The Chinese characters of Empress Wu, or the Zetian characters (), are

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

s introduced by

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

, the only empress regnant in the

history of China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

, in order to demonstrate her power. The characters were not created by the Empress herself, but were suggested by an official named

Zong Qinke Zong Qinke (宗秦客) (died 691?) was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign. Among other things, he is particularly noted for his role in developing ce ...

, the son of one of her cousins, in December, 689 AD. The number of characters varies between 12, 17, 19, or 30. Her subjects were forced to use them during her reign, but they fell into disuse immediately after her death, so they help to determine dates of printed materials. A few of the surviving characters are preserved in the written histories of Wu Zetian, and a few have found themselves incorporated into modern-day computer standards, classified as either variant or dialect-specific characters. The form of the characters varies depending on where they are printed. For instance, Empress Wu's own name ''zhào'' was replaced with one of two new characters created through her: or ; looking in the

Kangxi Dictionary The ''Kangxi Dictionary'' ( (Compendium of standard characters from the Kangxi period), published in 1716, was the most authoritative dictionary of Chinese characters from the 18th century through the early 20th. The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing ...

, one finds the description of the former, having two ("eye") characters, being the proper character, rather than ''míng'' ("bright").

History

Wu was China's only empress, and she exercised her power by introducing many reforms. In addition to changing the way people dressed, she wanted to change the words people used. Empress Wu's written reforms resulted in new characters, which were not created from scratch, but borrowed elements of older characters. Although the characters quickly fell into disuse after the end of Wu's reign, they were recorded in large dictionaries and a few have occasionally appeared as variant characters used in proper names. For instance, 圀 ('country', 'state') is used to write the name of ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' Tokugawa Mitsukuni (徳川光圀) in

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

. In this context, the character is given the

kun'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequen ...

reading ''kuni'' as a variant of orthodox characters 国/國 (in

shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in Simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as extensi ...

and

kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' ( ja, 舊字體 / 旧字体, lit=old character forms) are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are ''shinjitai'' ( ja, 新字体, lit=new character forms, la ...

, respectively). Anecdotes about the reign of Empress Wu and the creation of these characters can be read in the ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingd ...

''.

Examples

{, class=wikitable ! Original character , , Pinyin & meaning , , New character , , Large version , ,

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...

, , Explanation of meaning , - , rowspan="2" , , , rowspan="2" , ''zhào'' "shine, illuminate, see exactly " , , , , 则天文字之照一

, , , , The empress's name, , here comprises , or "the sun and the moon in the sky above". The moon and sun symbolize the harmony of yin and yang. , - , , , 则天文字之照二

, , , , The above character is sometimes written this way, as seen in the Kangxi dictionary. Some believe this version came about as a result of a naming taboo. , - , rowspan="2" , , , rowspan="2" , ''tiān'' "Providence, heaven" , , , , 则天文字之天一

, , , , This character is based on the seal-script version of . , - , , , 则天文字之天二

, , , , Version of the above character in which some lines are connected, as in handwritten script. , - , , , ''dì'' "earth" , , , , 则天文字之地

, , , , The character for "earth" is composed of a mountain, a water, and earth. , - , , , ''rì'' "sun, day" , , , , 则天文字之日

, , , , Said to represent the three-legged crow sun deity of

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of ...

. , - , rowspan="2" , , , rowspan="2" , ''yuè'' "moon, month" , , , , 则天文字之月一

, , {{Unihan, 56DD , , Said to represent the rabbit or toad-shaped moon. , - , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠥱 , , 则天文字之月二

, , {{Unihan, 20971 , , Also said to represent the rabbit or toad-shaped moon. , - , {{lang, zh, 星 , , ''xīng'' "star" , , {{linktext, lang=zh, 〇 , , 则天文字之星

, , {{Unihan, 3007 , , An empty circle, used to represent the word for 'star', now used in Modern Chinese as a

Chinese numeral Chinese numerals are words and characters used to denote numbers in Chinese. Today, speakers of Chinese use three written numeral systems: the system of Arabic numerals used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more familiar indigenous ...

, representing zero, or as a 'full stop'. , - , rowspan="3" , {{Lang, zh, 君 , rowspan="3" , ''jūn'' "monarch" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠺞 , , {{Unihan, 20E9E , Composed of the characters {{Lang, zh, 天大吉, which symbolizes that the world is in a state of great fortune, due to the empress , - , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠁈 , 则天文字之君一

, {{Unihan, 20048 , More commonly used variant of the above due to being easier to write. , - , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠱰 , 则天文字之君二

, {{Unihan, 20C70 , , - , {{lang, zh, 臣 , ''chén'' "vassal of the monarch" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𢘑 , 则天文字之臣

, {{Unihan, 22611 , "firstly loyalty" ({{Lang, zh, 一忠), represents the loyalty that a subject should have , - , {{lang, zh, 除 , ''chú'' "eliminate, to be assigned to position" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠀺 , 则天文字之除

, {{Unihan, 2003A , {{Lang, zh, 天兴, represents the fact that the Heaven has allowed the empress to rise up in order to get rid of the old, eradicate all tyranny and misgovernment and create a new world , - , rowspan="2" , {{lang, zh, 載 , rowspan="2" , ''zài'' "forever, countless" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𡕀 , , {{Unihan, 21540 , , - , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠧋 , , {{Unihan, 209CB , , - , {{lang, zh, 初 , ''chū'' "start, found" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𡔈 , 则天文字之初

, {{Unihan, 21508 , , - , rowspan="2" , {{lang, zh, 年 , rowspan="2" , ''nián'' "year" , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠡦 , , {{Unihan, 20866 , {{Lang, zh, 千千万万 (lit. by the thousands and tens of thousands), symbolizing that the empress's empire will last thousands of years. The {{Lang, zh, 力 character is likely a variant of {{Lang, zh, 卐, which means the same as {{Lang, zh, 万: ten thousand.赵与时《宾退录·五》：“武后改易新字，如以山水土为地，千千万万为年，永主久王为证，长正主为圣。” , - , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠦚 , 则天文字之年

, {{Unihan, 2099A , Simplification of the above, with one less stroke. , - , {{lang, zh, 正 , , ''zhèng'' "fair, right" , , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𠙺 , , 则天文字之正

, , {{Unihan, 2067A , , , - , {{lang, zh, 人 , , ''rén'' "human, people" , , {{linktext, lang=zh, 𤯔 , , 则天文字之人

, , {{Unihan, 24BD4 , , Consisting of the Chinese numeral "one" ({{linktext, lang=zh, 一) above the character for "life" ({{linktext, lang=zh, 生), the character carries a meaning that everyone only lives once. , - , {{lang, zh, 國 , , ''guó'' "nation, country, nation-state" , , {{linktext, lang=zh, 圀 , , 则天文字之国

, {{Unihan, 5700 , Consisting of the Chinese numeral "eight" ({{linktext, lang=zh, 八), above the character for "direction" ({{linktext, lang=zh, 方), both within a "boundary" (or "mouth") ({{linktext, lang=zh, 口).

External links

More detailed information on these characters
(archive link)

References

{{reflist History of the Chinese script Tang dynasty culture Wu Zetian

History

Examples

See also

External links

References