Looking at women in history

1. From the perspective of Chinese history, is beauty a curse?

Legend has it that she was the concubine of the last emperor of the Xia Dynasty.

After marrying Jie, he indulged in sex and pleasure. Wine ponds, meat forests, and naked play.

Jie also built a "tilting platform" for the two of them to play. It is said that Mei likes to hear the sound of "splitting silk", so Jie immediately ordered all places to pay tribute to 100 pieces of silk every day, and people would take turns to tear them apart for Mei's enjoyment.

Such a waste of people's fat and money was simply unforgivable in the Xia Dynasty, which had a population less than that of Beijing's Haidian District. It is said that at that time many people were forced to lose their homes and families and were desperate.

They pointed at the sun and cursed: "The days are mourning? I will perish with you!" Because Jie doted on his sister Xi and ignored the government's affairs, his Xia Dynasty soon became "a hundred miles in radius". "The small tribal merchants were wiped out. 2 The famous concubine of King Zhou of Shang Dynasty.

Although everyone knows this person, most of the legends are unbelievable, especially "The Romance of the Gods", which turns him into a "nine-tailed fox", which is so incredible. It is estimated that Daji should be similar to Meixi. They are both super beauties. After entering the palace, she indulged in sexual activities, which caused the kings to ignore the government affairs and suffered from severe kidney deficiency. At the same time, various conflicts in the country happened to be very acute at the time, which eventually led to the country's demise.

It is said that King Zhou was quite capable. It is said that he was extremely powerful and was very enterprising when he first became king. He conquered east and west and fought fiercely.

It is a pity that once you go astray, your reputation will be ruined, your country will be ruined and your family will be destroyed. 3. She is the beauty who never smiles in "The Princes".

"The Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" describes her life experience as very miraculous, but in fact she is probably a beautiful girl from the "Bao" tribe who was sacrificed to King You of Zhou for political reasons. Personally, I think this Baosi should be better than Meixidaji. Historically, her "indulgence and sensuality" have not been emphasized very much. The so-called "playing with princes by beacon fire" is entirely because of the old pervert King Zhou You who did it himself. It's wrong to see people not laughing. If you want to make people laugh, you will not hesitate to use the state machinery to make super big jokes to make people laugh.

Although there is insufficient evidence, I still feel that this is definitely not a "conspiracy" by Bao Si to destroy the Zhou Dynasty. Her lack of laughter is probably caused by her originally harmonious personality and the fact that she was in a dangerous situation. The fall of the Zhou Dynasty and the turmoil in the country caused by King Zhou Li not long before that, and the country's vitality had not yet been restored, coupled with the rebellion of the Han officials around King You. Whose fault? A bad man's fault.

4 From a certain perspective, Xi Shi is a "hero" and belongs to the "underground party" group. But from another perspective, that is, from the perspective of Wu State, Xi Shi is a deliberately "beautiful woman".

Fu Chai’s demise still had something to do with her. Of course Fu Chai made more unforgivable mistakes in strategic decision-making and war command, but Fu Chai did not finally destroy the Yue Kingdom, and Xi Shi’s pillow style It has a huge effect. Also, the people of Wu were ethnically closer to the "Chinese" people at that time.

The country of Yue belongs to the Malay Yue ethnic group - the "History of Vietnam" published by the Commercial Press (written by the Vietnamese themselves) regards Gou Jian as the ancestor of their country. Therefore, this Xi Shi is also suspected of "interfering in China's internal affairs"... 5 is Liu Bang's wife, Empress Lu.

Empress Lu actually did not directly or indirectly lead to the country's destruction like the first four, but she suppressed the Liu family and supported the Lu family when she was alive, which made a very bad start. The ancients attached great importance to "family rule" and were very disgusted with the "usurpation" of the daughter-in-law's family, so of course Empress Lu can be regarded as a very representative "beautiful woman".

In addition, Queen Lu's methods were too vicious, which can be seen from her treatment of Liu Bang's concubine, Mrs. Qi. It is said that as soon as Liu Bang died, Empress Lu chopped off all the hands and feet of Mrs. Qi, gouged out her eyes, stabbed her deaf ears, cut out her tongue, and threw them into the toilet to be used as "human pigs."

It’s so cruel and unacceptable. 6 The nature is similar to that of Xi Tzu.

Although Dong Zhuo was eliminated with her help, of course she was also a troublemaker who deliberately destroyed family harmony and political stability. Of course, if the history of Fengyiting in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" really existed, Diao Chan was mainly used by others: this trouble must still be attributed to men.

7 This Jia Nanfeng should be the ugliest among all the listed "beautiful men".

According to historical records, Empress Jia was very tall, with a dark complexion and a blemish behind her eyebrows, making her extremely ugly.

But she is sinister and vicious, and she will do anything. Let me add a few words here to talk about her husband, Sima Chi, Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty.

This man is a famous fool. Once when he saw frogs croaking, he asked: Are these frogs croaking for the public or for private individuals? Another time, someone reported that there was a famine in such and such a place and many people starved to death.

He asked: Why? Answer: No food. Said: What a retarded person. If there is no food, won’t they eat meat? Then I won’t die of hunger.

Of course, such a two hundred and fifty-year-old man cannot defeat Empress Jia. Empress Jia treated him to be obedient to her, and the emperor was afraid and fond of her, so that he rarely visited other women.

Although Empress Jia was ugly, she was extremely jealous. Once she heard that a certain concubine was pregnant, she actually used a halberd as a dart and stabbed her to death! At the same time, this Empress Jia was also an expert and did not cultivate herself. She doted on "beautiful men" and made the short-lived Jin Dynasty a mess.

Not only that, she was also ruthless towards her political opponents, frequently taking advantage of the conflicts between warlords to pull one off and destroy that one, which directly led to the occurrence of the "Eight Kings Rebellion". This shows how hateful this Empress Jia is.

However, if you think about it carefully, Queen Jia's ability to do these things is directly related to the men. First of all, it was Yang Jun who brought her here. Instead of controlling her, she actually let her "control" her life.

Secondly, her husband is too stupid. How can such a stupid man take care of the housework, let alone the country! Furthermore, Empress Jia was also surrounded by many "face leaders" who made suggestions and even sent troops to help the evil tyrants. 8 Yang Yuhuan is the most familiar to everyone, she is Yang Guifei.

"It is hard to give up on natural beauty. Once you choose the emperor's side. Looking back and smiling, you will be full of beauty. The sixth palace has no color."

It is estimated that no one can match Yang Yuhuan's beauty. Can't resist. And because of her beauty, "the spring sky rises in the sky, and the king never goes to court early from now on."

Not only that, "there are three thousand beauties in the harem, and three thousand people love each other." In this way, how could Tang Xuanzong govern the country well? In the end, the Anshi Rebellion broke out and the Tang Dynasty went from prosperity to decline, which was not unrelated to Yang Yuhuan's favor.

From this perspective, Concubine Yang is of course a "beautiful woman". Although it is generally believed that Tang Xuanzong was "harmed" by Concubine Yang, I think Tang Xuanzong himself was responsible for this crime. 2. Which woman in history do you think is the most unfortunate?

Who is the most unfortunate woman in the world? After flipping through some books, I finally decided that she was Liu An's wife in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Liu An’s wife did not leave her surname in the book, and there is only a short paragraph about her death in the book. After all, too many people died in the Three Kingdoms, from the extremely resourceful Zhuge Liang to the unparalleled From the traitor Cao Cao to the fierce generals Zhao Yun, Guan Gong, and Zhang Fei. Compared with them, Liu An's wife is too insignificant. Not to mention that she does not have the deeds of those men, nor does she have the status, beauty and talent of the women in the book, such as Er Qiao and Mrs. Sun.

The situation of Chinese women is also miserable. If you look through ancient Chinese history books, you will find that the history of Chinese women is written on a bloody road.

Indeed, in ancient times, this was not the case for women. Look at the husband and wife who guard their husbands all their lives, look at the palace maids who lock their youth in the palace, look at the maids who are raped by the powerful, look at the good-natured women who were not used as official prostitutes because of family changes, look at that Look at the young widows who were forced to observe festivals or even be buried. But those women were treated as human beings anyway, and Liu An's wife was treated as such just because her husband wanted to entertain a guest he had been fascinated by for a long time. Prepare game for guests.

The misfortune of Liu An's wife is that she does not exist as a person, she is just a piece of moving meat.

The novelist described the tragedy of women in history with only a few strokes that he did not attach much importance to. The dignified man Liu Huangshu was not afraid of falling into the beasts because he ate human flesh. He just thanked Liu An for sacrificing his wife for him. Later, Cao Cao also sent someone to give Liu An a hundred taels of gold. This hundred taels of gold was not the value of Liu An's wife, but a commendation of Liu An's behavior.

But Liu An’s wife is a person, a woman, a woman with flesh and blood, thoughts and emotions.

As a woman, who doesn’t want to marry someone who loves her? Even in ancient times, didn’t people pursue the respect of husband and wife who treat each other as guests? Zhang Chang had already set an example of husband-wife love for husbands in the Western Han Dynasty, so Liu An's wife did not think that her husband had the right to take his own life at any time to please a powerful person or idol. And since Liu An is able to commit the brutal act of killing his wife to honor their guests, one can imagine his usual attitude towards his wife. He must be a rough, ignorant, and simple-minded person. Living with Liu An's wife is already very painful. For such a husband, she had already extinguished a woman's yearning for happiness in her heart, thinking that as long as she abided by women's ethics and worked hard, she would be able to spend her life safely, but she did not expect that she would suffer the fate of a corpse cook.

I don’t know what kind of fear and sorrow she felt when she saw her husband wielding a knife at him. I don’t know if she asked her husband to explain a reason to her before she died.

The bleeding corpse in the kitchen with all its arm flesh missing tells a tragic story, and the novelist's simple attitude shows a terrible indifference to women's lives.

When modern little girls sing the triumphal song of love and act coquettishly and angrily to their lovers, have you ever thought about the blood and tears of the same-sex people in ancient times? 3. What are the evaluation standards for beauties in ancient China?

1. Black hair and sideburns. Black hair refers to hair that is black and shiny. Sideburns refers to the hair on both sides of the cheeks near the ears, which should be as thin as cicada wings.

The word black hair has already appeared in "Zuo Zhuan". As for the word cicada on the sideburns, it appeared in the Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period. One of the palace maids named Mo Qiongshu wore a hairstyle. . 2. Yunji Wuhuan The Huan referred to here all means a ring-shaped bun, and bun refers to the knot of hair tied on the top of the head. The so-called Yunjiu Wuhuan refers to the bun shaped like clouds worn by beauties.

It is said that the earliest origin of the bun was created by a fairy next to Nuwa. Zhao Feiyan, one of the four beauties in ancient times, often tied up her hair in a bun. 3. Emei Qingdai Emei refers to women’s eyebrows. Qingdai Emei means shaving the eyebrows and then using blue-black paint to paint the eyebrows. This kind of eyebrow makeup has been very popular as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is mentioned in "The Book of Songs" and "Chu Ci" 》, this adjective already appeared.

4. Bright eyes and flowing eyes. Eyes are the windows of the soul. Ming eyes are big and bright eyes. Liupan means glaring. A pair of beautiful and hateful eyes have been regarded as the most beautiful eyes since ancient times. The standard of beauty. 5. Red lips and white teeth As the name suggests, red lips are red lips, and white teeth are white teeth. Red lips can make the teeth look white, and white teeth can set off the red lips. Both are indispensable.

6. Jade Fingers and Plain Arms The ancients attached great importance to women’s slender jade fingers. Beautiful women’s fingers must be slender and soft; plain arms refer to fair arms. The arms must not only be white, but also round and full. Flexible, this is the jade finger plain arm. 7. Thin waist and snow skin. Although Yang Guifei, one of the four beauties in ancient times, was a plump beauty, Chinese people still prefer slender beauties. A thin waist means a slender waist; snow skin means a snow-white skin. According to legend, Zhao Feiyan He is the epitome of thin waist and snowy skin.

8. Lotus Step Socks Lotus Step refers to the steps of a beautiful woman, and also refers to the bound feet. Small socks refer to the socks worn by women with bound feet; their feet are like lotus steps, and wearing small socks becomes a beauty of beauty.

9. Red makeup Red makeup refers to a woman applying makeup, just like applying rouge on her cheeks today. Rouge is said to have been invented by the Huns and later introduced to the Middle Kingdom. In addition, whitening is to apply white powder on the face. This kind of cosmetics began to be used by beauties in the palace at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty.

10. Fragrance of limbs The fragrant aroma of women’s skin is also regarded as a beauty. This aroma does not come from some kind of perfume, but is a natural body fragrance; except for the famous Xiangfei in the Qing Dynasty In addition, it is said that Xi Shi is also a beautiful woman with a fragrant aroma all over her body. Standards are difficult to determine. The definition of beauty in every era changes with time. Most of the standards mentioned above are no longer applicable. In fact, there is no certain standard for beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it all depends on personal preferences and Feel. 4. What was the erotic life of ancient women?

When watching costume dramas, all the maids and ladies in them are glamorous and even wear heavy makeup when sleeping.

However, if you think about it carefully - in ancient times, there was no foundation, no mascara, no shower gel, no women's razors, no sanitary napkins, no bras... and, they What should I do when "aunt" comes? My God, how did women live in ancient times! 1. Did ancient women shave their body hair? Compared with their high IQs that keep pace with the times, Chinese women have not evolved much in shaving their body hair. In fact, ancient women long ago advocated shaving off their eyebrows and painting them with black paint... Yes, the women in Akira Kurosawa's movie "Ran" like to make their eyebrows smaller, which is what they learned from China. The achievements of our ancestors... In addition, ancient women also popularized "face-pulling", which is to use thread to remove the fine hair on the face... It is said that only men care about face, but it seems that this is not the case.

2. How often did ancient women take a bath? What do they use to wash their hair? The ancients paid more attention to hygiene than we think. As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancients "washed their hair once every three days and bathed once every five days."

In the Han Dynasty, "Xiu Mu" also appeared, which meant that after officials worked for five days, they could take a day off to take a bath. How can today's civil servants get such treatment? Some people even wrote books because they liked bathing. This is Xiao Gang, Emperor Wen of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, and his "Bathing Sutra".

The ancients washed their hair more frequently and often used water and the natural detergent "soapberry" to wash their hair. 3. How did ancient women wear makeup? Applying makeup and makeup is a hobby that has never changed for women since ancient times.

The three most commonly used magic weapons by ancient women are: powder, makeup powder and rouge. "Dai" is a black mineral that can be used to draw eyebrows by grinding it into powder and then mixing it with water.

Makeup powder is now powder cake. Rouge is an ancient lipstick. The raw material is a kind of flower called "red and blue". It can also be used as blush after being mixed with makeup powder.

Nowadays, the dazzling array of cosmetics gives women more choices, and their "mask" skills are much better than those of the ancients. 4. How did ancient women lose weight? Were there any folk remedies for breast enlargement at that time? Compared with the wide variety of weight loss pills available today, the ancient methods were much simpler, such as drinking tea to lose weight.

However, people in ancient times rarely had a lot of money and had to do heavy and tiring work all day long. How could they gain weight? The ancient methods of breast enlargement were more natural, such as using dietary supplements such as red beans and soybeans to achieve the effect of breast enlargement. In addition, the ancients believed that acupuncture points can also promote chest turbulence.

Compared with the "internal adjustment method" of the ancients, today's breast enlargement method is more dangerous, and it can cause "breast destruction" if you are not careful. 5. Biography of women in ancient times? When the ancients talked about clothes, the upper half was called "yi" and the lower half was called "shang".

"Shang" is a bit like a skirt. To put it bluntly, it is a fig leaf. It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period that pants appeared.

Later, women would wear an extra pair of old trousers during menstruation to avoid soiling their outer trousers. Slowly, men followed suit, and gradually evolved into the *** worn today. Today, *** *** has become another sexy expression.

6. In ancient times, there were no sanitary napkins. What should women do when they menstruate? The longest thing on women in ancient times, apart from their hair and foot-binding cloths, was the menstrual cloth. The menstrual cloth is a long piece of cloth used to wrap the vagina tightly when the "big aunt" comes.

However, because women in ancient times participated in physical labor more frequently, it was still inevitable to "see red". In addition, because China has always advocated frugality, used cloth strips will still be cleaned and reused.

Today’s women should be grateful to the inventor of sanitary napkins, which “liberated women” to a certain extent. 7. Were there lesbians in ancient times? In ancient China, lesbianism was often called "Mojing", and both parties obtained a certain degree of sexual satisfaction by rubbing or stroking each other's bodies.

Since both sides have the same body structure, it seems that there is a mirror placed in the middle, so it is called "grinding mirror". There was also a woman who disguised herself as a man and tied a fake penis around her waist to have sex with her opponent.

In ancient times, lesbianism mostly occurred in the harem, because the only men the palace ladies came into contact with were the emperor and eunuchs. When there were not enough men, the palace ladies had to "digest internally" on their own. 8. There were no contraceptive pills in ancient times. How did women prevent pregnancy? If an emperor in ancient times did not want his concubine to become pregnant, he would order the eunuch to hang the woman upside down and use saffron to cleanse her vagina.

In the past, brothel women would also take a "cooling medicine" containing musk to prevent pregnancy. However, the effect is not 100%. Wei Xiaobao's 80% success rate was caused by his mother not taking good contraceptive measures, and some people even drank highly toxic mercury.

Of course, most ancient people did not deliberately use contraception. 5. Are women in ancient China sexually open or modern?

The time span for women in ancient times is quite large. In fact, the laws, ideas and customs of different Chinese dynasties still have different restrictions on women. But it is definitely open now, and it is much more open than in ancient times.

1. Specifically speaking, the cultural background of ancient China was extremely feudal. Don’t say *** to women and non-husband men. Even if slight physical contact is discovered, her husband can have a lot of sex. He beat her and even divorced her. If an unmarried or married woman has sexual relations with an outsider, it is considered a minor offense. I remember that a book I read about the Western Han Dynasty said that a widow’s husband died in the war, and she remained a widow for him for 5 years. Later, she was found to have a relationship with the man she liked, and she was first stripped. Then he was shaved (nails were removed), and finally he was beaten to death with a stick (that is, beaten to death with a stick). Who dares to commit such torture? There were relatively open periods in ancient China. In the Tang and early Northern Song Dynasties, China did not implement a closed-door policy. There was also a lot of trade with foreign countries. People's living standards were relatively high, and foreign open ideas were also spread. At this time, it was also the most open. period.

2. In fact, the greatest influence on ancient women was the traditional female education method. Reading books such as "Three Obeys and Four Virtues" and "The Emperor's Daughter" since childhood deeply affected women's thoughts.

3. In ancient China, men also had a profound influence on women. The husband and children were always the center of the wife's attention. The man took the lead outside and the woman took care of the house. This was the patriarchal society.

Actually, having said that, isn’t human society made up of men and women? Just treat yourself and others correctly.

Why people should study history is to remember the glorious and beautiful moments and not to make the same mistakes again. 6. Was it easy for women to sleep with men in ancient times?

Of course not. On the contrary, the Qing Dynasty was one of the most stringent eras in which feudal ethics restricted female sex. Even in the dynasties before the Qing Dynasty, regardless of whether sexual concepts were open or not, women were men's appendages and private property, which meant that women had masters. How could he just go out and have sex with someone who has nothing to do with him? Unless the matriarchal society era, that is ancient times.

The romantic plot you mentioned is completely the author’s wild imagination, or to put it more directly, it is the prostitution of a poor scholar. Some scholars from ordinary families got tired of studying in ancient temples in the middle of taking exams, and then they became lustful. It would be great if there was a beautiful and gentle woman for them to enjoy. (Such routines often appear in Liaozhai.) I remember which article contained a plot about a scholar having a threesome with two goblins. It is precisely because this kind of thing cannot happen to normal people, so the author pretends to be a "ghost, fox, fairy and monster" woman to tell the story.

Young men from wealthy families do not have problems with sexual intercourse, and their personal girls are often reserved concubines themselves. Like Jia Baoyu and Xi Ren in "A Dream of Red Mansions". Buying a woman to be a concubine is also a matter of pulling out the hair, like Song Jiang buying Yan Poxi in "Water Margin". 7. Women who had an impact on the historical process of ancient China

The two main people who had a major impact are the following two:

1. Empress Lu

Empress Lu, ( 241 BC ~ 180 BC), the wife of Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, whose name was Pheasant. A native of Shanfu County (today's Shanxian County, Shandong Province) during the Qin Dynasty. His father, Lu Gong, moved to Peixian County to avoid his enemies. He met Liu Bang at a banquet and betrothed to Lu Pheasant. Not long after the Chu-Han War began, Lu Fei and Liu Bang's parents were captured by Xiang Yu and taken as hostages in the army. In the fourth year of the Han Dynasty (203 BC), Xiang Yu was forced to make peace with Liu Bang due to the defeat of the situation, and Lu Pheasant and Liu Bang's parents were released. The following year, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor and made Lu Pheasant his queen. After Liu Bang's death, Emperor Hui Liu Ying was kind and gentle. He was dissatisfied with Empress Lu's actions and abandoned the government affairs, so Empress Lu took charge of power. In the seventh year of Emperor Hui's reign, Liu Ying died of melancholy. Empress Lu took over the power of the government for eight years, becoming the first woman to monopolize national power in the history of Chinese dynasties. In 180 BC, Empress Lu died at the age of 62. After her death, Taiwei Zhou Bo and Prime Minister Chen Ping joined forces with Liu Bang's old ministers to kill Prime Minister Lu Chan and General Lu Lu, destroy the Lu family, and restore the Liu family's regime.

During the period when Queen Lu was in power, she suppressed the power of the heroes, made all Lu kings, promoted close followers, and specialized in affairs. However, during the eight years of his reign, he continued to implement the policy of resting with the people since Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, rewarded farming, and abolished harsh laws such as the crime of the three tribes of barbarians and the demonic decree; externally, he maintained peace with the Xiongnu through marriage and marriage, so the people's life was relatively stable. The dilapidated social economy was also restored, making certain contributions to the economic and social development of the early Han Dynasty.

2. Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian (624-705), named Wu Zhao, was the only orthodox female emperor in Chinese history and the oldest emperor to succeed to the throne (67 He ascended the throne at the age of 82 and was one of the longest-lived emperors (82 years old). She was the empress during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (655-683), and the empress dowager during the reigns of Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong of the Tang Dynasty (683-690). Later, she proclaimed herself Emperor Wu of Zhou (690-705), changed the country's name from "Tang" to "Zhou", and made Luoyang its capital. , and called it the "City of Gods". Known as "Wu Zhou" or "Southern Zhou" in history, he abdicated in 705. Wu believed that he was as lofty as the sun and moon, hanging high in the sky. After he proclaimed himself emperor, he was given the title "Emperor Holy God", and after his abdication, Zhongzong was given the title "Emperor Zetian Dasheng". Wu Zetian was also a female poet and politician who made the following contributions to Chinese history:

The first contribution was to attack the conservative aristocracy. After Wu Zetian was established as queen, she kicked out Changsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang and others who opposed her becoming queen one by one, and demoted them to remote areas. For Wu Zetian, this was a warning to the monkeys, but these Guanlong nobles and their dependents had become a conservative force with vested interests at that time. Driving them out of the political arena marked the end of more than a century of rule by the Guanlong nobles since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and also created a good condition for social progress and economic development.

The second is to promote economic development. Although the policy of "encouraging farmers and mulberry trees" was proposed as early as the Zhenguan period, it could not be implemented well due to various reasons. Therefore, Wu Zetian suggested in her Twelve Recommendations to "encourage farmers and mulberry trees, and reduce taxes and servitude." After she came to power, she compiled "Zhaoren's Own Industry" and distributed it to prefectures and counties as a reference for prefecture and county officials to persuade farmers. She also paid attention to local governance and strengthened supervision of landlords and officials. We also adopted a relatively tolerant policy towards land annexation and fleeing farmers. Therefore, during Wu Zetian's reign, society was quite stable, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce all developed greatly, and the population further increased from 3.8 million households in the early years of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to 6.15 million households, with an average annual growth of 9.1%. This was a very high growth rate in the medieval era, and it was also an objective data reflecting the economic development of the Tang Dynasty during the Wu Zetian period.

The third contribution is to stabilize the border situation. After Wu Zetian came to power, the border was not peaceful. The Western Turks captured the four towns of Anxi, and the Tibetans continued to attack the Tang Dynasty in Qinghai. The once-subdued Dong Turks in the north and the Khitans in the northeast fought all the way to central Hebei. On the one hand, Wu Zetian organized a counterattack, restored the four towns in Anxi, and repelled the attacks of the Turks and Khitans. At the same time, she set up military towns in the border areas to station troops, and extended the practice of farming in Qinghai in the last years of Emperor Gaozong to Zhangye and Wuwei in Gansu. , Wuyuan in Inner Mongolia and Jimsar area in Xinjiang. Adopt moderate ethnic policies and embrace the development of multiculturalism. Wu Zetian wrote a special letter to commend Lou Shide, who had made great contributions to the farming work. The book specifically pointed out that due to the farming, the food for the northern soldiers was "sparse for several years."

The fourth contribution is to promote the development of culture. When talking about the imperial examination system, Shen Jiji of the Tang Dynasty said: "The Queen Mother is very involved in literature and history, and is very good at carving and worming skills." It has become a trend.” These words of Shen Jiji contain rich content. First, Wu Zetian attached great importance to the imperial examinations and opened up a wide range of subjects. Once when she was planning to prepare candidates for the imperial examination, she went to the examination room in person and presided over the examination. Second, at that time, the examinations for Jinshi subjects and formal subjects were mainly about policy questions, that is, application papers. The quality of the article is the main criterion for admission. Third, Wu Zetian did not look at family status when hiring people. She did not ask whether you were the descendant of a senior official, but whether you had political talent. Therefore, she paid special attention to selecting senior officials from among those who came from the imperial examination. More and more people who came from the imperial examinations became high-ranking officials, which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of poets to participate in the imperial examinations, and also stimulated the enthusiasm of ordinary people to study and study. This is what Shen Jiji said: "immersion has become a trend."

During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, the social custom of "fathers teach their sons, brothers teach their younger brothers" and "a five-foot-old boy is ashamed to be silent" began in the period of Wu Zetian. It was the popularization of culture that promoted the all-round development of culture. The famous poets and writers Cui Rong and Li Qiao all emerged during this period, and sculpture and painting also reached unprecedented levels. The period when Wu Zetian was in power was called the "Legacy of Zhenguan" in history.