The emperors of the past dynasties all love to build monuments, especially the heroic kings and Ming masters, but Wu Zetian, who founded the Great Zhou Dynasty and stepped all men under the feet of the ancient patriarchal society, is an exception. As the only female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian left a wordless monument in front of her tomb after her death, which also left a mystery to the world.
Qianling Mausoleum is located in Liangshan, Qianxian County, Xi'an. It is the joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty. Two tall stone steles stood quietly in front of the tomb. On the west side is the "Sacred Stele" written by Wu Zetian, written by Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, and engraved on it by skilled craftsmen. The content of the inscription is mainly a tribute to the achievements of Emperor Gaozong during his reign. The stone stele on the east side is polished from a huge whole stone. The head of the stele is carved with eight intertwined heads and decorated with clouds and dragons. The base of the stele is decorated with horses drinking water, lions, and clouds. What makes people suspicious is that such an exquisite tombstone does not have a single inscription on it. This monument is Wu Zetian's monument without words.
It must be pointed out that there are 13 paragraphs of text on this "no-character monument", including the ancient Khitan script that is almost lost-"dead text". However, these words are all inscribed by descendants since the Song and Jin Dynasties, and the wordless stele refers to its original form before.
Then, why did Wu Zetian do this? On this point, there are usually four statements.
One is "the theory of immeasurable merit". Supporters believe that Wu Zetian, like Qin Shihuang when he created the title of "Emperor", felt that his merits and virtues were too great to express in words. During Wu Zetian's reign, she helped the poor, cracked down on tycoons, developed imperial examinations, rewarded farming, border peace, and Guotai people's peace. So she felt that her achievements were far beyond what a single inscription could describe, so she left an empty monument.
The second is "dilemma", referring to Wu Zetian's thinking that he would be buried with Gaozong, whether he called himself emperor or empress, it was difficult to write. If you call it the emperor, the Emperor Gaozong's affection next to him cannot be accepted by the descendants of Li and Tang; if you call it a queen, it is a derogation of yourself, but the difference in one word represents the peak of power and the accessory of the peak of power. She thought about it, and finally decided not to write anything.
The third is "Guilty return to Tang", referring to Wu Zetian's conscience being disturbed for tampering with Tang and changing Zhou in his later years. After a series of psychological struggles, he decided to return Jiangshan to Li Tang after his death. In addition, she blatantly proclaimed the emperor in a patriarchal society. She had no confidence in her posthumous situation, and feared that later historians would criticize her, so she borrowed the wordless stele for self-redemption, hoping that future generations would give her a fair historical position.
The fourth is "the self-knowledge". This statement is exactly the opposite of the first one. In his later years, Wu Zetian believed that he had failed to be the emperor and did not take good care of the family for the people, which led to political corruption and unstable situation. In addition, her private life is not very critical, with countless faces and male favorites, and she will go down to Gaozong without a face. The wordless stele actually means "no face to meet the old master of the old Tang Dynasty".
These four statements seem to have some truth. As for which statement is Wu Zetian's original intention, it is no longer possible to verify it. Based on Wu Zetian's personality and historical records of the anxiety revealed between the lines in her conversation with ministers in her later years, the author prefers the third argument. In such a patriarchal society, a woman's political achievements above all men can be said to be unprecedented, but behind her, what kind of counterattack this patriarchal world will launch against her, as smart as her , Naturally take precautions. Fortunately, what she worried about did not happen after all, and later generations still gave her a relatively fair and objective historical position.
