Wu Zetian was the only female emperor in Chinese history. She took over the Tang throne and established her own dynasty, borrowing the name of the ancient Zhou dynasty. She implemented a number of changes and reforms, many of which were of symbolic nature. Among these was the introduction of new character forms for about 18 characters. These new forms were used during her reign (690-705), but were abolished after she stepped down from the throne and the Tang dynasty was restored. This video is about these peculiar character forms in the Dunhuang manuscripts, showing what they looked like in practice and also that they are not a bullet-proof method to dating manuscripts.