CCTV China General History Documentary Episode 43 Wu Zetian Audio (Commentary)

In the long history of China, as long as they are women, they are unprecedented, and they become the emperors of the patriarchal society for the first time. The dynasty she ruled inherited the rule of Zhenguan, and then opened a prosperous time. China's comprehensive national strength has been greatly improved, although she has been dead for more than 300 years. But today, people often talk about her. She is the devil, because she is too murderous. She's God. Her life is always accompanied by miracles. She is breaking through, breaking through the secular world, breaking through the palace, breaking through the patriarchal society and breaking through the whole era. Her achievements have added unique and magnificent colors to human history. Her legend can't be copied until the last moment of her life. She is Wu Zetian.

This is the most famous Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang City, Henan Province. Despite thousands of years of vicissitudes, it still looks mysterious. According to legend, it is shaped according to a person's appearance, and this person's name is far better than this giant Buddha. She is Wu Zetian. In 638 AD, Wu Zetian, who was 14 years old, was called into the palace and became the woman of Emperor Taizong, which was a very glorious thing for the Wu family and was worth celebrating. The mother who loves her most is worried. Because she knows that the noblest palace is also a very dangerous place, full of intrigue. When Wu Zetian left home, her mother cried and said goodbye to her daughter, but Wu Zetian was extraordinary.

Liu: When I 14 entered the palace, most people cried very sadly, because it indicated that your future fate would be miserable. When Wu Zetian entered the palace, her mother cried, so she advised her mother to say something, saying that it was a blessing to see the son of heaven. Why did her children feel sad? It means I have a chance to meet the emperor. How do you know it must be a blessing or a curse? Why are you crying like an ordinary child?

In 625 AD, Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui, Shanxi. Her father, Wu Shihuo, was a businessman, who made great contributions to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and was eventually promoted to the post of Minister of Industry. Wu Shihuo's original match died on the Richter scale. Personally decided to marry his niece, the powerful man of the Sui Dynasty and Wang. This is Wu Zetian's biological mother. Wu Zetian had a wonderful childhood. Her father loved her very much, but her father died when she was eleven. Her half-brother treated her badly, and her fate. Wu Zetian realized the coldness of the world prematurely, and her sensitive heart was cast a heavy shadow. She stubbornly wants to get rid of the shackles of her family and would rather fight in a bottomless palace. As the reigning emperor, Emperor Taizong had many women, and Wu Zetian was just one of them. When Emperor Taizong saw Wu Zetian, there was infinite charm in his eyes, so he gave her the title of beautiful mother. But with this charm alone, it is impossible to stand out in the harem of beautiful women like clouds. Wu Zetian's position in the palace is not high, but she is only a talent.

Huang: The concubines system in the Tang Dynasty was like this. Besides the queen, there are four concubines, namely the imperial concubine, the Shu concubine, the imperial concubine and the De concubine. Besides these four concubines, there are nine concubines. These nine concubines are called Zhao Yi. Under nine concubines, there are nine concubines and nine beauties.

Wu Zetian must show something different, an unexpected occasion, the opportunity seems to have come. Emperor Taizong had a fierce horse, Lion Qi, which even a vigorous rider could not tame. Just when everyone was at a loss, the cowardly Wu Zetian stood up and said, as long as you give me three things, I can tame this fierce horse. Emperor Taizong looked at Wu Zetian in surprise and asked her what three things she needed. Wu Zetian replied, one is an iron whip, the other is an iron bottle, and the third is a dagger. If you whip it with an iron whip, you will hit it on the head with an iron bottle. If it still refuses, cut it with a dagger. It seems that Wu Zetian's remarks also made Emperor Taizong feel secretly murderous. In the whole long twelve years, Wu Zetian has been trying to make a breakthrough, but to no avail, her status has not been improved. What is even more worrying is that Emperor Taizong is about to die, and all hopes seem to be dashed with the death of Emperor Taizong. In 649 AD, Emperor Taizong died in the temple, and the whole harem was windy and drizzling.

Wu Zongguo: After the emperor died, all the concubines who had no children and daughters went to Ganye Temple to become nuns. This is probably the system. After becoming nuns, they spent their whole lives there.

Wu Zetian is no exception. When Emperor Taizong died, she was forced to become a nun in Ganye Temple, accompanied by only the morning bell and the evening drum. This is the temple where Wu Zetian became a monk. It has quietly spent more than 65,438+0,000 years in the northwest of Xi 'an. Now in the backyard of a primary school, the children moved out of the house 30 years ago and studied in the teaching building. However, what remains unchanged here is the story told by the teacher. In this textbook, Wu Zetian's life is told. The teacher will focus on Wu Zetian's experience here. Plum blossom fragrance comes from bitter cold. Without the tempering of Kanye Temple, Wu Zetian may not have the glory behind him. In Ganye Temple, Wu Zetian was lonely. She is waiting for the arrival of a person, that is, Prince Li Zhi. When Emperor Taizong was seriously ill, they both served Emperor Taizong at the same time, but they didn't expect to love each other deeply. At this time, Li Zhi has become the new emperor, but they are one in the palace and the other in the temple. This is Wu Zetian's only chance. In 650 AD, when Emperor Taizong died, Li Zhi went to Ganye Temple to pray for incense. Wu Zetian finally met Li Zhi, and she was in tears. Li Zhi is also eager to take Wu Zetian into the palace, but Wu Zetian is her father's woman after all and is restricted by ethics. Even as the statue of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, Li Zhi could do nothing. The king's queen knew about it and suggested that the emperor secretly call Wu Zetian into the palace. At that time, the king's queen was trying to deal with the favored Xiao Shufei. She felt that Wu Zetian could be used by her in the palace, but the Queen Wang never thought that this was a decision that she would regret for a lifetime.

Huang: Women's choices are actually stupid. She brought herself an enemy. She thought she would take her side and criticize others. She didn't expect this man to be favored.

Once the repressed feelings are rekindled, they fall in love in a mess. After entering the palace, Li Zhi concentrated three thousand favorites on Wu Zetian, who was soon named Zhao Yi. Their relationship is not short-lived, but long-lasting. The queen finally couldn't stand it, so she turned to Xiao Shufei to deal with Wu Zetian. They tried their best to defeat her completely, but Wu Zetian wanted to defeat not only the Queen and Xiao Shufei, but also the bigger obstacle outside the court. Behind the queen was a powerful Guanlong group that supported the Tang Dynasty regime.

Liu: Guanlong Group is a political group centered on these military nobles in Longyou area of Guanzhong, which was formed in the late Northern Dynasties and the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties. The Sui and Tang royal families all came from this group.

Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi supported Wu Zetian, and the contradiction between him and Guan Long nobles represented by his uncle Sun Chang Wuji and minister Chu Suiliang quickly intensified. Before Taizong's death, the ministers who took care of life were Sun Chang Wuji and Chu Suiliang. They fully assisted Li Zhi in proclaiming himself emperor, and after Li Zhi proclaimed himself emperor, he continued to hold the power of state affairs. At first, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian intended to win over Sun Chang Wuji and other ministers in a peaceful way, but no matter how humble they were, they couldn't work. At this point, the struggle has been transformed into a contest between Guanlong nobles and emerging forces. In order to deal with Guanlong Group, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian turned to foster new forces, and a number of salary bureaucrats such as Xu and Li Yifu began to emerge in politics. The struggle between the two sides has reached the last moment, and the atmosphere inside and outside the court is tense. At this time, Li Ji, a veteran of the relieving, made a thrilling remark to Tang Gaozong in a secret letter.

Wu Zongguo: Li Ji told Tang Gaozong that you don't have to ask outsiders about your majesty's family affairs. You don't need to ask these people. Tang Gaozong accepted Li Ji's suggestion, decisively abolished the queen and made Wu Zetian the queen. What does this mean? The queen has changed from a state affair to a family affair.

Since then, Sun Chang Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Yu Zhining, Han Yuan and Lai Ji have been demoted and killed one after another, and the Queen Wang and He have been put in limbo, which not only marks the end of the aristocratic rule in Guanlong since the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but also marks the end of the ancient emperor-aristocratic regime in China. In 655 AD 10, Wu Zetian entered the palace and became the queen. From the moment she entered the palace, Wu Zetian faced all kinds of pressures as a woman, and she has been trying to break through. Now, after 17 years of ups and downs and struggle, 44-year-old Wu Zetian got her wish and finally reached the highest peak of the women's world.

Liu: In our history, he is said to be a very weak person. In fact, he is still a man who dares to make decisions. It is a great event for him to abolish the king, and it is not easy to achieve this step.

The new political forces in the imperial court rose because of their support for Wu Zetian, which undoubtedly increased Wu Zetian's political weight and made her no longer limited to being a queen in the harem. Emperor Li Zhi was ill and handed over some things of the imperial court to Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian is sensitive, dabbles in literature and history, and does everything according to his purpose. Tang Gaozong was very satisfied with Wu Zetian's handling, so he entrusted politics to persuade Nong Sang, Lu and Du Fu. Then, Wu Zetian began to form her own power network. She recruited many literary scholars and set up her own think tank, known as the North Gate Bachelor. She let think tanks participate in state affairs, and ordered them to participate in the imperial court memorial and express the power of the prime minister. However, Tang Gaozong still holds the supreme sovereignty. Although Wu Zetian once acted arrogantly, causing the emperor's dissatisfaction, in the end, they made up. In dealing with political affairs, Wu Zetian is increasingly able to proceed from the overall situation and make major decisions. This year, Tang Gaozong called the emperor and Wu Zetian called the queen of heaven. The two of them are in charge of state affairs, and they have easily governed the country for 30 years. Wu Zetian showed a superb political level, and she actually had the ability to be an emperor.

Wu Zongguo: So in the appointment of officials, this Wu Zetian has also been well received by all previous dynasties. Both Sima Guang and Li Zhi commented on Wu Zetian. In terms of employing people, they love and care about talents, so that heroes in the world can give full play to their talents. They have done a good job in this respect. As long as you are truly talented, you will be promoted to a responsible position, so this made the whole politics at that time full of vitality.

However, in March 675, the rubella in Tang Gaozong was aggravated, and it was impossible to go to court. When Wu Zetian was proposed, almost everyone could not accept a woman as emperor, which was unprecedented in China for thousands of years. The hornet's nest was poked open, and the courtiers, including Prime Minister Hao, were desperate and strongly opposed. In order to stabilize the situation, Tang Gaozong had to give up halfway, and Wu Zetian also retreated. After all, this incident has broken through the bottom line of a patriarchal society. In February 65438+, Tang Gaozong died in Luoyang Palace. Tang Gaozong left a will before he died, and the prince was in front of the coffin. Those who hesitated about military affairs were punished a few days later. On 65438+68410.3, the prince ascended the throne with Wu Zetian, but he was young and strong, regardless of the statutes, and promoted the father of Queen Wei. Wu Zetian, who was strongly stimulated by this incident, resolutely summoned officials and, at the behest of the Queen Mother, abolished Tang Zhongzong as king of Luling and changed his youngest son Li Dan to emperor. She walked from behind the scenes to the front desk, firmly controlling the power of state affairs, and Wu Zetian abolished the emperor. In fact, it was the deep-rooted imperial power system that mobilized the war.

This is an extremely dangerous thing, and Wu Zetian is likely to be ruined. She must be fully prepared. The Xu Jingye Rebellion broke out in Yangzhou in the second year of Empress Wu's monarchy. Writer Luo also wrote a generation of famous minister Li, which was circulated in the world in order to see who the world is today and ignite the public's anti-war passion. The rebellion in Xu Jingye seemed to be menacing, but it was soon suppressed. Li Zhen, King of Yue, and other imperial clan kings of Li Tang also launched armed resistance in various places, which was also easily suppressed by Wu Zetian. In the process of counterinsurgency and mutiny, Wu Zetian clearly realized her absolute advantage in the political situation, and she regained her confidence. Subsequently, in order to further consolidate her position, the rectification actions against officials were gradually launched. Wu Zetian created the first report box in the history of China. She opened the door to the informer and issued an order. As long as there are informers, courtiers are not allowed to ask, and they should provide the fastest means of transportation at that time-post horses, and provide food and drink as military attache, so that they can arrive at the palace smoothly. If what the informant said is in line with Wu Zetian's mind, this person will be reused immediately. If what the informer said is fictitious, Wu Zetian will not pursue it, which is undoubtedly the greatest encouragement to the informer. Informants from all directions have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and in the trend of informers, a number of ugly and cruel officials in history have begun to appear. Wu Zetian approached the emperor's throne step by step through various extreme means, but the closer she got, the more she realized that she had encountered difficulties that all women could not break through, that is, the back of her heart. Wu Zetian can solve all practical problems, but she feels very embarrassed in the face of the deep-rooted patriarchal concept formed over thousands of years. How does she create public opinion and publicize the legitimacy and legality of her regime to the ruling and opposition parties?

Lei Wen: Because Wu Zetian is a woman, she wants to be an emperor. In fact, she is in the political tradition of Confucianism. This is unthinkable. Because on the morning of rooster year, she felt that this woman should not be in power. Therefore, Wu Zetian did not find her legitimacy in Confucianism.

This is the Luohe River in Henan Province, which was called Luoshui in ancient times. It passes through Luoyang City and then flows into the Yellow River. It is one of the earliest areas of primitive agriculture in China and has been regarded as a sacred river since ancient times. Few people who live in Luohe today know that 1300 years ago, a great event happened here, which changed the fate of a woman. Wu Zetian is only one step away from the throne of the emperor. She knows very well that she must find a basis to let everyone see that everything is done by God. In 688 AD, Wu Mi, the nephew of Wu Zetian, secretly sent someone to choose a special white stone, chiseled words on it, and then secretly sent someone to present it to the court, claiming that it was accidentally obtained in Luoshui. Wu Zetian was overjoyed and named this stone Baotu Stone, and the ministers were Wu Zetian as the Virgin Jade Emperor. More than a month later, the Virgin Jade Emperor granted amnesty to the whole world and renamed the treasure map as Shentu. After a series of hype and rendering, the whole world knows the treasure map and remembers the words carved on the stone.

Since then, Wu Zetian has been grandly enthroned on the altar. Since then, auspicious signs have been pouring in from all over the country, and colorful birds, auspicious clouds, white wolves and Puchanghai, which have always been vigorous, have become crystal clear. The local old man and the Brahmin from Tianzhu explained that China has a son of heaven and the sea is clear and waveless. Li, the secretariat of Dunhuang, immediately reported the good news to Wu Zetian to show his merits and gain favor. Supernatural forces provided nourishment for Wu Zetian. In the long ancient society, it is generally believed that special natural phenomena are omens from heaven to the world. Wu Zetian is very clever. She wanted to use Jerry to convince people that she was destined to do this.

According to historical records, Wu Zetian personally presided over the construction of an important ritual building, which became a place for her to worship the gods and perform state affairs. This is Tang Ming, which plays an important role in China's traditional culture and politics. At the top of this Tang Ming, an iron phoenix with a height of 10 feet was specially designed and plated with gold, which is naturally a symbol of Wu Zetian as the queen. She also gave Tang Ming a nice name, Vientiane Shrine. Wu Zetian still feels lacking, and she wants to start a new dynasty, which means that Buddhism has given her new enlightenment when she needs a higher level of theory and belief support.

Jambu-di Pa: In the Tang Dynasty, there was a faming monk, and ten eminent monks made her a book called Dayunjing. It happened that in this Dayunjing, it was said that an Indian legend was an auspicious girl, and she ruled by a woman. The place that Jambu-di Pa refers to is China. Buddhist scriptures say that a woman and an auspicious girl will rule in the future.

Buddhism was introduced into the Central Plains from Tianzhu (ancient India) at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and became an indispensable part of China's ideology and culture over time. Buddhism not only grows among the people, but also is closely linked with the political power. In September 690, Fu Youyi, an imperial envoy, led 900 people from Guanzhong to the table. Please change the country name to Zhou and give the emperor a surname of Wu. Wu Zetian pretended not to allow it, but promoted Fu Youyi for something. This is of course a hint. At that time, more than 60 thousand people followed Fu Youyi's move and asked Wu Zetian to change her name. Even the emperor's but I went to the table, saying that I didn't want to be surnamed Li any more, and asked to change my mother's martial nature. In this way, the five queens can't postpone it any longer. She chose the Double Ninth Festival as an auspicious day for her accession to the throne, granted amnesty to the world and changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty. She herself became the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty and was honored as the emperor of the Holy Spirit. After thirty years of painstaking efforts and three or four years of intensive activities, 66-year-old Wu Zetian finally realized her dream. As the only female emperor in the history of China, Wu Zetian is undoubtedly a successful politician, but she is still a woman after all. She must have extraordinary wisdom, take bold measures, collect more people's hearts and make greater achievements in order to gain a foothold in a patriarchal society.

Wu Zongguo: Because of the three-province system in the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian could never master and control the prime minister, so she could not really participate in this supreme rule, which was probably her greatest pressure at that time.

Wu Zetian began to personally preside over the compilation of surname records, effectively wooing middle and lower-level officials and further breaking the door-and-door system. She opened the door to career advancement, not only for officials with low quality, but also for the appointment of prime ministers, and even for some officials with five or six products. Can be directly appointed as prime minister, ordinary people may also become high officials overnight. Wu Zetian once appointed 60 people at one time to give up their inheritance and fill the vacancy, and the officials who were promoted by exception were grateful to Wu Zetian. Institutional breakthroughs are more important. In the imperial examination system, Wu Zetian has two new measures. The first is the imperial examination, which is temporarily determined by the emperor. Ordinary people and serving officials can take part in many subjects. Wu Zetian passed the imperial examination, which opened up a rapid promotion path for those unknown talents. Secondly, Wu Zetian founded Wu Ju, and Guo Ziyi, a famous minister of ZTE who later put down the Anshi Rebellion, was born through Wu Ju.

Ning Xin: I feel a little hungry for the imperial examination, which is equivalent to our college entrance examination, but they are not completely. In fact, if you want to get the background of intellectuals, you must take the imperial examination. When you pass the imperial examination, you are called the first scholar, and you can go to the official department to vote. The voting of the official department is the civil service examination organized by our personnel department, which is equivalent to this.

Wu Zetian's eyes swept the politics, economy, military, culture and society of the whole dynasty at the same time. Wu Zetian broke the door system, and the aristocratic politics that advocated family status since Wei and Jin Dynasties never recovered. She opened the political power to the common people and promoted the development of history, which is called Wu Zetian's great contribution to the history of China. In the era of Wu Zetian, although there was bloodshed due to regime change, after her rule was stable, the social order returned to normal, and Guo Moruo's historical position to Wu Zetian was also fair. During her reign, the population increased greatly, the territory expanded unprecedentedly, the grass-roots society was stable, the culture was highly prosperous, and the productivity was greatly improved, which laid a solid foundation for the coming golden age.

Wu Zongguo: She not only selected such a group of people for herself, so that the whole politics during Wu Zetian's reign moved forward step by step, but also prepared people for the rule of Kaiyuan. In the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan, all court ministers were promoted by Wu Zetian. It's amazing.

Wu Zetian moved on. She has the courage to die for herself, but she is still alone after all. The older she gets, the greater the pressure she feels. She still can't change the social foundation and order centered on men, and her heart still can't get rid of the traditional patriarchal influence. Although she loves her daughter Princess Taiping very much, she never wants to pass on the throne to her daughter. The struggle for successors is mainly between Wu Zetian's nephew and son. Wu is a big family. Among the descendants of Wu Zetian, the most outstanding is her nephew Wu and Wu Sansi, and Wu's voice for seeking the crown prince has also become very high. At this time, Li Dan, the son of Wu Zetian, has been reduced to a prince and still lives in the East Palace. In fact, he is closely supervised. At first, Wu Zetian did tend to be Wu Chengsi, and she was very entangled in her heart because the heir to the throne was her own son after all.

Liu: The Chinese Empire is one family, and Wu Zetian is the emperor. This is the world of your Wu family. Theoretically, you can only pass the throne to the Wu family, because you are the founding emperor of the Wu and Zhou Dynasties, and Jiangshan's surname cannot be changed, but there is something wrong with women being emperors. When it reaches the Wu family, it must reach your nephew or someone who calls you aunt, but you reach the Wu family. What's your status? You are your aunt, because after your nephew becomes the emperor, he will be the father of the emperor (that is, Wu Zetian's brother) and stand in the ancestral hall. Aunt has no place in the ancestral temple.

Prime Minister Di Renjie is the most trusted minister of Wu Zetian. He asked Wu Zetian who was closer to her nephew than her son. Wu Zetian in her later years had to consider the honor and disgrace behind her. De Renjie and others said to his heart that only your own son can be the successor, so that you can die forever and your children and grandchildren can inherit their own career forever. This is the longest-term plan designed for myself. Wu Zetian finally completely canceled the idea of making the Wu brothers prince, and put Luling. In the last few years of her life, Wu Zetian's mood was bleak. I remember when she first became queen, everything was shrouded in a mysterious atmosphere. Wu Zetian thought she was connected with heaven and could do anything. Somehow, it is recorded in the history books that Wu Zetian had teeth in her later years. In this way, Wu Zetian thought she could surpass all sentient beings, but Wu Zetian was still human after all. When the illness came again and again, she could not help but realize her limitations and arrange her affairs more carefully. In 70 1 year and1year, Wu Zetian returned to Chang' an, which was changed to the first year of Chang' an. This is undoubtedly a meaningful signal, because it was the first time that she returned to Chang' an in the west in the past 20 years after moving the capital to Luoyang, and it also marked a major adjustment of the political situation of the dynasty.

Liu: Because the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty was Chang 'an, she personally accompanied Chang 'an to Luoyang as a queen. After the Tang Dynasty, she took Luoyang as her capital, so the Wuzhou regime took Luoyang as its capital. Now that she has returned to Chang 'an, the year number has been changed to Chang 'an, and she has returned to Chang 'an with her son. It is a trend that she wants to return the throne to her son.

Wu Zetian ordered the Crown Prince to change his surname to Wu, and called the Crown Prince, Wu Sansi and others to take an oath in the hall, wishing the world peace forever. Then Wu Zetian took pains to arrange the original marriage of Li Jiahe and Wu, so that they could kiss each other after his death and never meet each other. In addition to the samurai forces represented by Wu Sansi, Wu Zetian's brothers Toy Boy, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong formed a new power group, which all posed a great threat to Li Xian's smooth succession and made the political situation move towards new variables. Finally, in the first month of 705 AD, Wu Zetian became seriously ill again, and a coup took place in the palace. A team went straight to Yingxian Palace where Wu Zetian was located. This team is led by Premier Zhang Jianzhi, Cui and others. When they saw Zhang Yizhi, Zhang Changzong and Zhang Jianzhi, they beheaded her without saying anything. Coup officers and soldiers surrounded the longevity hall of Wu Zetian, demanding that Wu Zetian be crowned Prince of Li Xian. Subsequently, Wu Zetian was placed under house arrest and transferred to Shangyang Palace. Although her own son became the new emperor, he visited her regularly and gave her a new title, which made him the Great Sage Emperor, but everyone knew that this was just an empty title, all her political rights were deprived, and the Wuzhou Dynasty, which she had worked hard for decades, suddenly vanished.

Wu Zetian, who is most keen on power, never dreamed that there would be such an ending, which was the most fatal blow to her. However, things in the world are really hard to ponder, just like the epiphany of Zen Buddhism. After the most fatal blow, although Wu Zetian was dying, she realized her life on her deathbed. At the last moment of her life, she broke through herself, and all her power and wealth were empty. In retrospect, her life was obviously paranoid. 8 1 year old, she feels a little tired. She wants to rest in peace and be the daughter-in-law of the Li family. Wu Zetian left a will before she died, played on the emperor, changed her name to Empress Tian, and was buried with her. She even suggested that all Xiao Shufei people she once hated should return to their original jobs. To people's surprise, Wu Zetian, who had been competitive all her life, became peaceful and reconciled with the world. This is the tomb of Wu Zetian, and it is also the only royal tomb in the Tang Dynasty that has not been stolen. There is nothing on the tombstone, and it seems that nothing has been said, because there seems to be an endless legend.