POV: You Are A Tang Official, 690 AD. A Woman Just Took The Throne. #historyshorts #ancienthistory

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]In 690 CE, a woman rose from the floor of a Buddhist temple and declared herself emperor of China.

[00:00:08]Wu Zetian had entered the Imperial [music] Palace at age 13 as the lowest rank of concubine, sent to serve a nun's vows after her master's death.

[00:00:18]She returned.

[00:00:20]She became empress consort, ruled beside an ailing emperor for two decades, [music] deposed her own sons, and on October 16th, 690, took the title Huangdi, not empress, but emperor.

[00:00:35]From her divine capital at Luoyang, she governed alone for 15 years, the only woman in 4,000 years of dynastic history to claim the dragon throne in her own name.