Wu Zetian and Cixi were two women who had reached the pinnacle of power in Chinese history, and their personal experiences had something in common: they were all widows in their thirties, then seized the real power of the government according to the struggle, and finally held power for thirty or forty years, and their children had all been emperors, naturally, only puppet emperors.
As everyone knows, although Both Cixi and Wu Zetian have personal experience in power for more than 30 years, cixi has one thing that she is afraid of imitating Wu Zetian, and this thing is to raise male pets.
Wu Zetian not only announced male pets, but also set up an official organization like the "Crane Control Supervisor" to recruit and manage male pets; and Cixi's lovers had to let Li Lianying pretend to go to Yuquan Mountain to receive water and hide the lovers in a bucket and bring them into the palace. Why?
First, Wu Zetian and Cixi showed different images of authority. When Wu Zetian ascended the throne in the middle and late stages, what was presented in front of everyone should be the power of the Imperial Dragon World; and Cixi, as the empress dowager, should show the style of the mother's world.
Therefore, the titles of the two are different, resulting in different halos on their bodies. As a king, it is beyond reproach to raise some male pets to enrich the harem; but if she is the empress dowager of the world, she cannot do that, which will be detrimental to her brand image.
Second, the social atmosphere of the period in which the two were located was quite different. In the Tang Dynasty, the rulers surnamed Li revered Taoism, Wu Zetian revered Buddhism, and the Confucian ritual law had relatively limited control over the ideological and moral construction of Taoism; in the Qing Dynasty, Cheng Zhu Lixue became a popular concept, and gangchang ethical consciousness was deeply popular. Therefore, Cixi must be afraid of risking the world's great disobedience to announce the adoption of male pets.
Third, during Wu Zetian's period, the differences between Hu and Han were not deep, and the Qing Dynasty was a Manchu political party, and the Han people always had bad feelings. So far, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty have been trying their best to show the tolerant and loyal side mainly to win the hearts and minds of the Han people, and if Cixi does something that violates the etiquette, then she will completely lose the hearts of the Han people. Therefore, although Cixi was young and widowed, she was always afraid to announce her favor with a male pet.