The character "曌" was chosen by Zong Qinke a year before she became emperor ("曌" was not coined by Wu Zetian). It is recorded in Zizhi Tongjian - on the 10th day of the first year of Yongchang In January (689, Wu Zetian was 65 years old at this time), Qin Ke, the minister of Feng Pavilion, Hedong Zong, changed the twelve characters of "Heaven", "Earth" and so on to present it to Ding Hai. The Queen Mother named herself "Zhao" and changed the imperial edict to "Zhi".
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a courtier named Zong Qinke, who was from Puzhou, Shanxi Province. He was related to Wu Zetian. He had been in contact with the Wu family since he was a child. He knew that Wu Zetian's original name was "Wuzhao". When Wu Zetian was still the queen, he, like many courtiers, admired Wu Zetian's ability to govern the country and often visited the palace to persuade Wu Zetian to become emperor.
At that time, some courtiers strongly opposed Wu Zetian's becoming emperor, so there was great resistance. They said that there had never been a precedent for a woman to become emperor. Wu Zetian's desire to be emperor was incest, a mismatch between yin and yang, and an inversion of heaven and earth. What's more, some even scolded him as "when the hen crows, the family will be ruined and the people will be destroyed".
In order to create public opinion for Wu Zetian to become emperor and refute the opinions of the opposition, Zong Qinke coined the character "曌", came to the harem, and dedicated it to Wu Zetian.
He told Wu Zetian that this word not only meant that the sun and moon were shining in the sky, but more importantly, it also meant that yin and yang were one. The name "Zhao" has the same pronunciation as "Zhao".
At this time, Wu Zetian was in need of help and support. When she heard what Zong Qinke said, she was very happy and immediately adopted Zong Qinke's opinion and changed her name from "Wuzhao" to "Wuzhao". " was changed to "武曌".