Wu Zetian was the first empress in Chinese history and lived to be 81 years old. Let’s not talk about her political achievements here, but only talk about her uniqueness in medical treatment.

Wu Zetian is a person who pays great attention to maintenance. The imperial doctors also prescribed many secret beauty and skin care recipes for her. Two famous beauty secrets commonly used by Wu Zetian. One is the prescription of motherwort, which was recorded in the newly revised Materia Medica edited by the editor-in-chief, and later recorded in Waitai Miyao by Director Wang. Later, it was also recorded in medical books and was renamed "Xianyu Nu Powder". Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded it again in the Compendium of Materia Medica. Motherwort is a good gynecological medicine, which can be taken internally or externally. Used externally on the face, it has the effects of treating dull skin tone, eliminating facial spots and wrinkles. Regular use can make skin moist and shiny. The specific method of making motherwort noodle recipe is to collect motherwort with complete roots and seedlings on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year. There should be no soil on the motherwort collected, otherwise it will have no effect. Dry the collected motherwort in the sun, crush it, grind it finely, mix it with an appropriate amount of flour and water, mix it into egg-sized pills, dry it in the sun, and then make it into a stove with a small hole on each side of the stove. Put charcoal fire on the upper and lower layers of the stove, place pills between the two layers, ignite and then bake.

Cook a big meal and simmer it for 24 hours without extinguishing the fire halfway through. Finally, the best pills should be white and creamy. Generally, the pills should be cooled completely after being taken out, placed in a porcelain bowl, ground with a jade hammer, ground carefully, and then ground again. Therefore, the finer the powder, the better. Then add jade powder or antler powder to the medicine, put the medicine into a porcelain bottle and seal it, and take it out when used. The production of this kind of pills is very particular, including the time of receiving the medicine, the color of the medicinal materials, the temperature during the preparation process, etc. If not done properly, the pills will turn black and yellow and lose their efficacy; the main pharmacists and medicine boys who make these pills must strictly follow the requirements to make them successfully. Director Wang said in the annotation: When you first start using this medicine to wash your face, you will feel that your hands will become lubricated and your face will become shiny. Later, you will gradually become rosy. If used for many years, a woman in her forties or fifties will look as young as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old woman. Wu Zetian can still maintain a beautiful appearance at the age of eighty, which seems to be related to her frequent use of this beauty secret recipe.

Another beauty prescription was prescribed to Wu Zetian by physician Zhang Wenzhong, called regular tissue paper, and was included in Director Wang's Secrets of Foreign Affairs. As a beauty product, facial cream was very popular in the Tang Dynasty and is equivalent to today's facial mask. Unlike today's facial masks, the facial masks at that time were all made of natural medicinal materials. The main ingredients of this formula are made of asarum, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, astragalus, white aconite, yam, magnolia, chuanxiong, angelica, gallbladder, mulberry bark and lard. The preparation method is also complex. The medicine needs to be chopped into small pieces, soaked in wine overnight, fried, and then slowly solidified to turn into dough. Li Zhe, Gualou, and lard have the effect of nourishing yin and moisturizing; Asarum, White Aconite, and Xin Yi can dispel wind and open the mind; Astragalus can replenish qi and nourish the kidney; Chuanxiong and Magnolia officinalis can promote blood circulation and maintain moisture. Therefore, this facial mask can smooth the skin, remove wrinkles, and moisturize the skin after use, and the effect is still very significant.

Wu Zetian’s care for her appearance has received mixed reviews, but from the perspective of ancient health preservation, if there is harmony and moderation, the effect of health preservation and longevity can be achieved, so it can also be revealed from another angle. Reasons for longevity. Among the young people Wu Zetian loved, there was also one who was her imperial doctor, named Shen Nan. He was young, handsome, and had excellent medical skills, so he was also very favored in front of Wu Zetian.

He also said that Wu Zetian's blood was very weak and it was difficult to endure.