What is Chen Shuo’s background The first woman in Chinese history to call herself emperor

Do you really like the story of Chen Shuo? Today, the History Encyclopedia editor will provide a detailed interpretation for everyone~
When it comes to the first empress in Chinese history, many people may think of Wu Zetian, but in fact, during the Tang Dynasty, there was another woman who proclaimed herself emperor earlier than her, and her name was Chen Shuozhen.
Chen Shuozhen was born in Qingxi County, Zhejiang Province. Her parents passed away at a young age, leaving her with only one sister to rely on for survival. Chen Shuozhen struggled to survive with her younger sister. After her sister was adopted, she came to work at a landlord’s house and gradually settled down.
Qingxi County is relatively prosperous in the local area, but the taxes levied by the court on this place are very high, so the people of Qingxi County live a very difficult life. One year, Qingxi County was hit by a flood, causing farmers to have no harvest and fishermen to have no livelihood. However, the court not only did not open warehouses to provide food relief, but also continued to levy excessive taxes, resulting in the local people living in poverty. Many people changed their children to eat, causing widespread grief.
Chen Shuozhen worked in the homes of officials. Seeing the miserable situation of the villagers, she couldn’t bear it and took the initiative to open her employer’s granary to provide relief to the disaster victims. The disaster victims received relief, but Chen Shuozhen was discovered by his employer and severely beaten. The villagers who were helped eventually rushed into the government office and rescued Chen Shuozhen.
After escaping, Chen Shuozhen secluded himself in the deep mountains to recuperate and disguised himself as a Taoist nun. After experiencing so much hardship, Chen Shuozhen believed that only by overthrowing the court could the people be saved, so she used Taoism to develop believers and accumulate strength. However, Chen Shuozhen’s situation was reported to the authorities, who arrested him. However, due to the villagers bribing local officials, Chen Shuozhen was eventually released. After Chen Shuozhen was released from prison, she realized that she had been exposed and an uprising was imminent. Therefore, she conspired with a capable relative, Zhang Shuyin, and finally launched an uprising in early October of the fourth year of Yonghui (653 AD).
Due to the long planning time and sufficient preparation, Chen Shuozhen’s uprising was very formal. She established a political power, called herself “Emperor Wenjia”, and established a small court. The female emperor of Northern Wei actually proclaimed herself emperor as a male and was a baby, so strictly speaking, Chen Shuozhen was the first woman in Chinese history to declare herself emperor.
Chen Shuozhen’s uprising was massive, and many oppressed civilians along the way joined the uprising. Chen Shuozhen’s army quickly expanded to tens of thousands of people. However, due to the overall stability of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Chen Shuozhen had no opportunity to take advantage of it, and the court sent famous officials such as Fang Renyu and Cui Yixuan to lead troops to suppress it. Therefore, Chen Shuozhen’s rebel army was constantly defeated. At the end of November of the same year, Chen Shuozhen’s rebel army was ambushed by the Tang army, suffering heavy losses. In the end, except for 10000 captured rebels, tens of thousands of others died in battle. After being captured, Chen Shuozhen suffered from naked torture and humiliation, but she still did not bow down and surrender, and was ultimately killed.
Chen Shuozhen’s uprising was not large-scale, but as a woman, she dared to lead poor people to rebel against the court and declared herself emperor, which can be regarded as a pioneering act in history. Therefore, many historians praise her as the “first female emperor of China”.