Unit 1 Women of achievement

Ｉ．單元教學(xué)目標(biāo)

技能目標(biāo)Skill Goals

技能目標(biāo)Skill Goals

Talk about important women & great women

Describe people from their life, personality and character

Word-formation: noun suffix

Subject-verb agreement

Make an outline

II． 目標(biāo)語言

功

能

句

式 Describing people

What does she look like?

What do you think about...?

Why do you admire her?

How would you describe her?

Why did she choose to...?

What are her strengths?

What are her weaknesses?

How do her friends describe her?

詞

匯 1. 四會詞匯

achievement, welfare, project, institute, specialist, connection, campaign, organization, behave, shade, worthwhile, nest, nod, observe, outspoken, respect, argue, entertainment, crowd, inspire, support, refer, audience, rate, sickness, intend, emergency, generation, kindness, considerate, consideration, deliver, modest

2. 認(rèn)讀詞匯

Elizabeth Fry, Quaker, Nobel Peace Prize, China Welfare Institute, Jane Goodall, chimp, Jody Williams, landmine, Joan of Arc, Gombe National Park, specialize, career, determination, personality

3. 詞組

Human beings, move off, lead a …life, crowd in, look down upon, refer to, by chance, come across, carry on

語

法 Word formation: Noun Suffix

Subject-verb agreement

1. Our group are all going to visit the chimps in the forest.

2. Our group includes six boys and five girls.

3. Nobody before has fully understood chimp behavior.

重 點(diǎn) 句 子 Watching a family of chimps wake up is our first activity of the day.

難

句 1. Following Jane’s way of studying chimps, our group are all going to visit them in the forest.

Ⅲ. 教材分析與教材重組

1． 教材分析

本單元以女性為主題，以Warming up， Reading，listening的形式對古今中外六位不同女性的成就進(jìn)行了介紹。其目的在于引導(dǎo)學(xué)生了解有什么樣人格的人才是偉人；偉人是否是完人；我們在人格上離偉人有多遠(yuǎn)。這些對學(xué)生可起到一定的啟發(fā)作用，使他們能以這些偉人為榜樣，并堅定信念，塑造自我，創(chuàng)造未來。在這樣一個主題之下，有兩個值得讓學(xué)生思考的問題：一，什么樣的人是偉人，什么樣的人是名人。在當(dāng)今社會，不少人以一個人的經(jīng)濟(jì)能力為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來衡量他的社會地位，乃至于幸福程度。讓學(xué)生弄明白這一點(diǎn)是非常重要的。它可以引導(dǎo)學(xué)生樹立正確的世界觀和人生觀。二，一個人的成就是否由性別來定。這就涉及到了男女平等的問題。通過本單元的學(xué)習(xí)，學(xué)生們可以深切地感受到無論男女，只要對他人有無私的愛心，對事業(yè)有堅定的信心，并不懈地為之傾注心血，都能成就一番事業(yè)。

1.1 Warming up中的材料是古今中外六位杰出女性的簡介。這部分要求學(xué)生通過討論來區(qū)分偉人與名人。其作用有二：一是統(tǒng)領(lǐng)全單元主題，二是引導(dǎo)學(xué)生樹立正確的世界觀、人生觀和價值觀。教師在這一點(diǎn)上要起到引導(dǎo)作用而不是簡單的說教。

1.2 Reading 這部分由Pre-reading，Reading和Comprehending三部分組成。Reading一文介紹了Jane Goodall與其同事們在非洲森林里的一天，并由此引出她的工作方法及其所取得的成就。同時闡明了她的觀點(diǎn)，即要理解、尊重和保護(hù)動物。Pre-reading部分提出了兩個問題：Why do you think Jane Goodall went to Africa to study chimps rather than to a university？和Do you think her work is important？Why？這兩道題給了學(xué)生這樣的提示：在研究動物時如何體現(xiàn)科學(xué)與人道的結(jié)合。

Comprehending中針對課文內(nèi)容從細(xì)節(jié)到中心思想，由淺入深地設(shè)計了練習(xí)題，可幫助學(xué)生真正了解Jane Goodall 及其所從事的事業(yè)。

1.3 Learning about Language 這部分包含兩方面的內(nèi)容：詞匯和語法。詞匯部分主要涉及一些構(gòu)詞法、重點(diǎn)詞匯和短語。語法部分是“主謂一致”，重點(diǎn)在如何確定集合名詞的數(shù)。所有這些項(xiàng)目都設(shè)計了相應(yīng)的練習(xí)題，以求通過上下文語境，讓學(xué)生了解詞匯與語法如何具體運(yùn)用，作到精講多練。

1.4 Using Language中包含讀、聽、說和寫四個方面的內(nèi)容，全面體現(xiàn)對英語的綜合訓(xùn)練。讀的部分介紹了我國著名的婦科病專家--林巧稚。文章的第二段體現(xiàn)了本單元的目標(biāo)之一：學(xué)會運(yùn)用介紹人物品質(zhì)的形容詞來描述他人的情況。這也為下一步的說與寫打下了基礎(chǔ)。

1.5 Workbook中包含的聽、說、讀、寫的內(nèi)容更為豐富，它是對前面所學(xué)內(nèi)容的復(fù)習(xí)與總結(jié)，其設(shè)計仍然圍繞單元主題。

1.6 Summing Up 部分讓學(xué)生從內(nèi)容、詞匯和語法結(jié)構(gòu)三方面對本單元進(jìn)行歸納與總結(jié)。詞匯部分的小結(jié)可以從構(gòu)詞法的角度進(jìn)行適當(dāng)?shù)耐貙�。Learning Tip部分就人物描寫提出了建議，即選取典型事件，抓住人物特征。

2． 教材重組

2.1 從本單元整體結(jié)構(gòu)來看,可將Warming Up, Pre-reading, Reading 和Comprehending整合成一堂閱讀課。將Warming Up作為導(dǎo)入的內(nèi)容，然后再處理Pre-reading，Reading和Comprehending。其中以Reading為主。教學(xué)形式上以學(xué)生討論為主，教師指導(dǎo)為輔。

2.2 將Learning about Language作為一堂語法課。教學(xué)形式以學(xué)生練習(xí)總結(jié)為主，教師可適當(dāng)擴(kuò)展并增加一些有關(guān)的語法知識。

2.3 將所有聽力內(nèi)容整合成一堂聽力課。當(dāng)然，教師可依情況將其中的任何一、兩個作為主要內(nèi)容，將別的作為泛聽內(nèi)容進(jìn)行處理。

2.4 將Reading（P6），Speaking（P7）與Talking（P41）整合成一堂口語課。這部分中Reading中的部分內(nèi)容與Speaking（P7）及Talking（P41）相一致。且Speaking與Talking只是體裁上的不同，內(nèi)容是一致的，故此三者宜合為一課。

2.5 將Writing（P7）和Writing（P46）整合成一堂寫作課，以完成本單元的寫作要求。

2.6 將Reading Task（P45），Writing Task（P46），Project（P47）和Summing Up（P8）組合成一堂復(fù)習(xí)課，對本單元內(nèi)容進(jìn)行鞏固與完善。

3．課型設(shè)計與課時分配

1st period Reading

2nd period Grammar

3rd period Listening

4th period Speaking

5th period Writing

6th period Summary

Ⅳ. 分課時教案

The First Period Reading

Teaching goals 教學(xué)目標(biāo)

1． Target language 目標(biāo)語言

a. 重點(diǎn)詞匯

achievement, welfare, project, institute, specialist, connection, campaign, organization, behave, shade, worthwhile, nest, nod, observe, outspoken, respect, argue,

b. 重點(diǎn)句子

Watching a family of chimps wake up is our first activity of the day.

2． Ability goals 能力目標(biāo)

a. Learn Warming Up, and know how to tell the great women and the famous women.

b. Learn the way to describe a person from what the person did, what she/he looks like and so on.

3． Learning ability goals 學(xué)能目標(biāo)

Teach Ss how to describe a person.

Teaching important points 教學(xué)重點(diǎn)

a. By reading A protector of African wildlife, students can learn from Jane Goodall in at least two aspects: one is what is the humane way to study animals; the other is that it was her great personality - universal love and mercy（博愛與慈悲 ）that made her successful. If everyone had such kind of heart, they would give everything benefit for all living things. Then our world will be full of love and peace, without any war and starvation.

b. Ask students to answer these questions:

1) What made her a great success?

2) What should we learn from Jane Goodall?

Teaching difficult points 教學(xué)難點(diǎn)

Let everyone believe that all of us can become Jane Goodall.

Teaching methods 教學(xué)方法

Inspiration, Questioning and Discussion.

Teaching aids 教具準(zhǔn)備

A computer, a projector and a recorder.

Teaching procedures & ways 教學(xué)過程與方式

StepⅠLead-in

T: Good morning, everyone! Haven’t seen you for a long time. Did you have a good time in your holidays? What did you do during the holidays?

S1: Yes, I had a good time. You know I enjoy movies, sports and other types of entertainment. I saw several favorite films and every afternoon, I would play basketball with my friends.

S2: I would die of boredom. I didn’t know what to do but read. I didn’t know how to relax myself. I just hoped that the new term began. The sooner, the better.

T: That sounds interesting. In fact, boredom is a kind of feeling. There is a good way to be away from it. Believe it or not, that is to help others, no matter who they are, human being or animals. Have a try, Ok? Today we’ll learn Unit 1. It introduces several women to us and tells us how they live and work. Now let’s turn to Page 1. Look at these pictures and the brief introductions, then work in pairs to discuss which of these women you think is a great woman. You need to give your reasons for your choice.

A sample summary:

As great women, they don’t care for themselves at all, and at some point or rather, they must give some sacrifices, just like Lin Qiaozhi, she devoted all her life to medical work for Chinese women and children and had chosen not to have a family of her own. Instead, she made sure that about 50,000 babies were safely delivered to their mothers. Not all people can do this. Once they have chosen their careers, they would carry on with them without any withdrawal. What they did is encouraging thousands of people to continue their careers. Those who are only famous but not great can’t be matched.

StepⅡSkimming

1. Who is the protector?

2. What animal are observed?

3. When did Jane Goodall arrive Gombe？How old was she?

4. What was the purpose of her study of the chimps?

Step III Get the main idea of each paragraph

A student of African wildlife

1. How the group followed Jane’s way of studying chimps in the wild

2. What Jane discovered about chimps

3. How Jane tries to protect the lives of chimps in their natural habitat

4. Jane’s achievements

Step IV Analyze each paragraph

見課件

Step V Language Points

T: By now, we have mastered the main idea and the details. Do you have some difficulties in the language?

S1: Yes. What does this sentence mean: “Watching a family of chimps wake up is our first activity of the day”?

T: Who’d like to help her?

S2: The subject of the sentence is a “V-ing form”, and the Predicate is “is” not “wake up”. So the meaning of the sentence is: 今天我們的第一件事是觀察一個猩猩家庭的早起。

T: That’s right. Sometimes we should depend on the structure of the sentences to help us understand the meaning.

S3: Miss Wu, the sentence: “This means going back to a place where we left the chimp family sleeping in a tree the night before.” is beyond me.

T: This sentence is a little difficult. First, it includes an Attributive Clause. The clause is: where we left the chimp family sleeping in a tree the night before. Second, there are two structures in the sentence. One is “to mean doing”; the other is “l(fā)eave ... doing”. For the first one, we can refer to the Appendices in Page 76. Now let’s look at the second one. In fact, there are several same structures in this text. Please look at these sentences.

Show the sentences on the screen:

1. ... where we left the family sleeping in a tree the night before.

2. ... we see them go to sleep together in their nest for the night.

3. however the evening makes it all worthwhile.

4. Jane Goodall has been outspoken about making the rest of the world understand and respect the life of these animals.

Step VI Finish the COMPREHENDING on page 3.

Step VII General idea

The passage is mainly about how Jane Goodall worked with ___________ and help people ___________________ ______ of these animals.

Step VIII Discussion

1. Do you think Jane Goodall was brave to go and live in the forest?

2. Would you have done what she did if you had the chance?

3. What made Jane Goodall a great success? What should we learn from Jane Goodall?

Homework

T: I’m very glad to hear what you said. You have learned what you should learn from Jane Goodall. And I believe you will be Jane Goodall, if you treat everything around you equally and show your love to them. Now time is up. Today’s homework is to finish the exercises in Page 4 and 5. Make some preparations for the next class. See you next time.

Ss: See you.

The second period Grammar

Teaching goals 教學(xué)目標(biāo)

1. Target language 目標(biāo)語言

a. 重點(diǎn)詞語

achievement，inspire，worthwhile，observe，institute，respect，condition，argue， entertainment

b. 重點(diǎn)句子

2. Ability goals 能力目標(biāo)

a. Enlarge vocabulary by learning word-formation.

b. Learn to use Subject-verb agreement correctly.

3. Learning ability goals 學(xué)能目標(biāo)

Teach Ss how to enlarge vocabulary by word-formation and how to use subject-verb agreement.

Teaching important points 教學(xué)重點(diǎn)

a. Noun Suffix in word-formation.

b. Subject-verb agreement of collective nouns.

Teaching difficult points 教學(xué)難點(diǎn)

Enable students to use collective nouns correctly, by understanding their meanings in certain situations.

Teaching methods 教學(xué)方法

Let students do the exercises, and then collect their answers. Ask them to conclude the rules and then give them some explanation.

Teaching aids 教具準(zhǔn)備

A projector.

Teaching procedures & ways 教學(xué)過程與方式

語法詳解：

所謂主謂一致是指主語和謂語動詞之間,即主語的人稱和單復(fù)數(shù)形式?jīng)Q定著謂語動詞對應(yīng)的形式。

　　1） 語法形式上要一致，即單復(fù)數(shù)形式與謂語要一致。

　　2） 意義上要一致，即主語意義上的單復(fù)數(shù)要與謂語的單復(fù)數(shù)形式一致。

　　3） 就近原則，即謂語動詞的單復(fù)形式取決于最靠近它的詞語，

　　一般來說，不可數(shù)名詞用動詞單數(shù)，可數(shù)名詞復(fù)數(shù)用動詞復(fù)數(shù)。

　　There is much water in the thermos.

　　但當(dāng)不可數(shù)名詞前有表示數(shù)量的復(fù)數(shù)名詞時，謂語動詞用復(fù)數(shù)形式。

　　Ten thousand tons of coal were produced last year.

1. 并列結(jié)構(gòu)作主語時謂語用復(fù)數(shù)

　　Reading and writing are very imp1　?）當(dāng)there be 句型的主語是一系列事物時，謂語應(yīng)與最鄰近的主語保持一致。

　　There is a pen, a knife and several books on the desk.

　　There are twenty boy-students and twenty-three girl-students in the class.

　　2）當(dāng)either… or… 與neither… nor，連接兩個主語時，謂語動詞與最鄰近

的主語保持一致。如果句子是由 here,there 引導(dǎo)，而主語又不止一個時，謂語通常也和最鄰近的?事情應(yīng)用過去時，先排除A.C.本題易誤選D，因?yàn)?The League secretary and monitor 好象是兩個人，但仔細(xì)辨別，monitor 前沒有the，在英語中，當(dāng)一人兼數(shù)職時只在第一個職務(wù)前加定冠詞。后面的職務(wù)用 and 相連。這樣本題主語為一個人，所以應(yīng)選B。

2. 主謂一致中的臨近原則

　　1）當(dāng)there be 句型的主語是一系列事物時，謂語應(yīng)與最鄰近的主語保持一致。

　　There is a pen, a knife and several books on the desk.

　　There are twenty boy-students and twenty-three girl-students in the class.

　　2）當(dāng)either… or… 與neither… nor，連接兩個主語時，謂語動詞與最鄰近

的主語保持一致。如果句子是由 here,there 引導(dǎo)，而主語又不止一個時，謂語通常也和最鄰近的主語一致。

　　Either you or she is to go.

　　Here is a pen, a few envelops and some paper for you.

3. 謂語動詞與前面的主語一致

　　當(dāng)主語后面跟有 with, together with, like, except, but, no less than, as well as 等詞引起的短語時，謂語動詞與前面的主語一致。

　　The teacher together with some students is visiting the factory.

　　He as well as I wants to go boating.

4. 謂語需用單數(shù)

　　1）代詞 each 和由 every, some, no, any 等構(gòu)成的復(fù)合代詞作主語，或主語中含有 each, every, 謂語需用單數(shù)。

　　Each of us has a tape-recorder.

　　There is something wrong with my watch.

2）當(dāng)主語是一本書或一條格言時，謂語動詞常用單數(shù)。

　　The Arabian Night is a book known to lovers of English.

　　《天方夜譚》是英語愛好者熟悉的一本好書。

　　3）表示金錢，時間，價格或度量衡的復(fù)合名詞作主語時，通常把這些名詞看作一個整體，謂語一般用單數(shù)。(用復(fù)數(shù)也可，意思不變。)

　　Three weeks was allowed for making the necessary preparations.

　　Ten yuan is enough.

5. 指代意義決定謂語的單復(fù)數(shù)

　　1）在代詞 what, which, who, none, some, any, more, most, all 等詞的單復(fù)數(shù)由其指代的詞的單復(fù)數(shù)決定。

　　All is right.　　　 (一切順利。)

　　All are present.　　(所有人都到齊了。)

　　2）集體名詞作主語時，謂語的數(shù)要根據(jù)主語的意思來決定。如family,audience, crew, crowd, class, company, committee等詞后用復(fù)數(shù)形式時，意為這個集體中的各個成員，用單數(shù)時表示該個集體。

　　His family isn't very large.　　　他家不是一個大家庭。

　　His family are music lovers.　　 他的家人都是音樂愛好者。

　　但集合名詞people, police, cattle, poultry等在任何情況下都用復(fù)數(shù)形式。

　　Are there any police around?

　　3）有些名詞，如variety, number, population, proportion, majority 等有時看作單數(shù)，有時看作復(fù)數(shù)。

　　A number of + 名詞復(fù)數(shù) + 復(fù)數(shù)動詞。

　　The number of + 名詞復(fù)數(shù) + 單數(shù)動詞。

　　A number of books have lent out.

　　The majority of the students like English.

6. 與后接名詞或代詞保持一致

1） 用 half of, part of, most of, a portion of 等詞引起主語時，動詞通常與 of 后面的名詞，代詞保持一致。

　　Most of his money is spent on books.

　　Most of the students are taking an active part in sports.

　　2） 在一些短語，如 many a 或 more than one 所修飾的詞作主語時，謂語動詞多用單數(shù)形式。但由 more than… of 作主語時，動詞應(yīng)與其后的名詞或代詞保持一致。

　　Many a person has read the novel.　許多人都讀過這本書。

　　More than 60 percent of the students are from the city.百分之六十多的學(xué)生都來自這個城市。

Homework

Finish the exercises in USING STRUCTURES on Page 43.

附件1

埃及艷后 克利斯帕特拉

Cleopatra

Queen of Egypt, 69-30 BC

Cleopatra was the ambitious last ruler of the Macedonian Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. In her struggles to win the crown and keep her country free, she sought the support of Julius Caesar, bearing him a son. For a time she lived in Rome. Later, she won the protection of Rome through an affair with Mark Anthony, and had three children with him. Financing his failing military campaigns, both she and Anthony were defeated in a battle against Octavian in 31 BC. A lesser known fact is that Cleopatra was highly educated and possessed an impressive intellect, being a student of philosophy and international relations.

附件2

英國前首相 撒切爾夫人

Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s first female prime minister, and first British prime minister in the twentieth century to win three consecutive terms. A lawyer, Margaret first entered Parliament in 1959, eventually serving in a variety of ministerial posts. In 1974 she was elected leader of the Conservative Party, and brought her party to victory in 1979. Espousing conservative ideals of based on free enterprise, she advocated public spending cuts, limited money supply, and raised interest rates. Her privatization programs led to union opposition, labor unrest, and high unemployment rates. She earned the nickname “The Iron Lady” because of her hard line against the USSR over their invasion of Afghanistan, and because when Argentina challenged Britain’s right to the Falkland Islands, she went to war. In 1990 she resigned her prime minister, although she stayed in Parliament until 1992.

附件3

革命女俠 秋謹(jǐn)

Qiu jin

(1875-1907)

A Chinese poet and a revolutionary, Qiu Jin was born in 1875 into a moderately wealthy family. While growing up she enjoyed riding horses and playing with swords. She also liked to read. Her family insisted that she receive good education and she was able to socialize with other well-educated people.

At the age of twenty-one Qiu Jin was married to an older man. He had a more conventional outlook on life than she did and she felt stifled in this relationship. She left her husband in 1903 and went to study in Japan where she was vocal in her support for women’s rights and pressed for improved access to education for women. To provide female role models, she wrote articles about historical Chinese women.

In 1906 she returned to China and started publishing a women’s magazine in which she encouraged women to gain financial independence through education and training in various professions. She encouraged women to resist oppression by their families and by the government. At the time it was still customary for women in China to have their feet bound at the age of five. The result of this practice was that the feet were small but crippled. Women’s freedom of movement was severely restricted and left them dependent on other people. Such helpless women were, however, more desired as wives, so their families continued the practice to protect their daughters’ future security.

Qiu Jin felt that a better future for women lay under a Western-type government instead of the corrupt Manqing government that was in power at the time. She joined forces with her male cousin Hsu Hsi-lin and together they worked to unite many secret revolutionary societies to work together for the overthrow of the Manqing government. On July 6, 1907 Hsu Hsi-alin was caught by the authorities before a scheduled uprising. He confessed his involvement under interrogation and was executed. Immediately after, on July 12, the government troops arrested Qiu Jin at the school for girls where she was a principal. She refused to admit her involvement in the plot, but they found incriminating documents and she was beheaded. Qiu Jin was acknowleged immediately as a heroine and a martyr who died fighting enemies of the Chinese people and she became a symbol of women’s independence.

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中華女皇帝 武則天

Empress Wu Zetian in Dang Dynasty

Empress Wu was the only female monarch of China, and remains the most remarkable, influential and mysterious woman in Chinese history.

Contrary to the teachings of Confucius, this was a woman who ruled the empire for over half a century; while her actions have been a subject for debate for more ten centuries. Opinion is sharply divided between those who admire her for her many achievements and those who regard her as a ruthless, merciless schemer and autocrat. Others will say merely that she did what she had to do and that her actions were no different from those of male emperors.

Achievements

In spite of her ruthless rise to power, Wu proved to be a very competent monarch and throughout her reign the legacy of prosperity bequeathed by the late Taizong.

The Empress was eager to draw into her government all manner of talented people. In the first year of her period of absolute power, she sent officials far and wide to search for people of outstanding ability. Wu Zetian even encouraged people to volunteer their services should they consider themselves of value to her. In this way no effort was spared to recruit able persons into the civil service. The imperial examination system was further revised in order that no man of ability should be excluded due to his lowly birth. She also initiated the practice of personally interviewing candidates. These formalities guaranteed appointments could no longer be obtained through patronage, bribery or corruption.

Surprisingly, she showed tolerance towards her critics. Ever willing to listen to new ideas and suggestions, she generously rewarded those who offered sound advice and demonstrated enterprise. This ensured that throughout her long reign, she always had the support of a loyal administration.

Wu Zetian attached great importance to the development of agriculture. She ordered the construction of irrigation schemes. So as to create a bank of knowledge about agricultural matters and develop expertise, she commissioned the compilation of farming textbooks. Local officials were charged with the task of bringing more land under cultivation. As an incentive for increased production, taxes were reduced and the imposition upon the peasant population was eased. By allowing peasant farmers to retain more of their produce, they were able to improve their living standard and in general the population benefited from quite considerable prosperity.

The relationships that had been established between the empire and the neighboring Tubo deteriorated. A series of many border skirmishes led to a final defeat of the Tubo in 692. Afterwards, steps were taken to keep the vast lands to the north and south of the Tainshan Mountains secure from invasion. The Anxi Military Viceroy and the Beiting Military Viceroy were given responsibility for the area, with the consequence that Wu’s defence policy effectively consolidated the north-western border region.

Wu’s religious policy gave Buddhism precedence over Taoism as the favoured state religion. She encouraged gifted scholars to settle in China and many Buddhist temples were built. Also, many of the finest Buddhist cave sculptures were created. Under the patronage of the Empress, Buddhism made its greatest advances within China.

Wu Zetian poured scorn on the Confucian belief that women should always be subordinate to men. As well as furthering her own ambitions, she sought to enhance the position of women in society. This included employing scholars to write biographies of famous women. These works served as a reminder to everyone that women were every bit as capable of men. All they lacked was equal opportunity.

The Downside

It is said there is good and bad in everybody. So far as Wu Zetian was concerned, when she was bad she could be very bad indeed. To achieve her ambitions she was as ruthless as possible. She did not hesitate to arrange the murders of members of her family, her husband’s concubines or ministers if they opposed her. Even Wu’s infant daughter was sacrificed in order that she might succeed in her desire for power. The men whose loyalty to both Li Yuan and Li Shimin had helped establish the Tang Dynasty were subjected to her cruelty. These included Zhangsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Yu Zhining and Cheng Wuting and many others who were either put to death or reduced in rank. Members of the Li royal family and their relatives were likewise eliminated.

Once she was on the throne, Wu was ever cautious lest any of her ministers proved to be disloyal or plot against her. She appointed sadistic and cruel officials to seek out and eliminate any opposition to her regime. Men such as Suo Yuanli, Zhong Xing and Lai Juncheng became famous due to their methods of exposing so-called enemies of their mistress. In such times, it is possible to be rid of rivals by denouncing them as conspirators or laying trumped up charges against them. So, although those who opposed Wu were severely dealt with, also many other innocent people were cruelly put to death. However, once Wu Zetian was satisfied that her regime was secure, she did relax some of her repressive measures and there were far fewer executions.

In her later life, and probably to ease her conscience, Wu Zetian resorted to Buddhism for solace. Her enthusiasm for building temples and monuments placed a huge strain on resources and labour. This show of religious fervour could not hide her continued craving for greatneess, cruel and despotic autocrat. Others, with rather more pragmatic views, have said she merely behaved as many men in her position had done, both before and since her notorious reign.