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General History of China
Season 1 · Episode 43
Empress Wu Zetian
0.045mJanuary 21, 2013
Wu Zetian rises from imperial consort to become China’s only female emperor, using political skill, administrative reform and patronage to secure her extraordinary rule.
Episodes
- Episode 1China Road
- Episode 2The Earliest Chinese
- Episode 3The Rise of Agriculture
- Episode 4The Origins of Civilization
- Episode 5The Age of Early States
- Episode 6The Xia Dynasty
- Episode 7The Rise and Fall of the Shang Dynasty
- Episode 8Shang Civilization
- Episode 9King Wu's Conquest of Shang
- Episode 10The Regency of the Duke of Zhou
- Episode 11The Decline of the Zhou Royal House
- Episode 12The Struggle for Supremacy in the Spring and Autumn Period
- Episode 13Confucius
- Episode 14Reforms Among the Warring States
- Episode 15The Seven Warring States
- Episode 16The Hundred Schools of Thought
- Episode 17The Rise of the State of Qin
- Episode 18Qin Shi Huang Unifies China
- Episode 19The Chu-Han Contention
- Episode 20The Parallel System of Commanderies and Kingdoms
- Episode 21The Rule of Wen and Jing
- Episode 22Emperor Wu of Han
- Episode 23Confucian Learning During the Two Han Dynasties
- Episode 24The Reign of Emperors Zhao and Xuan
- Episode 25Wang Mang's Reforms
- Episode 26The Restoration of Emperor Guangwu
- Episode 27The Silk Road
- Episode 28The Pure Critiques and the Partisan Prohibitions
- Episode 29The Yellow Turban Rebellion
- Episode 30The Three Kingdoms
- Episode 31Zhuge Liang Governs Shu
- Episode 32The Unification Under Western Jin
- Episode 33The Spirit of the Wei and Jin Periods
- Episode 34Rule by the Great Aristocratic Clans
- Episode 35Emperor Wu of Liang's Government
- Episode 36Emperor Xiaowen's Reforms
- Episode 37Emporer Wu of Northern Zhou
- Episode 38The Rise and Fall of the Chen Dynasty
- Episode 39Buddhism in the Wei and Jin Periods
- Episode 40The Restoration of Unity
- Episode 41Emperor Yang of Sui: Achievements and Failures
- Episode 42The Reign of Zhenguan
- Episode 43Empress Wu Zetian
- Episode 44The Prosperous Kaiyuan Era
- Episode 45The An Lushan Rebellion
- Episode 46The Predicament of the Middle and Late Tang
- Episode 47Chang'an: Metropolis of the World
- Episode 48The Rise and Fall of the Tibetan Empire
- Episode 49Dunhuang
- Episode 50The Tang Dynasty's Foreign Relations
- Episode 51Religion During the Tang Dynasty
- Episode 52The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
- Episode 53Emperor Taizu of Song
- Episode 54The Chanyuan Treaty
- Episode 55Governing the Realm with the Scholar-Officials
- Episode 56Wang Anshi's Reforms
- Episode 57The Jingkang Catastrophe
- Episode 58War and Peace Between Song and Jin
- Episode 59The Southern Song's Refuge in the Southeast
- Episode 60The Dreamlike Splendor of the Eastern Capital
- Episode 61Neo-Confucianism During the Song Dynasty
- Episode 62Song Dynasty Culture
- Episode 63The Rise of Khitan
- Episode 64The Founding of Western Liao
- Episode 65Wanyan Aguda
- Episode 66The Rise and Fall of the Jin Dynasty
- Episode 67Liao and Jin Culture
- Episode 68The Rise and Fall of Western Xia
- Episode 69The Rise of the Mongols
- Episode 70Kublai Khan
- Episode 71Imperial Progresses Between the Two Capitals
- Episode 72Phagpa, Imperial Preceptor of the Great Yuan
- Episode 73The Maritime Silk Road
- Episode 74Marco Polo and China
- Episode 75Emperor Shun of Yuan
- Episode 76Zhu Yuanzhang, Founder of the Ming Dynasty
- Episode 77The Yongle Emperor Moves the Capital
- Episode 78Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Oceans
- Episode 79The Grand Secretariat System
- Episode 80The Tumu Crisis
- Episode 81Wang Yangming's Philosophy of Mind
- Episode 82Maritime Frontiers and Foreign Trade
- Episode 83Zhang Juzheng's Reforms
- Episode 84The Jesuits Come to China
- Episode 85The Market Towns of Jiangnan
- Episode 86Silver Capital
- Episode 87The Chongzhen Emperor
- Episode 88Entering and Ruling the Central Plains
- Episode 89The Consolidation of the Qing Dynasty
- Episode 90The Recovery of Taiwan
- Episode 91The Great Enterprise of Unification
- Episode 92The Grand Council
- Episode 93Incorporating the Poll Tax into the Land Tax
- Episode 94Civil Government and the Literary Inquisitions
- Episode 95Reluctant Self-Strengthening
- Episode 96The Opium War
- Episode 97The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
- Episode 98The First Sino-Japanse War
- Episode 99Reform and Revolution
- Episode 100The End of Imperial Rule