Revealing the coronation outfit for Wu Zetian as the Queen, Fan Bingbing continues to be breathtaking in every photos from her self-produced bioepic, The Empress of China. Fan Bingbing said that the Empress Wu Zetian has always been an idol since childhood, and it would be a regret to not play her.
The Chinese paper-cutting style of the outfits are pretty unique for a drama, and the patterns are gorgeous, now if only they repurposed some of the train fabric so the top didn’t look like it was about to fall over any second.
OMG! Absolutely Gorgeous!!!!
She looks gorgeous, but I would rather see her without false eyelashes and overly modernized makeup for ancient historical characters.
Is it bad that I side-eye anyone who says that Wu Zetian is an idol of theirs?
Also, has FBB ever confirmed that she’s dating Aarif Lee?
I can see where you are coming from. Personally, I think you have to be a bit understanding when it comes to these historical characters. You have to remember that this is what we have simply off written record and even that may be sometimes skewed due to politics and other factors. Also, they lived in a different time period with different social norms and expectations than we do. Appreciate where these people succeeded and learn from where they failed. They are still human but if you can learn from them, you can make yourself a better person. :)
I understand the need for relativism… but all the slobbering over Wu Zetian simply because she was the only female ’emperor’ has always rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, she may not have actually been the vicious harpy she’s usually made out to be by scholars, but I see nothing in her life/actions that elevates her from the despots who came before and after. The others just happened to have Y chromosomes. Good for her that she was able to take advantage of a power vacuum and the weak men around her… I guess?
More praiseworthy are women like Christina of Sweden or even Queen Hatshepsut.
Most of her negative attributes are only negative because she’s a woman. For example, no one calls a man a vicious harpy for having a bunch of concubines and killing off their brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, etc. as long as the people did not suffer. The worst thing she did was rumors off killing a child, but there’s no evidence.
Historically, she’s actually a capable ruler, with the only black mark being ruthless against many of the “old aristocrats” who opposed her, but that’s typical of any change of dynasty or power. There’s very few criticisms of her actual ruling except for the black mark I mentioned, and most criticisms are of her “loose sexual morals” and “failure to fulfill her feminine duties”, whatever those are. She was generous to the lower class, expanded and opened up the civil service exams, empowered women, and maintained a high population and GDP growth rate (The population nearly doubled under her rule, indicating the high living standards under her rule). She heavily used many capable officials (Di Renjie being the most well-known), and was known for using people regardless of their social background.
Where do you think she ranks in the list of great emperors? Not trying to be snarky — I’ve clearly met someone better versed in Chinese history than me and I’m interested in learning more.
I don’t know how you would rank great? When we think about “great emperors”, it’s usually the ones with the largest territorial expansion (Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi, Genghis Khan, Kangxi, etc.).
I think as an individual, she’s one of the greatest people in history because she is the only woman to able to be rule China (and do it well ) in its thousands of years of patriarchal society. She also ruled China in one of its most flourishing peacetime periods, and in a time when China was the largest.
You mentioned Christina of Denmark and Queen Hatshepsut, but while it was rare for a female to rule, they were far from the only females to rule in their systems, and neither ran a country nearly as large as Wu Zetian. And while I don’t know much about either one, I don’t think either of them had any major accomplishments in terms of policies or conquests?
Historians today say that her record is exaggerated. Some even call it the demonization of Wu Zetian.
She was a very capable ruler. We can google about what she did to ensure the masses prosperity. If people were fed and happy they had no reason to reject her. It was palace officials who did so. She also stabilized and consolidated the Tang dynasty at a time when it appeared to be crumbling–a significant achievement, since the Tang period is reckoned the golden age of Chinese civilization
In my opinion, her major sin was being a woman, a woman ruler in the era where women were nothing than a broodmare and men ruled over everything. I have no doubt that she was a ruthless and smart woman, how else could she survive then? But if the deeds were done by prince or emperor, no one would bat an eye.
As Elizabeth I once said. “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too.”
Preach!
So pretty. A little bit of geisha hair style feel , dont u think?
Japan drew heavily from Tang dynasty China so, from a historical perspective, it makes sense.
Same first thoughts
Ever see those statues of the fat Tang ladies? Japanese copied that hairdo and fashion style.
I would totally wallpaper this; she definitely has the aura of China’s only female emperor here.
Also, just watched One NIght Surprise against last night; this is so funny…
GORGEOUS.