Five years after, in the year 655,
she was declared Empress, and during the reign of her lazy and
indolent husband she was "the power behind the throne." And when,
in the year 683, Kaou-tsung died, she boldly assumed the
direction of the government, and, ascending the throne, declared
herself Woo How Tsih-tien--Woo the Empress Supreme and Sovereign
Divine.
History records that this Zenobia of China proved equal to the
great task. She "governed the empire with discretion," extended
its borders, and was acknowledged as empress from the shores of
the Pacific to the borders of Persia, of India, and of the
Caspian Sea.
Her reign was one of the longest and most successful in that
period known in history as the Golden Age of China. Because of
the relentless native prejudice against a successful woman, in a
country where girl babies are ruthlessly drowned, as the quickest
way of ridding the world of useless incumbrances, Chinese
historians have endeavored to blacken her character and
undervalue her services. But later scholars now see that she was
a powerful and successful queen, who did great good to her native
land, and strove to maintain its power and glory.
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