That does not excuse genuine atrocity. Ordering the execution of children (as some empresses are accused) is indefensible. But we must be specific about which crimes are historical fact and which are literary invention. The keyword "atrocious empress" is trending not because readers love cruelty, but because we are hungry for complexity. In an era of feminist revisionism and post-truth politics, we recognize that history is a story told by the powerful.

Consider the alternative: "kind" empresses rarely survive. The few who were gentle—like Marie Antoinette (though a queen, not an empress)—were devoured by the mob. The "atrocious empress" understands a brutal truth: The throne is a furnace. If you do not burn your enemies, you will be consumed by them.

Were Wu, Irene, and Cixi "atrocious"? Yes, by the standards of a nursing home. No, by the standards of a battlefield.