What did Empress Wu Zetian look like?
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E-mail Chinaculture.org, January 7, 2015
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The TV drama The Empress of China is hot among audiences recently. Actress Fan Bingbing, who plays the role of Empress Wu Zetian, is a fabulous beauty. What did Wu Zetian, China's only female monarch, look like in real life? Let's explore the possibilities.
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| A painting by Zhang Xuan is said to have portrayed Wu Zetian. [Photo/Artron.net] |
![A painting by Zhang Xuan is said to have portrayed Wu Zetian. [Photo/Artron.net]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20150107/001ec949ff5c16170a2b2b.jpg "A painting by Zhang Xuan is said to have portrayed Wu Zetian. [Photo/Artron.net]")
The famous Chinese scholar Guo Moruo researched this, and he thinks that a plump empress portrayed in a painting by Tang Dynasty painter Zhang Xuan is Wu Zetian. Zhang left many famous paintings, such as Paintings of Lady of Guoguo on a Spring Outing of the Tang Dynasty, Court Ladies Preparing Newly-Woven Silk and Lady of Wei.
It is guessed that Zhang Xuan was a court painter and had met Wu Zetian before, so the portrait by him is quite reliable.
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