Read: Wu

Title: Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God
Author: Jonathan Clements
Publisher: Sutton Publishing  (2007)

This is a book which I would probably not have taken off the library's shelves on a usual day. I do not have a particular interest in Tang dynasty. Yet more than a month ago, my involvement to play in a Chinese Opera production where the story was set in the context of the Tang dynasty during the period when Empress Wu was alive, somehow triggered my curiosity to learn more about the history of this period in time.

I would have turned to a book that was written in Chinese since the subject matter was Chinese history. However, I was not familiar with the library's new catalogue search system and there was limited books on the topic of Tang dynasty and Empress Wu at the nearest library to my home. In the end, Jonathan Clement's book became my reading material for the week.

The author drew from original Chinese sources and revealed the life of Wu very systematically and clearly. While reading the book, it became clear that it is rather complex to truly figure out from the records what kind of person Wu really was. Anyway, after reading this book, I am of the opinion that Wu is a remarkable lady given the context of her time.