Wu Zetian 

 

 

Wu Zetian was the only reigning empress of the whole history of China. She founded her own dynasty, the Zhou dynasty, of which she was the only monarch, under the name of "holy and supreme emperor" from 655 to 705.

This era was a relatively free period for women in China. Culture and education were transmitted more generously to girls, which ones could then be devoted to the pictorial arts, poetic and literary arts, but also politics. The Chinese empress had herself been introduced to classical works, painting, dance, music and poetry. 

 

She made carved in the caves of Longmen, large statues of Buddhas who will participate later to the fame of the place and were classified as UNESCO heritage. 

War chief, endowed with a constant ambition and a strong temperament, she reigned for decades in Tang China. Wu Zetian ruled from his capital Xian, a solid state, prosperous and will help to make China, a refined civilization and a commercial power by developing trade on the Silk Road.

 

The empress is surely a head woman, but we should not neglect the seductive dimension which allowed her to climb the ladder of power. A woman of that time uses all the artifices of beauty, and especially cosmetics and perfumes, without forgetting the frame of life: the palace is heated by scented fumes, offices are also heated and scented, Incense burner allow to perfume each room, until the bed of emperors and empresses. The most precious fragrances: Oud from Viet Nam, Yunnan rose, jasmine and Osmanthus from Guilin, the musk of the Himalayas, amber maritime are popular and are very expensive we practice extreme refinements like enfleurage "dried up" Iris powder with tuberose : every morning we pick hundreds of flowers and we introduce iris powder that captures the smell of tuberose. By renewing the operation during twenty days we have a highly saturated Iris powder with tuberose. This powder is used by the Empress to whiten her face and her body, as talc after bathing, to perfume his clothes ...