"Empress Wu and Tang Buddhist Art"
by Roderick Whitfield, Percival David Professor of Chinese and East Asian Art, School of
Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Wu Zhao, or Wu Zetian, is notorious as a ruthless woman who eliminated all who might stand in
her way, becoming China's only female Emperor, changing the dynastic title from Tang to Zhou in
690 and dominating the Chinese court from the 650's until her death in 705. Relying on Buddhism
to support her claim to the throne, she sponsored important translations of the sutras and
fostered Buddhist art both in the capital and in faraway Dunhuang, the scene of several portents
held to be auspicious for her rule. Her influence can be seen in the creation of a colossal
image of Maitreya at the Mogao caves, as well as in mural paintings and the cult of Buddhist
relics.