武则天

Wu Zetian is the only woman in Chinese history to have formally taken the imperial throne, and her name is inseparably tied to the political history of the Tang dynasty. The library currently holds five of her works, including Early Spring Night Banquet, The Minister's Guide, The Minister's Guide (Unannotated Edition), and a further title, Peerless and Independent: Wu Zetian. Because public information is limited, details of her life remain disputed and are not elaborated here. Judging from the works at hand, her writing spans classical poetry, historical reading, and social-science topics: Early Spring Night Banquet is a poem, concise in language and rich in courtly atmosphere, while The Minister's Guide is a work of admonition for officials, centering on remonstrance, ethics, and the art of governance in a solemn, clearly ordered style. These works reflect the literary orientation of a writer who was also a political figure, and they offer a distinctive sample for later generations seeking to understand Tang political culture and women's writing; they are often mentioned in biographical and literary-appreciation reading.