In Ezra Pound’s account of the T’ang dynasty, in the China Cantos, the first
emperor of T’ang is treated with great respect, largely on account of his
military achievements.

However, the Empress Wu, who follows him, is treated with disdain, and
dismissed with one line saying she led the empire to ruin.  This seems
typical of Pound’s reactionary reading of history.  Pound’s source, the
Histoire Generale de la Chine, speaks of the Empress Wu at great length.
The source does complain that she “upset the traditional social order.”  Yet
it is quite clear to any modern reader, that the complaint was against her
many innovations, the implementation of reforms which reflect many modern
values.

Among these:

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE     Under the Empress, The Tao te ching was made a
compulsory text on the for the state examinations on the same footing as the
Confucian canonical works.  This signified an end in education to
discrimination against Taoists, who (along with Buddhists) represented large
numbers of people who belonged to the  disempowered social classes.

She also revoked  the edicts giving precedence to Taoists over Buddhists in
religious ceremonies.   State patronage was extended to all Buddhist,
Taoist, and Confucian scholars all equally

ARTISTIC PATRONAGE.  Images and statues at the cave temples at Lung men.
Pound thought that the “replacing the statue at Terracina” was worth more
than any metaphysical argument.  In China, the statuary art of the T’ang is
among the most highly valued.  The patronage of such statuary work, and the
greatly prized cave paintings occurred under Wu.  Yet Pound seems
uninterested in such works, perhaps because they were done by Buddhists.

WOMENS RIGHTS.     Wu was one of the few empresses to rule in China, and was
therefore very conscious of the opportunity she had to improve the rights of
women.  In the scholarly field she sponsored the first large scale project
to write  biographies of famous women in Chinese history. My female Chinese
students (in China, and in the US) are still grateful to Wu for her efforts
in this area, which went strongly against the grain of Confucian tradition.
Confucianism, unlike Buddhist tradition, preaches the inferiority of women.

In traditional Chinese culture there was a lengthy period of mourning
required for the death of the father in any family.  Wu declared equal
periods of mourning for the death of a father and a mother.

EDUCATION    Wu sponsored the Translation into Chinese of the mass of
Sanskrit scriptures brought back from India. This was not done at the
expense of Confucian texts, which were also kept as standard canonical
works.

PEACE  Wu proposed to Cease military operations, and transform the empire by
the virtue of the Way (the Tao).  Pound should have been interested in this,
though the founder of the T’ang is praised for the number of wars he waged,
as far away as Korea, and for attempts to extend the empire.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH.   Wu offered Increased opportunities for expression of
opinions to the throne.

LABOR AND TAX  POLICY.  Reduce taxes and labor services.

EQUALIZING ACCESS TO POWER.  Appointment of officials based MORE on exam
results and LESS on social class or clan rank.







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