Is Wu Zetian really a powerful strong female? Was she ruthless,

>>1611902
>220px-A_Tang_Dynasty_Empress_Wu_Zetian.jpg
Wu Zetian may have been an Empress at one point, but her real claim to fame was becoming an Emperor, and she should be referred to as such to make not of her achievement of becoming the only female Emperor in Chinese history.

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>>1611918
To be fair it's the fault of English for using "Empress" to mean a female imperial consort (皇后 or 皇妃) instead of a female Emperor (女帝 or 女性天皇)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/女帝

>>1611902

It's so improbable that a woman would achieve ultimate power in a pre-modern society that you can be fairly sure that most female rulers were competent at least, and often very exceptional people.

>>1612026
Or to put it less confusingly, it would be like calling Hillary Clinton the First Lady of America after her election, instead of a female President.

>>1611902
>Is Wu Zetian really a powerful strong female? Was she ruthless, or benevolent? Did she progress, or deteriorate China?

During her reign, the Tang empire lost a lot of territories and wars against foreigners.

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That picture almost looks like propaganda to make her look ugly.

Bet she bulldogged out in her later years like my grandma.

Civ5 depiction best depiction.

>>1612026
The difference in English is between "Empress Regnant" and "Empress Consort"

>>1612081
>Civ5 depiction best depiction.

Extremely historically inaccurate depiction.

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>>1612081
Foreign cultures had different standards of beauty, Anon. It's not like the other Emperors were depicted as Koei-tier hunks.

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>>1612092
>It's not like the other Emperors were depicted as Koei-tier hunks.


But there were Koei-tier emperors.

Pic related.

>>1612081
She probably had to have been pretty hot, being a favorite concubine and all.

>>1612087

True, but accuracy wasn't a requisite for me.

I imagine most, if not all, the female leaders that were older or "uglier" are inaccurate in that game.

>>1612136
I mean not just her looks, her personality and fashion as well.

Seems like they just googled "female chinese emperor" and that was their only research.

>>1612084
The point is that we could have translated it Consort (后), Imperial Consort (皇后) and Empress (女帝 / 女性皇帝) for East Asian systems instead of this [Monarch] Consort / [Monarch] Regnant thing that makes more sense for Western systems.

>>1612106
Nah, the Emperor just likes to be dominated.

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>>1612136
Well, pic related was Catherine back in Civ III...

>>1612467
Fucking cunt