Wu Zhao's leadership during the Tang dynasty was especially unusual because Wu Zhao was...

Question

Wu Zhao's leadership during the Tang dynasty was especially unusual because Wu Zhao was

1. Japanese

2. a woman

3. a peasant

4. uneducated

Answer 1

Hi Cari,

Good question!

Emperor Wu Zhao was the first and only female emperor in China's history.

She was born in Shanxi Province to a wealthy family who encouraged her to read and write.

This question is testing your knowledge of Wu Zhao's historically defining characteristic, but let's look at some logical ways to answer the question. We know that Chinese succession is characterized by dynasties (that's in the question)--so we can reasonably assume a few things. The first is that any ruler of China would have been among the wealthier educated families and that for a Japanese ruler to take control would have been pretty significant (Think about the size of Japan. Now think about the size of China. That would be pretty memorable.) So just by logic we can rule out the other answers--even if the memorized fact didn't stick.

Hope this helps!