, begun before the life of Wu Zetian, she contributed greatly to them, both as wife of Gaozu and during her subsequent Zhou dynasty. In 2000 the site was inscribed upon the UNESCO
World Heritage List as "an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity" The dynasty's capital was
Luoyang, which she renamed "Shendu" (神都 "Divine Capital"). Despite Wu's infamous rise to power, there is evidence suggesting that women were granted more privileges during her reign, and China was in a state of great prosperity during her rule. The dynasty's state religions were
Buddhism and
Daoism, both of which Wu Zetian exploited for self-promoting propaganda. The monk
Xue Huaiyi claimed to have found a document predicting the reign of a woman of great merit who would become universal ruler. In support of her imperial ambitions, Wu Zetian also proclaimed herself "Sage Mother", having statues of
Laozi's mother as "Sage Mother" placed in Daoist temples Wu Zetian became a very active supporter of Buddhism. Furthermore, she claimed to be an incarnation of
Maitreya, writing a document called the
Great Cloud Sutra, which prophesied that a female emperor would eradicate illness, worry, and disaster from the world. She sought the support of the Buddhist clergy to this end. In 673, Wu provided 20,000
cash for a gigantic statue of Maitreya at
Longmen Grottoes. Unlike her predecessor's dynasty, Wu Zetian selected people in her government based on their skills, and not on their status. The Buddhist clergy created a document called
Commentary on the Meaning of the Prophecy about Shenhuang, which predicted a female
Chakravartin who would rule the
Jambudvipa as the reincarnation of Vimalaprabha. This document was presented to Wu Zetian two months before the proclamation of the Zhou Dynasty. Various other documents were also written such as
The Great Spell of Unsullied Pure Light, also predicting the rise of a female monarch, of which Wu Zetian ordered 100,000 copies be printed and distributed. Traditionalist Chinese historiography considers the dynasty as a period of the Tang dynasty, as Wu was also the former
empress consort of a Tang emperor and was buried in
Qianling Mausoleum, a Tang royal mausoleum. Furthermore, Wu Zetian was the only emperor of Zhou China, which does not fit the concept of a dynasty. There were, however, other dynasties of a similar length, such as the
Xin dynasty, or much shorter in length, such as the
Shun dynasty. Wu Zetian's rule was long also seen as a period of great tyranny, though, in more recent decades, this seems to have lessened or reversed, as the appearance of Wu Zetian in countless Chinese works of fiction seems to depict her as a wise ruler. Nevertheless, historically, her reign began and continued with extensive violence, combined with the use of secret police and a network of informers. The debate about Wu's use of violence and coercion is more as to how some of it may have been exaggerated and how much of it was necessary for her own survival, particularly given the animosity of the clans of old nobility of the northern China plain that adamantly opposed her, together with a social and political system which found a woman of her accomplishments to be anathema solely on the basis of gender. ==Achievements==