Wu Zetian was China’s first and only female emperor, ruling from 690 until 705 A.D. At age 13, Wu Zetian (then Wu Zhao) was chosen to be a concubine for Emperor Taizong. Wu Zetian ejected her son, ...

Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

A 1,300-year-old tomb, discovered in Xi'an city, China, holds the bones of a man who helped the nation's only female emperor rise to power. The epitaphs in the tomb describe how she then executed him ...

In China's Valley of the Kings, there stands a tall, carved stone. It honors the resting place of a woman named Wu Zetian, who rose from concubine to become China's only female emperor. For more than ...