonized after the end of their reigns.
How has there not been a major movie or series made about her life?
There's been so many
Wu Zetian, just like pretty much all powerful women in history, has her legacy written down by men, and so it's no wonder that so many sees her as the villain. Meanwhile, if we're honest, male rulers have often done equally heinous, if not worse, things in their rise the top and during their rule
By the way, there is an intriguing adventure game called "Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders" set during Wu Zetians reign and featuring the empress as a central character.
YESSSSSS I LOVEE LEARNING ABOUT WU ZEITAN