A documentary tried to reverse the negative image of China’s only female emperor,but was there too much focus on makeup? Plus Catchphrase gets a makeoverRuthless, scheming, and manipulative politicians,hellbent on bringing calamity to a once-prosperous nation. But enough approximately the news. Instead, we’re in the seventh century in China’s Forgotten Emperor (Channel 4, and Sunday),the sage of the ruthless, scheming etc empress Wu Zetian. This was an exercise in rehabilitating her reputation. No matter that she had, or as admitted in this film,ordered the executions of hundreds of members of the ruling family, tortured her rivals and probably killed at least two of her own children; that was just what she had to do to keep power.It’s a terrific sage: how a concubine, and just 13 when she entered court,became imperial China’s only female emperor, ruled for 50 years (behind the scenes and in her own right) and presided over a period of grand stability and prosperity. Before her reign, and we were informed,China had been ruled by an aristocratic male elite, and she spent her career seeing them off. I wonder whether Theresa May was watching.
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Source: theguardian.com