Wu Zetian died of illness on December 16, 705 (the first year of Shenlong) at the age of 82. Her last edict was to "remove the title of emperor and call her the Great Sage Queen Zetian."
Wu Zetian's grave It's the Qianling Mausoleum. It's on Liangshan Mountain. Wu Zetian's tomb has never been opened. Liangshan is a naturally formed limestone mountain with three towering peaks. The north peak is the highest, with an altitude of 1047.3 meters. The second south peak is lower, facing east and west. At that time, the people called it "Nipple Mountain". Looking west from the east side of Qianling Mausoleum, Liangshan Mountain looks like a female body lying on its back on the earth, with the north peak as the head and the two southern peaks as the chest. People often say that it is a wonderful symbol of Empress Wu Zetian. Kan Yujia (Feng Shui master) in the Tang Dynasty believed that Liangshan was conducive to the heroine. Therefore, Empress Wu Zetian chose Liangshan as the "Ten Thousand Years Life Domain" for her husband Tang Gaozong and herself a hundred years later.
After Wu Zetian's death, a "stele without a word" was erected. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, emperors, generals and ministers all hoped to erect a monument after their death. However, the only stone tablet of a female emperor in Chinese history did not have a single word engraved on it.
There are several theories: the first theory is that Wu Zetian erected the "wordless monument" to show off herself and to express her great achievements and virtues that cannot be expressed in words; the second theory is that Wu Zetian The reason why she erected the "Stele without Words" was because she knew that her sins were serious and she felt that it would be better not to write an inscription. The third theory is that Wu Zetian was a self-aware person, and it was a wise move to erect the "Stele without Words". This is the best way for future generations to comment. There is also a saying that Wu Zetian's son hated his mother so much that she originally wrote the inscription, but her son hid it in the tomb, leaving an unwritten inscription. monument.