12 Comments

1. 

   Xiaoxiao Li

   December 9, 2014 at 11:57 pm

   “In 1968, she had the children of her enemy Zhou Enlai tortured and killed.” Not true. Zhou Enlai s well known for having no child.

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   • 

     Manya Koetse

     December 11, 2014 at 11:28 am

     He did – they were adopted.

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2. 

   Ricky

   December 10, 2014 at 5:50 am

   That was a fascinating article. I have been pondering why no one seems to trust anyone in Chinese culture. It seems these chess matches have been going on for centuries.

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3. 

   Sania Bright

   April 20, 2015 at 7:41 am

   great list thanks for sharing

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4. 

   Yan

   December 2, 2015 at 9:26 pm

   I don’t think Wu Zetian is evil. As a female ruler in ancient China, she has been highly appreciated throughout history by people, particularly by women. We can’t ignore her contribution. We can probably say that other women were evil, because they did terrible things without any contribution to society. I disagree with that Lu Xiaoman is evil. You shouldn’t say that she “killed” her husband. That’s discrimination.

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   • 

     Big Duh

     April 22, 2017 at 12:58 am

     Well, we all know that there are many rumors out there and maybe they are true. But if she actually killed a child, it doesn’t matter how she contributed to society, she’s still evil. You can contribute to society and still be an evil son of a bitch bastard that ruin innocent people’s lives.

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   • 

     Maggie

     June 2, 2017 at 1:54 pm

     I agree, she isn’t very evil. My parents and my relatives all think Wu Zetian aren’t evil. Maybe this is from a Chinese perspective. A lot of western articles say she is evil. But the Chinese wrote songs about Wu Zetian and how great she is. She made Buddhism the national religion. She made equal rights for women, and she made less taxes for the peasants. She’s ruthless, but probably not evil.

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5. 

   Bernard R

   February 3, 2016 at 12:41 pm

   Informative and well-written, Ms Koetse. I’m thinking that Wei and especially Wu might’ve torn a page from the previous Nothern Wei Dynasty archives and the infamous Dowager Empress Hu, huuuu had poisoned her young son (and heir to the thrown) when he reached ruling age and replaced him with a different (2-yr-old) crown prince but was quickly overthrown by a general who was loyal to her late son and who promptly had her–along with the uncomprehending 2-yr-old Emperor–into the Yellow River to drown-
   Oh, which reminds me, who was the badass 18th or 19th century Chinese woman pirate? Powerful and viscious; evil too, if you don’t like pirates.

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6. 

   anonymous

   August 20, 2017 at 1:48 am

   I just knew that Mao’s wife would end up at #1 on this list!

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7. 

   MNRC

   May 4, 2018 at 12:56 pm

   The title of this article is incredibly misogynistic and smacks of patriarchal condescension. Why were any of these women “evil”? Because they had the nerve to do what any smart male emperor would have done in her place? Political intrigue, ruthless assassinations, and societal manipulation was the name of the game in the imperial courts of dynastic China and you either lived to tell your story or died trying. Any of the “evil” actions of these women were committed a million times more by male emperors throughout Chinese history.

   As a leader Wu Zetian was actually one of the best emperors China had ever seen. Chinese historians hate her because she was strong, unfeminine, and unapologetically power hungry; she was utterly ruthless–seizing and wielding power like a man when no woman had dared to do this so publicly in the past. Wu Zetian embodies feminist leadership and her actions were no worse than the male leaders that came before or after her. To condemn these powerful women as “evil” is to enforce sexist oppression on women who chose power over the life of a docile doormat there to be stepped on by men, husbands, sons, and an intensely patriarchal society.

   “She reformed the educational and governmental selection process so that talented people were promoted, regardless of rank. She boosted agricultural production by rewarding good administrators, punishing those who taxed the peasants too heavily, re-allocating land fairly and improving public works. She strengthened defence and foreign relations, so that by 697 AD, military threats in the far northwest had been overcome and territorial limits extended deep into Central Asia. She also completed the conquest of the upper Korean peninsula. Notably, she made Buddhism the favoured state religion ahead of Daoism.

   By the time she died 15 years later, Wu had created a powerful and prosperous regime and social stability. She was buried in the Qianling Tomb in Shaanxi province.” From http://yp.scmp.com/education/article/91619/wu-zetian-chinas-fierce-and-fearless-empress-and-feminist

   From a feminist perspective Wu Zetian demonstrated that women can be equally as powerful and effective leaders as men.

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   • 

     Tervashonka

     August 16, 2018 at 5:29 pm

     If a female emperor acts in the same evil way as a male emperor, that means they are both evil. Saying that atrocities carried out by female emperors is misogyny just because male emperors have been guilty of same kind of actions just does not make any sense.

     From a non feminist perspective Wu Zetian did indeed demonstrate that women can be equally as powerful and effective as men, but she also demonstrated that women can be just as ruthless and evil leaders as men. Therefore she indeed deserves a spot on this list.

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8. 

   Yas

   October 28, 2020 at 9:05 pm

   First two don’t really deserve to be on the list.

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