Empress Wu Influence On Government

In contrary previously, “the government officials and officers were chosen from the families of nobility, and generally through official recommendations” and Empress Wu carried on the tradition of the Tang Dynasty of skill over connection when receiving a job or a promotion. This proved that she believed in merit of a government and wanted the best for the Chinese government and the Chinese people. The ideas of merit within a government were an honorable act of a leader. However, many nobles did not like the ideas of meritocracy in the government, especially when the orders on how the government was going to run was coming from a woman. Many of the noble people believed that Empress Wu was trying to crush families with a good name, money, and connections. That was not the case to Empress Wu. Her philosophy on government was its ability to serve the people defined it as an institution. She was looking for people who would serve the people in an upstanding way without corruption. The Empress outlined her ideas on government in the article, “Rules for

Prior to Empress Wu’s thrust to power, women were subordinate to men. They were expected to listen to the men in their lives which included their father, their husband and then their son. The women were living in a male dominated society that they did not have the ability to change their status, or be above men in any way. However, that changed following the rule of Empress Wu she showed people then that women were capable of much more than what they were expected of prior to her rule. Although many men were angered by her rule because they worried their power and control would diminish. Empress Wu’s ability to control society in a functional manner and better China over the course of her reign was able to prove how a women was able to be much more than what society and men wanted them to