Wu Zetian: Boy-Toys and Buddhas - Chinese History - Part 5 - Extra History

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👑 We delve into the pivotal moment when Wu Zetian decided to seize power for herself, adopting the title of "Sage Mother, Divine Sovereign." Witness the unfolding drama as she plans to open the colossal Ming Tang, and establishes the Wu-Zhou Dynasty. Leaving her indelible mark on China's linguistic, bureaucratic, and religious history.
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Miss an episode in our Wu Zetian Series?
Part 1 - • Wu Zetian: Hated by Go...
Part 2 - • Wu Zetian: China’s Mos...
Part 3 - • Wu Zetian: Bloody Ghos...
Part 4 - • Wu Zetian: Finally Emp...
Part 5 - • Wu Zetian: Boy-Toys an...
Series Wrap-up & Recommended Reading / Lies Episode - • Empress Wu Zetian - LI...
Thanks for the high-quality conversations & for following our community guidelines here: bit.ly/ECFansRNice
Artist: Ali R Thome I Writer: Robert Rath I Showrunner & Narrator: Matthew Krol I Video Editor: Devon House Creative I Audio Editor: Clean Waves I ♪ Music by Demetori: bit.ly/1EQA5N7 I ♪ "Across the Pacific" by Tiffany Roman
#ExtraHistory #WuZetian #History

[@extrahistory]

Looking for ways to support the show? Then why not check our our sponsor Incogni? Just go to incogni.com/extracredits and use code Extracredits to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan to protect your identity. Thanks for Watching!

[@also_arles]

What an exciting conclusion to this series. Definitely was a great way to start the year off on this channel, and I hope you keep up the awesome work!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

You guys always make My days better!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤

[@RedLIVES-yr7sc]

NICE!!!! > LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!!!!

[@janbananberg357]

I dont like your focus on "alternative" history. I prefer you older videos when you talked about more interesting and relevant histrory.

[@violettaeclipse5491]

I love all of your work and I would like to put in a suggestion for the story of Mithridates known as The Poison King

[@WebofHope]

WZ: *Sees her two favorite boy toys dead* "Okay you've had your fun, let me get back to my nap." Peak chinese grandma energy, love it

[@typacsk]

I'm picturing the landlady from "Kung Fu Hustle."

[@MBasu-km8by]

That title alone scares me. Then again, this is literally Wu Zetian we are talking about...

[@purpledevilr7463]

Excellent video title.

[@davidwright7193]

Could be worse, could have been Stallions and Sages

[@amdreallyfast]

"Wu hired a group of 'stout women' to ambush him..." This statement is very frightening

[@Caniewaak]

GOD I wish

[@Illier1]

Death by Snu Snu?

[@crissagram]

@@Illier1 "YES!"..."no!"..."YES!!"....

[@doommagic]

@@Caniewaak ​ @Illier1 Everybody's got their kinks. ...Admittedly I thought similar things because I'm a tiny person who enjoys the idea of being protected by larger people, gender irrelevant.

[@socialistrepublicofvietnam1500]

I know some people who would enjoy that

[@RazSofer-xh3qs]

Victoria, Catherine, and Cleopatra: “I’m the best Queen in the world.” Emperor Wu Zetian: “Hold my specter.”

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

Technically… all of them were empresses. Victoria was Empress of India, Catherine was, well, Empress and Autocrat of all Russia, and Cleopatra briefly held the title of “Queen of Kings” after the Donations of Alexandria, effectively making her a queen-empress

[@theroaringdino7263]

Also Tamar, Jadwiga and Elizabeth (all of whom would make for great extra history series)

[@samuraiboi2735]

Tbh queen victoria is like wu zetian but on a much bigger and expanse scale because the british empire was like kinda everywhere on the world map lol including queen elizabeth and elizabeth the 2nd

[@WaterShowsProd]

I assume you meant "scepter" since Cleopatra lived before Wu so her specter wouldn't have been hovering about yet. 👻

[@WaterShowsProd]

Cleopatra VII briefly ruled over Cyprus, making me a descendant of her subjects. Whether they were ever aware of it, or not. 😆 @@Edmonton-of2ec

[@clewrites]

One mistake, Wu didn't kill her secretary Shangguan Wan'er. Shangguan Wan'er outlived Wu and became important in the second reign of Zhongzong, but was killed in 710 by the future Emperor Xuanzong. Also you can tell how much she got lost in the Zhang brothers, in 698 she paid a lot of attention to succession, yet only three years later she messed up Zhongzong's succession.

[@abcdef27669]

“Keep your Allies nearby, and your family too, because a relative is an ally who doesn’t became an enemy… Yet”. - Wu Zetian, probably.

[@coquimarinero7246]

A problem I've observed with tellings of Wu Zetian's story compared to other Chinese figures is that it tends to focus more on her intrigue and journey to power, often not discussing her policy and reforms beyond how she used them to gain or maintain power. Extra History specialized in these kinds of character dramas, so I was expecting the same with this (though in this case, it's just how the channel does things, rather than a double standard). However, I was pleasantly surprised with this series actually giving a bit of an overview of some of the stuff she did.

[@nov9925]

Yes I agree. Many retellings of her story focused on her years before becoming an emperor. I'd like to see the portrayals of her emperor days. Not just a "timeskip to dethroning day".

[@olefredrikskjegstad5972]

Great rulers are often remembered as such because of how things turn out after their reign. In Wu's case, her grandson Emperor Xuanzong faced one of China's most devastating revolts, the An Lushan rebellion that killed millions of people and forever broke the central Tang state's hold over many outlying provinces.

[@user-gi8pk9uc7q]

Yeah, she would have been furious about that!

[@ElBandito]

That was all Wu's fault for keeping his son from ruling properly.

[@hidefreek6905]

@@ElBandito The main reason was Wu succeeded in ruling. But she forgot that nothing lasts forever, including her reign and her nepotism regime. (Through the likes of competent people but she kept a lot of her family members who were fanatical loyal to her as main power...so it's noot end well) She failed to let her own son realize the greatness of her reform and many people saw her reform as a blight and an insult to them...yep, all of her reforms were gone when her enemy gained power and abolished almost all of the reform to strengthen their political power.

[@sam7185]

that event was like after 70 years after she died, the reason behind the revolts was mostly because of xuanrong' ignorance

[@sam7185]

he also killed his own three sons in one day without any reason, he was considered a great king in his youth but the more he aged, his brain kind of slow down a lot

[@RedWizrobe]

I am so grateful that I learned about Wu from the Extra History team first instead of some warped pop-culture interpretation of her. Although I always love learning about popular historical or mythological characters such as Vlad the Impaler, Rasputin, or Hercules, if I’m first exposed to them through popular culture (which almost always takes millions of liberties in regards to historical accuracy), that’s what I always think of first. Whenever I have to write about them for whatever reason, I have to constantly fight a mental war with myself to remember, no, Vlad the Impaler was *not* an immortal vampire who tried to eat a Victorian lawyer, Rasputin was *not* a spiteful sorcerer who sold his soul for a demonic reliquary to curse the Romanovs, and Hercules had *way* too much anger issues to be considered Superman in Ancient Greece. Because of this series, I will think of Wu Zetian as a cunning, manipulative, power-grabbing master of political intrigue and seduction (which I admit is not the most flattering view). However, I won’t remember her as some unhinged, megalomaniacal psycho-bitch who was murderously evil for its own sake and justified excluding women from positions of power and authority. I had never heard the name Wu Zetian before her name came up on the Patreon poll, but you’d better believe that will never forget that name now that I’ve finished this series, and I’ll never think of her as the heartless demon empress her enemies tried to cast her as. This was a fantastic series, and I look forward to watching the Lies Episode.

[@extrahistory]

So glad you enjoyed it! We had an amazing time making the series and can’t wait to delve into more women’s history this year. Thanks for watching!

[@snomcultist189]

And what if you learn of her first s a mid leader in civ?

[@matthewmccaughey1628]

​@@extrahistory Why hasnt their been any Extra History music tracks as of late?

[@Machtyn]

The only reason I know about Wu Zetian is because of Civilization V. Then I learned a little more about her.

[@dontich]

Agreed - same with general Yi for me - still not sure how that hasn’t been a Hollywood movie lol

[@scrollcaps]

Emperor Wu Zetian putting down rebellions: I am disgusted, I am revolted, I dedicate my entire life to the teachings of our beloved sage, The Buddha, and THIS is the thanks I get?

[@rakoonja]

Seeing more Asian queens be discussed on Extra History makes me sooo happy!! I’d love to see you guys cover Cik Siti Wan Kembang one day :)

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

Boy-Toys and Buddhas is a fire name for a band 😂

[@mrartdeco]

Metal as fck 😂

[@anxiolf9736]

Switch it around and itll work, Buddhas and Boy-toys rolls off the tongue better

[@mrartdeco]

@@anxiolf9736 my opinion. The first one is easier on the tongue because the letter “O”from Boy came first before “U” from buddha. But each of our own

[@andrewshanks7053]

Now I'm thinking of an rpg set in the imperial court.

[@crushingon]

Actually her achievements not being recorded was actually kinda based move in hindsight, even if it was at the time done with the intent to conceal and deny her achievements. It turned her into a mythical being and she passed on to legend, giving strength to the rumors that painted her as a figure of immense power with nothing to disprove it.

[@johndunkelburg9495]

Wu Zetian is also one of the selectable leaders in the most recent versions of the 4X game series “Civilization”.

[@petarpoljak6918]

She first appeared in Civ2

[@abcdef27669]

Zhou being called “Joe” on the subtitles. This shouldn’t be funny, but somehow it is.

[@mrartdeco]

the Joe dynasty

[@commonpepe2270]

@@mrartdeco putting a completely different spin on the term Average Joe.

[@mrartdeco]

@@commonpepe2270 their legacy must have been coffee. Daily dose of joe

[@liamannegarner8083]

@@mrartdeco And they may have been "Unix."

[@van-hieuvo8208]

You do do that in Chinese, actually. One thing that ensures new characters could keep being created is the periodic table. For whatever reason, the Chinese decided that each element is named with one single syllable and one single character, meaning that if new elements are discovered, new characters are created.

[@eliplayz22]

I always like how Extra History in their presentation of history neither absolve, nor condemns any of the people/events covered by them

[@eliotanderson6554]

Wu zetian sent 100s of buddhist monks to tianzhu (india) i e western heaven. Buddhists came to bodh gaya in india where buddha enlightened Thanks to these monks we know lot about those periods

[@Notsosmartguy453]

I am dying to see a Xuanzong and An Lushan sequel

[@WrongParadox]

beware of how you word your wishes (trope) 😅

[@WowUrFcknHxC]

If y'all haven't read it, Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao is fantastic and loosely based on Wu Zetian's life. Very loosely... Maybe more influenced by it lol.

[@tylers1996]

Her series on Wu was actually the first time I had ever heard of her. It’s a great series with a lot of humour.

[@EduardoRodriguez-jm8sz]

Thanks for the suggestion but I found Iron Widow very disappointing, it's just an angry fanfic of Darling in the Franxx with a reverse harem. I would recommend reading directly about Wu Zetian real life in more detail, there is still a lot of amazing intrigues they had to go over.

[@lucasmiguel1498]

That was amazing story. The next famous empress was probably Cixi from XIX/XX century and Qing dynasty. Thank you for your great research and animation!

[@satansamael666]

Actually, you could argue Yang Guifei is the next. There’s so much drama with her story it also probably deserves her own series.

[@killingragethrowback]

Man no wonder this woman was so hated. So much hustle, and all to keep power. And the best part? She's effective. She ran the country well, so of course they'd slander her when they could.

[@MustardAndFries]

Well that and all the murders and secret police terror

[@sheepketchup9059]

​@@MustardAndFries to be fair, when other men did it, it was simply excused away as a normal thing that happens 🤷 Such hypocrisy 😔

[@historian252]

Incorrect.

[@MustardAndFries]

@@sheepketchup9059 dented reply

[@michelarsenault9644]

​@@sheepketchup9059you have a point But the difference was she did it much worse than the men and also having be kinda a super dick to her own family

[@christianweibrecht6555]

If GRRM creates a spin off series that involves ZiTi he should include a character based on her

[@Fordo007]

Don’t give him ideas to delay Winds of WInter even more!

[@christianweibrecht6555]

@@Fordo007 Dunk & egg was great and further fleshed out the world

[@Thereisanalienpresenceonearth]

It’s Yiti

[@FakeBlocks]

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!

[@idontfeellikegivingmynamet1298]

I said it in the first episode and I was right this is the best extra history series since Elanor of Aquitaine

[@colminerojoshuab.8155]

Wu Zetian: *Makes a new Dynasty linked to Zhou Wang Mang: "Hey! I was there first."

[@Joni_Tarvainen]

Damnit Wu! You missed the opportunity to start Wu-Tang Dynasty!

[@rat-skill28]

It was an awesome series! Never thought I could be so interested. I found this channel not too long ago and so Wu's the first one I witnessed as it was going. Gonna be waiting for more amazing stories you guys would find :)

[@freycomm35]

Again a reminder to viewers, her title was not the "female emperor" but simply "Emperor", with a capital E. Her tomb is in modern Qian County, China. The entire mausoleum ground is terraformed into the shape of a woman lying down. Accessory tomb mounts became her knees, breasts, and the main tomb mount housing her sarcophagus forms the head. She left the main memorial stele blank, leaving any opinions of her life to future generations; many rulers after her left their writings on the stele, praising her. She is the ONLY female Emperor, with a capital E, in Chinese history, no one surpassed her male or female. She is also a role model to many modern Chinese women, because she fully utilized everything nature provided to their fullest extend, her beauty, sexuality, intelligence, tenacity, and cruelty; everything to the utmost. She laid an entire generation of powerful men low. She fought her contemporary men on an equal footing and won, sending many of them to an early and painful death. She is one of a kind, never to be rivaled, not even in modern times. Long live the Emperor!

[@StevenCrosby36]

You only capitalize emperor when it comes before the name

[@eggtarts286]

...yeah, no. She's not the greatest, nor the one with the craziest story. Adequate credit must be given to her for a stable reign, but equally, points must be docked for despoiling her court with poor talent selection and for banishing able officials. She is a capable emperor, but in being one, she is but one in many.

[@dlang6487]

A fantastic video clearly explaining the different SNES revisions and our output options! Great job Bob!

[@hunterheyman8791]

Thank you for making these videos!

[@davidpickard7865]

this is the quickest Ive seen a extra history episode after it was released

[@musiclover01ization]

This was a great series. I really enjoyed learning about Wu Zetian. She was a pretty complex and interesting woman.

[@djoimaj]

Love how this series made me go back to the expansion of Buddhism series Hope we have more series about topics to cross reference the videos as was the early Christian schisms videos.

[@Goat-tz6gs]

Awesome video also love these videos they are amazing :D

[@N1GHTw4tching]

Ahh, nothing like a new extra history episode after along day.

[@cirdan4170]

Gotta say ... smooth transition to the commercial!

[@alex_zetsu]

I'm surprised she was able to amass enough of a power base to purge other branches of her family. Wu didn't rule because "well, according to the family tree, dad would be king, but he's dead and I have no brothers or older sisters" or rule through intermediaries "see my son is totally in charge but he has a speech impediment" or "yeah my brother is the emperor but he delegated all this to me" but she started as a concubine ineligible to be Empress and ended up ruling in her own name. Not too many _king_ dowagers pull this off, usually they have to be a "trusted advisor" of their offspring to have power or at least be a powerful count in their own right within their wife's realm to pull this off.

[@beeaggro2593]

popular and feared

[@eggtarts286]

This is quite true. Many powerful empresses do predate and succeed Wu at some point in Chinese history (Liu Bang(the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty)'s wife comes to mind) but they tended to rule through a puppet and not directly. It must have taken her a lot of skilled political maneuvering, personal charisma and solid policymaking to cement her rule as legitimate.

[@Jackson-tx5uc]

Several boytoys at 75 is wild💀

[@Kai-ye8cr]

The fact she’s got boy toys in her 60’s (I think) just makes her look cool to me, and idk why

[@briannamcdaniel266]

Never been this early. Also, another amazing Extra History video!

[@bruno17289]

After all the bodies she left in her wake, is kind of nuts she just recalled her exiled son, crowned him her successor and just retired.

[@user-jd5zt4of8q]

Great series 😃😃😃 Please do one about Haroun al-Rashid some day

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in.

[@sanhcman666]

Hi guys. Can you narrate the history of the origin of the silk road during han dinasty?

[@aezterx]

Please consider making a series on the *Berlin Conference!*

[@xichen5404]

曌（zhao）is literally 明（ming as "light""bright"） and 空（kong as "sky"）combined

[@lucasoliver2571]

Please make a video about Maria Quitéria de Jesus, the brazilian version of Mulan and Joan of Arc

[@midpac7985]

Amazing series yet again from you all! ❤ Have you all ever considered doing a series on Alexander the Great and Macedonia? Much care

[@muffinmonzterz]

alright, now that this series is over, I NEED a series on gaozong’s older brothers.

[@alexi2235]

Wu is truly mother! Also there is an very fictional historical adaption of her story called Iron Widow where it’s imperial China with giant robots and she’s insanely fun and badass in it.

[@eddie3051]

Do a series on the boxer rebellion please

[@gphjr1444]

Even recently in the Detective Dee movies Wu is often a secondary antagonist scheming to maintain power while ultimately working for the safety of the kingdom.

[@slendermansmoom]

good stuff

[@janexdoee]

10/10 video title. Really piqued my interest. Would recommend to a friend

[@Ett.Gammalt.Bergtroll]

She pulled a Joseph Smith reading the plates out of his hat with that stone prophesy. 😅

[@MH-ms1dg]

Awesome! 7:46 there should be Chinese style building on top of those stone towers. They’ve just rotted away with time. If you look at the mausoleum of other dynasties, you’ll see there are buildings on top of those stone towers too.

[@valentinavirbrant]

Great video, can i ask which software you use to draw the characters and scene?

[@alfrancisbuada2591]

Do Andres Bonifacio next!

[@mikeg2306]

Now how ‘bout companion series on Hatshepsut and Irene of Athens?

[@realbatman.official]

nice

[@mewwkigacha1749]

wu is badass

[@alexanderkidonakis9185]

Part 5?!

[@asentobi8432]

She's a fucking legend

[@Commandojoey2333]

Can you do the Philippine revolution please?

[@2.5productions]

Wu is the most yin and yang person ever

[@philtkaswahl2124]

"Boy-toys and Buddhas" sounds like a funky dating sim.

[@Kone5497]

So is she the original....ZHOE-MAMA?! I am sorry and will escort myself out.

[@RedLIVES-yr7sc]

COOL

[@THECHEESELORD69]

If we take anything from Wu’s life is this: DAAAAAMN WU GOT GAME!

[@Kilgorio]

Cool

[@Rudn4z_127]

i know that it's decided in patreon, but could you do something in russian history next?

[@watching7721]

Interesting that a person who used affairs to her political advantage would be politically defeated by her own affairs

[@gamingfirebasketworst9204]

Blackbeard the pirate well do you a video on it?

[@benanimates3348]

This makes me think of cheng I sao

[@KarelPletsStriker]

4 decade rule???? That is incredible for the reign of an emperor. The duration is comparable Caesar Augustus/Octavian, of whom no other Roman emperor was quite as long

[@lutherlaosi5294]

Its the sum of her rule as Female Emperor and her regency rule all way back since her husband still lives

[@nobblkpraetorian5623]

Technically her rule as female emperor was 15 years. The rest of it was being the power behind the throne as Empress Consort and Dowager.

[@jdzencelowcz]

What happened to the river stone???

[@i_piss_rocks]

i need a boy toy rn

[@ivan2003boy]

When can you cover Bulgarian history?

[@grelly5376]

CLICKED THE SECOND I SAW THE POST

[@emiliemclarnan9158]

Happy

[@mistaidgaf9166]

Wu out did Cleopatra

[@djoyugen3356]

*Reminder:* Make a playlist after the upcoming "lies video." 🥂

[@galfridus8413]

The exaggerated hat worn by Wu Zetian is called Fengguan. Her most famous image was repainted in the Ming Dynasty, so she wore clothes from the Ming Dynasty instead of the Tang Dynasty. According to real historical records, she should be wearing a red leather high-top hat.

[@CARL_093]

Wu Zetian was born in 624 C.E. to a wealthy family. As a child, she (unlike most females) received a good education and became skilled in reading, writing, poetry, music, and public speaking. Wu was made a concubine to Emperor Taizong at the age of fourteen and quickly became his secretary because of her unique skills.

[@user-lq6nq4rk5x]

3:03 😂

[@user-lq6nq4rk5x]

😆

[@brianbarley9711]

You'd think they'd know by now, WU-TANG is forever

[@jimmypetrock]

Hi

[@vinchester8688]

Attempt 2 of asking for a Mystafa Kemal Ataturk video

[@vinchester8688]

Slowly but surely I will get my way

[@reinhardtkukkuk]

I don't know if the animation or pronunciation is wrong, but the new name she took would be pronounced zh-ow, not zh-o. It's one of the most common names in China, and the family name of my in laws.

[@shaifunnessa7816]

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj India king story explained please make video

[@RobertJW]

Ah yes, Coca Cola, "To permit the mouth to be able to rejoice". Much better than the initial phrase Coke chose, which translated to "bite the wax tadpole".

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Always a succession that ruins the fun.

[@Raziel312]

It makes me wonder how blood-soaked the royal court usually was, if all the murder she ACTUALLY did was not enough for her detractors, and they felt the need to exaggerate.

[@righthandstep5]

I kinda agree with the statement the empress made about the Earth shaking being a sign. It goes against my scientific side of my brain, but in a way spiritually feels like the Earth itself acting up now and again is like karma teaching us about ourselves. Even during the time Christ was crucified in the Bible by date there was an earthquake in recorded history that shook the land aggressively.

[@bt6616]

"The Stele honoring Wu Zhao along the spirit path to Qianling is blank. The why of this has been lost to history. But there is a beauty in its blankness, and the beauty is that the blank surface holds within it infinite potential, for anything that could be written upon the tablet is, in a way, inscribed upon it in golden characters not unlike Gaozong’s. Usurper, Uniter, Uplifter, Unmaker, Monster, Mother, Myth: all of Wu Zhao’s possible titles can be read on her Blank Stele, if you crane your neck and look at the tablet from many angles. In his biography of Wu Zhao, however, N. Harry Rothschild condenses all of the various viewpoints into one that stares straight at the heart of Wu Zhao and sees her as she truly was: one of the many Emperors of China, a Son of Heaven, who just happened to be a woman."

[@cermanica2044]

Sage Divine Mother Sovereign?

[@Shadeem]

she did have a very stable empire, and valued the common people, so respect. But how foolish do you have to be to oppose her, i mean at the start sure, but after 50 years of her stomping like a kaiju, "i know lets rebel again! that never goes wrong ! "

[@lumoneko299]

The Zhou is her Roman Empire lol