Femme Fatale Wu Zetian

About this episode

This episode explores the life of Wu Zetian, the only woman to rule as Emperor in Chinese history, detailing her rise to power and notorious actions.

Wu Zetian entered the Tang court as a teenage concubine in 638. By 690, she'd murdered her way to the Dragon Throne — the only woman in Chinese history to rule as Emperor. She stuffed rivals into wine jars, built a secret police, and spent her final years afraid of house cats. Jump to the AD-FREE Safe House Edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support . You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require. We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts: If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES , telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything! For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week. This episode includes AI-generated content.

People in this episode

Host: Richard O Jones

Topics covered

• Chinese history
• female rulers
• Tang dynasty
• political intrigue
• murder
• power dynamics

Keywords

• Wu Zetian
• Tang court
• Emperor
• concubine
• murder
• secret police
• Chinese history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: True Crime Historian, PULPULAR MEDIA, CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, PULP MAGAZINES

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