The Twilight of China’s Only Female Emperor

In the winter of 705 AD, the 82-year-old Empress Wu Zetian—China’s sole female emperor who had ruled for 15 years under the Zhou Dynasty interregnum—found herself deposed in the Shenlong Coup (神龙政变). This palace revolution, named after the new “Divine Dragon” reign era proclaimed by the conspirators, marked the end of her unprecedented reign and the nominal restoration of the Tang Dynasty under her son Li Xian (Emperor Zhongzong).

The coup’s execution was swift: on the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Wu was forced to abdicate after key ministers and military leaders surrounded her palace. Contemporary accounts describe her eerie composure—reportedly stating she had “long intended to pass the throne to the crown prince” and wishing the Tang “greater prosperity.” This veneer of voluntary retirement masked a brutal political reality: the 82-year-old matriarch, once famed for her ruthless elimination of rivals (including her own sons), had finally lost control of the levers of power.

The Conspirators and Their Fatal Miscalculations

The coup’s architects were five senior officials—Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jing Hui, and Yuan Shuji—who mobilized the elite Yulin Imperial Guards to depose Wu. Their motivations blended ideological opposition to her Zhou Dynasty and practical fears about their own survival under her aging regime. All five were richly rewarded:

– Zhang Jianzhi became Chancellor and Duke of Hanyang
– Cui Xuanwei was appointed Palace Secretary and Duke of Boling
– Yuan Shuji received a chancellor’s post and the Nanyang dukedom
– Jing Hui and Huan Yanfan were made chief policy advisors with princely titles

Yet their triumph contained the seeds of disaster. In a critical oversight, the conspirators allowed themselves to be promoted out of military command. As one Tang observer caustically noted: “In turbulent times, never relinquish control of the army.” Only the pragmatic general Li Duozuo retained his Yulin command—a decision that would later prove decisive.

The Political Theater of Loyalty

The coup’s aftermath became a masterclass in political theater. When Emperor Zhongzong led officials to pay respects to the deposed Wu at her Shangyang Palace retirement, most celebrants reveled in the regime change. But Yao Yuanzhi—a key plotter and future renowned chancellor—staged a public weeping display. His colleagues warned this show of sympathy for Wu was dangerous, but Yao’s calculated response (“I served her for years—how can I not mourn?”) proved prescient.

Punished with provincial exile, Yao’s feigned loyalty positioned him as a neutral figure who could survive the coming purges. His maneuver exemplified the Tang elite’s survival tactics: in an era when political winds shifted violently, displaying either excessive enthusiasm or reluctance could be fatal.

The Unraveling of the Restoration

The restored Emperor Zhongzong’s reign quickly devolved into dysfunction due to three fatal dynamics:

1. The Wei Empress Problem
Zhongzong’s wife, Empress Wei, emerged as a Wu Zetian imitator—sitting behind screens during court sessions and influencing policy. When officials protested female interference (citing Wu’s disastrous precedent), Zhongzong ignored them, honoring his exile-era pledge to let Wei “do as she pleases” if they ever regained power.

2. The Wu Clan Resurgence
Despite the coup’s anti-Zhou rhetoric, Zhongzong shockingly reinstated Wu Zetian’s nephew Wu Sansi as Chancellor. This reflected the deep marital bonds between the Li and Wu clans—Zhongzong’s daughter Princess Anle was married to Wu Sansi’s son—and the emperor’s political naivete.

3. The Purge of the Coup Leaders
By the fifth month, the five coup leaders were “promoted” to powerless princely titles and exiled—a tactic Wu Sansi borrowed from his aunt’s playbook. The Tang bureaucracy reverted to Zhou-era protocols, with Wu Sansi controlling policy through his liaisons with Empress Wei and the influential court lady Shangguan Wan’er.

The Shadow of Wu Zetian

Even in retirement, Wu’s legacy loomed large. Her death in November 705 prompted Zhongzong to maintain Zhou-era protocols, including keeping her temple name and posthumous honors. This symbolic continuity empowered Wu Sansi, who now positioned himself as the Zhou legacy’s guardian.

Wu’s final act was characteristically strategic: her will abandoned her imperial title, requesting burial as “Empress Consort” beside Gaozong. This gesture—likely aimed at securing her place in Tang historiography—couldn’t mask her regime’s contradictions. As one official noted: “She returned the throne, but her relatives still hold power. Is this truly restoration?”

The Coup’s Enduring Lessons

The Shenlong Coup’s failure to produce meaningful reform offers timeless insights:

1. The Perils of Half-Measures
The conspirators’ refusal to eliminate the Wu clan—echoing the Han Dynasty’s Lü Clan crisis—allowed the old regime to regroup. As general Xue Jichang warned: “Uproot weeds completely, or they’ll regrow.”

2. The Myth of “Loyal Opposition”
Yao Yuanzhi’s survival versus the five leaders’ destruction demonstrated that in autocracies, perceived loyalty often trumped actual service.

3. The Gender Paradox
While deposing one female ruler, the Tang elite enabled another (Wei), revealing patriarchy’s inability to conceive power beyond gendered templates.

4. The Cost of Vengeance
Zhongzong’s rehabilitation of officials persecuted by his mother (like Chu Suiliang’s family) showed reconciliation’s limits when not paired with structural reform.

Epilogue: A Dynasty’s Downward Spiral

The coup’s aftermath presaged the Tang’s decline. Empress Wei’s later poisoning of Zhongzong (710 AD) and Princess Anle’s bid to become “Female Crown Prince” exposed how Wu’s precedent had shattered taboos. Only another coup—led by Li Longji (future Emperor Xuanzong)—prevented a second Zhou Dynasty.

Wu Zetian’s dry-eyed pragmatism in defeat contrasted with her successors’ emotional governance. Her 705 deposition wasn’t the end, but the beginning of a decades-long reckoning with her disruptive legacy—one that forced the Tang to confront whether any restoration could undo the psychological and institutional changes wrought by China’s most formidable woman.

The Qianling Mausoleum, where Wu rests beside Gaozong, became a metaphor for her career: though later rebels like Huang Chao tried to desecrate it (mobilizing 400,000 men to no avail), the tomb endured—much like her contested place in history, forever suspended between condemnation and reluctant admiration.