When it comes to the first female emperor in Chinese history, many people may think of Wu Zetian, but in fact, in the Tang Dynasty, there was another woman who called her emperor earlier than her, and this woman's name was Chen Shuozhen.
Chen Shuozhen was born in Qingxi County, Zhejiang Province, her parents died since she was a child, and only one sister depended on her. Chen Shuozhen took her sister to struggle to survive, and after her sister was adopted, she came to work in a landlord's house, and her life gradually settled down.
Qingxi County is relatively rich in the local area, but the imperial court levies a high tax on this area, so the people of Qingxi County have a very difficult life. One year, Qingxi County suffered a flood, the peasants had no harvest, and the fishermen had no livelihood, but the imperial court not only did not open a warehouse to provide grain, but continued to levy and extort, resulting in the local people not having a good life, many people changing their children and eating, and mourning everywhere.
Chen Shuozhen worked in the homes of officials, and when she saw that the people in the township were in a miserable situation, she could not bear it, so she took it upon herself to open the granary of the owner's family to help the victims. The victims were rescued, but Chen Shuozhen was found by the owner and severely beaten, and the helped villagers finally rushed into the official palace and rescued Chen Shuozhen.
After Chen Shuozhen escaped, he lived in seclusion in the mountains to recuperate and dressed up as a Taoist aunt. After experiencing so much suffering, Chen Shuozhen believed that only by overthrowing the imperial court could she save the people, so she used Taoism to develop believers and accumulate strength. However, Chen Shuozhen was informed to the government, and the government arrested Chen Shuozhen, but because the villagers paid bribes to local officials, Chen Shuozhen was eventually released. After Chen Shuozhen was released from prison, she realized that she had been exposed and that an uprising was imminent, so she conspired with a powerful relative, Zhang Shuyin, and finally launched an uprising in early October of the fourth year of Yonghui (653).
Due to the long planning time and sufficient preparations, Chen Shuozhen's revolt was very formal, and she established a political power, calling herself "Emperor Wenjia", and establishing a small imperial court. The female emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty was actually called emperor as a male child, and was a baby, so strictly speaking, Chen Shuozhen was the first woman in Chinese history to be called emperor.
Chen Shuozhen's rebel army was huge, and many people who were oppressed by the government along the way joined the rebel army, and the number of Chen Shuozhen's army soon expanded to tens of thousands. However, due to the relatively stable overall situation in the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Chen Shuozhen had no chance to take advantage of it, and the imperial court sent Fang Renyu, Cui Yixuan and other famous ministers to lead the army to suppress it, so Chen Shuozhen's rebel army continued to be defeated. At the end of November of the same year, Chen Shuozhen's rebel army was attacked by the Tang army back and forth, suffering heavy losses, and eventually except for 10,000 rebel troops who were captured, the remaining tens of thousands of people were all killed. Chen Shuozhen was humiliated by naked torture after being captured, but she still did not bow her head and was eventually killed.
Chen Shuozhen's rebellion was not large, but as a woman, she dared to lead the poor people to rebel against the imperial court, and called the emperor's behavior a precedent in history, so many historians praised her as "the first female emperor of China".