The Northern Wei Shang Emperor Yuanshi During the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was more than 150 years earlier than Wu Zetian, there was a female emperor. She was Miss Yuan, the daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Miss Yuan's ascension to the throne was entirely directed by her grandmother, Queen Mother Hu.

Empress Dowager Hu gave birth to a son, named Yuanxu. After the death of Emperor Xuanwu, her four-year-old son became the emperor. This was Emperor Xiaoming. For this reason, she was honored as the empress dowager, and because Emperor Xiaoming was young, she came to the court to listen to the government.

Empress Dowager Hu was arbitrary in politics and unruly in life, which aroused dissatisfaction among the courtiers. So Emperor Xiaoming secretly ordered Xiurongchuan, Haoqier, and Zhu Rong to lead troops to Luoyang to coerce Empress Dowager Hu. After Hu knew about it, he secretly discussed countermeasures. It happened that Yuanxu's concubine Pan Concubine gave birth to a girl. Hu pretended to be a boy and granted amnesty to the world. He changed the reign name "Xiaochang" to "Wutai", and then secretly poisoned Emperor Xiaoming to death. Then Miss Yuan, the daughter of Emperor Xiao Ming, became the emperor, and Prince Yan ascended the throne. The first female emperor in Chinese history ascended the throne. The year is AD 528. After some days, Empress Dowager Hu saw that people's hearts had settled, so she said that the emperor was actually a girl, and it was time to choose an heir, so she deposed Miss Yuan.