During the last years of Wu Chao's rule, two brothers with the surname Chang became her favourites: eventually they gained influence notoriety, and power, and finally brought down her reign. Sophisticated young men, they introduced literati to the Empress's summer palace. There, away from court etiquette, Wu enjoyed the intellectual and social atmosphere surrounding her, and she gave less attention to official matters But soon the brothers began interfering in politics; the Empress did little to restrain them impossible for officials to It became increasingly meet her, partly because of the difficult journey to her residence in the hilly country outside the city, and also because the Chang brothers stood guard over her. The aging Empress, often ill, seemed to have lost interest in her administration. Many officials’ careers were ruined through the influence of these brothers: the powerful minister, Wei Yuan-chang, a man who had been her most respected adviser, suffered from their false accusations, and not until they suggested his execution did the Empress rouse herself to stop them. She seemed oblivious to the hatred and antagonisms they engendered. The son and daughter of Chung Tsung disliked and resented the Changs’ influence over their grandmother. Some records indicate that Wu Chao, when informed by the Changs that her grandchildren were plotting to overthrow her, ordered their suicides. Yet, in recent excavations of the magnificent tomb of this girl, Princes Yung T’ai it is stated on her coffin that she died in childbirth at the age of nineteen. Still blind to the role the Changs played, however, the Empress had clearly lost her grip. The court took matte into their own hands, ordered the execution of the Chang brothers and many of their associates and forced the abdication of Empress Wu. She move to a sumptuous palace on the fringes of the Imperial City for the remaining months of her life she was still held in esteem and respect is evident from the fact that the reinstated Emperor Chung Tsung and his entire court visited her there, as did ministers and other officials. (Chung Tsung was murdered by his wife a few years later, Jui Tsung again became Emperor.)