The Rise and Fall of Wu Zetian

So you think math is hard? Try summarizing the story of an eventful and passionate women in a 10 minutes video.... oh wait, we did!

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Historically is the third channel and project of Archmeton where he pairs up with skilled artists all around the world to create easy to understand and enjoyable historical videos about bizarre events.

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[HeyHistorically]

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HISTORICALLY FUN FACT
If you're wondering what happened to Empress Wang and Xiao Shufei... It's too nasty to be included in the video,

Imprisoning inside the palace for the rest of their lives wasn't as nice as it might sound like. They both got locked up in a windowless room with only a hole to get food given through.

After Wu Zetian was made Empress of Gaozong, the emperor decided to pay them a visit. Seeing their conditions deeply saddened the Emperor, and after calling out "Empress!, Shufei! Where are you?" into the darkness, Empress Wang responded and begged; "If Your Imperial Majesty considered our past relationships and will allow us to again see the light of day, please rename this place 'Huixin Courtyard' ("the courtyard of a returned heart"). Gaozong being the dude he was, immediately responded with "I will do so right away". However, when our main character heard about this she was enraged and issued their death warrants.

Their exact punishment? Each of them got caned (hit with a stick) a hundred(!) times and got their hands and feet(!) cut off. After the first punishments Wu ordered the women to be put into large wine jars with the intention to "let these two witches be drunk to their bones". Both Wang and Shufei managed to survive this punishment for several days till they ultimately succumbed to the torturing. This might start to sound like Pope Stephen's story here, but after they died Wu ordered for both of them to be beheaded and afterwards had Empress Wang's clan surname (Wang) changed to Mang (Snake)

If this wrath surprises you, I don't blame you. Wu has ordered the deaths of many more in her tale, which we unfortunately couldn't fit in this video without it getting a really messy (and hard to follow) story!

[ghostlion]

An emperor died peacefully, without being poisoned or killed brutally by an ambitious general? That's an odd and unusual story I could hear in history

[dieucondorimperial]

Just want to add a few things :
By all accounts, Wu Zetian was a very successful leader : she was great at wielding the enormous Chinese bureaucracy for the good of the empire, after having pushed aside the historically powerful families occupying the higher positions to place competent low-born people in their place, who would be loyal to her for allowing their promotion. She was also particularly tactful when tackling religious issues, like the rise of Buddhism, and using religion as a way to cement her own power.

[RawBerserker]

Oh man, Chinese history is so rife with interesting stories, and Empress Wu is definitely up there in her infamy. So glad you branched into history too.

[mercenarygundam]

And then she became an assassin class servant in fgo as a kid.

[IdkMaestro]

The animation is so smooth, its really sad seeing this channel be really underrated, because the quality of the content is higher than more famous hystory channels.
Keep up the good work man.

[EnchWraits]

Zai getting the throne is basically "luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing"

[fentanylfrog]

I love this video man, Wu Zetian is one of the most interesting figures in Chinese history, and the way you covered the story is so entertaining, you guys have such a nice artstyle.. I can't believe you're working on so many high-quality channels at once, keep up the great work!

[adamwu]

In an ironic/karmic twist, Wu Zetian's final years were marked by her male lovers scheming against each other, and ultimately against her, as her health failed and she was forced to delegate more and more of her power to subordinates, until she was finally forced to abdicate the throne back to one of her remaining sons, who promptly restored the name of the Dynasty to Tang. She spent the last few months of her life before dying of old age and illness effectively under house arrest in her palace.

[ghaith]

Chinese history never disappoints to be one of the most dramatic pieces of history

[Ghee]

I can't believe all this happend cuz Gaozong was just an innocent little mommy's boi

[אלוןשיינפלד]

So, she basically just girl bossed her way to the top and died peacefully. Truly inspiring.

[lycorissprengeri]

the art and the storytelling complements each other great job arch

[icdeadpipol]

She is a playable servant (Assassin Class) in the game Fate / Grand Order with her noble phantasm /special attack animation involved dropping the opponent into a vat of wine to drown and poison them. As part of her lore, she is also afraid of cats and the game mascot Fou (which has a resemblance to a cat) due to being cursed to reincarnate as a mouse.

[emhoj]

It's a real shame that we don't know her birth name. Wu is her family name and Zetian is a title she chose meaning "Ruler of the Heavens"

[crewmatewillthrowthesehand]

she gaslighted gatekeeped and girlbossed her way to the top and dipped peacefully. Dayum

[vol.]

I am astonished as to how your channel only has 3.5k subscribers. But since these are your first videos, I am very sure that you'll grow into a huge YouTuber someday. Good luck! Keep pumping this awesome history content.

[emhoj]

For a way longer and more in-depth story of Wu Zetian, check out Xiran Jay Zhao's two part video! They go into so much detail about her family, the court intrigues and so much truly awesome stuff

[Frixworks]

So she gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss-ed her way to the throne

[adude]

I love the dichotomy of your channels Arch. I remember playing in a val tourney you hosted at around 15-20k subs on the archmeton channel! I am really impressed by how far you've come. Keep it up 🎉