The two titles of Empress Wu and their religious meanings

Authors

  • И Лю Сapital normal university, 105 West Third Ring Road North, Haidian District, Beijing, 100048 China

Abstract

In 688 A.D., Wu Zhao bestowed the title of “Shengmu Shenhuang (圣母神皇) ” upon herself, only to change it to “Shengshen Huangdi (圣神皇帝)” in 690. What are the differences between these two similar titles, and why did she have to have two titles in as many years? Some scholars suggested the Buddhist origin of both. This paper discusses possible Taoist and native Chinese background to their meanings. The title “Shengmu Shenhuang” is suggested to contain some meanings from the Taoism and native Chinese cultural resources, whereas the title “Shengshen Huangdi” features some obvious Buddhist elements. The two titles imply Empress Wu’s ideological dilemma at the time when she wanted to become the first Empress in Chinese history.

Keywords:

China, Empress Wu Zetian (Wu Zhao), title, Daosism, Buddhism, Chinese history, politics, political propaganda, public relations

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Published

2010-06-21

How to Cite

Лю, И. (2010). The two titles of Empress Wu and their religious meanings. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, (2), 93–108. Retrieved from https://aasjournal.spbu.ru/article/view/1921

Issue

No. 2 (2010): Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 13. Asian Studies. African Studies

Section

History and source studies

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.