Once upon a time in China - when a poet challenged an Empress

In 638 CE, when Wu Zetian, the 14-year-old daughter of a deceased timber trader and later governor of two provinces, was summoned to become a concubine of the Chinese Emperor Taozong, her mother wept bitterly.

- SATISH KUMAR SHARMA

However, the young girl, keeping her composure, said, "Could it not be my destiny to meet the Son of Heaven?"

Son of Heaven or Tianzi was the title of the Emperor of China since the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC), as a divine mandate to rule.

Wu was beautiful and, unlike other girls in China, educated in music, calligraphy, literature, history, politics, and public affairs. She was also ambitious and, as later events proved, unscrupulous and ruthless. Combining these traits with her seductive charm, she committed the most heinous of crimes - treason, treachery and even murders, to become the only Empress of China. She was the de facto ruler from 655 to 705 CE - as Emperor Guozong's consort, dowager Empress regent on behalf of her two sons and finally as an Empress in her own name from 690 to 705 CE.