do we know if Wu Zetian tried to change dynasty Tang's imperial succession law to possibly facilitate female cadidats after her?

by kill4588
Friday_Sunset

The short answer is no: she appears, instead, to have worked within Chinese systems of patrilineal descent and attempted to maintain power within her Wu clan.

Jennifer Jay examines this issue as part of the background for her article "Imagining Matriarchy: "Kingdoms of Women" in Tang China." According to Jay, compared to neighboring states in which female rulers actually did accede to the throne in a manner justified by birthright, this never seems to have been considered in Tang China. Indeed, Tang society maintained a rigid system of patrilineal descent and self-identification was with the paternal clan, not the maternal clan.

Because dynastic continuity depended on the succession of a male from within the ruling clan, the accession of another female emperor (note: Wu used the traditional imperial title of huangdi) would have dislodged the Wu clan from power and terminated the Zhou dynasty, which Wu had proclaimed after seizing the throne in her own right in 690. Wu seems to have been concerned with maintaining the Zhou dynasty, indulging (to some extent) politicking for the crown prince position on the part of her nephews Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi. Ultimately, her son and eventual heir, the former emperor Zhongzong, had to change his surname to Wu before becoming crown prince again (although he changed it right back to Li upon becoming emperor).

Although Wu took no action to facilitate female accession to the throne, she certainly contributed to the increased agency of female political figures in the early 700s. Wu's daughter-in-law Empress Wei (Zhongzong's wife) certainly tried to emulate her example. Interestingly, at the zenith of Empress Wei's power, it was rumored that the Empress sought to establish her daughter, Princess Anle, as the "crown princess." Ultimately, though, a coup (organized by Empress Wu's daughter Princess Taiping and her nephew, the future Emperor Xuanzong) deposed the Wei clique and replaced them with the former Emperor Ruizong. Eventually, Princess Taiping's faction was suppressed by her nephew's, and a more patriarchal administration resumed.