This complex and brilliant woman died at the age of eighty-one. Her cruel actions cannot be denied, but it should be remembered that greater attention has always been given to that aspect of her reign probably because she ruled in defiance of established order and belief. What is truly astonishing is the fact that, despite the opposition to her imperial position, Empress Wu ruled a vast empire successfully for fifty year. she reformed and strengthened the government and had the intelligence to grasp the dynamics of imperial rule, and the ability to understand and master much opposition, not always by violence but by alertness of mind. The people of her time enjoyed amenities of life they had never before known and, due in part to her long reign women had greater freedom than at any later day. She helped prepare the way for the supreme achievements of T’ang culture, and for the recognition of the Chinese as among the most civilized peoples of the world.