How Wu Zetian became China’s only female emperor

YouTube · BlaBla Chinese · Learner content · 2026/09/15

2026/09/15

Speech duration: 5min 0s
Unique characters · 70 once: 188
Word count: 615
Average sentence length: 12.8
Length: 5:08
Unique words · 66 once: 164
Syllables per minute: 190
Script: Simplified 简
Sentences: 74
Difficulty Advanceddifficulty Difficulty is estimated from vocabulary: knowing common words through Level 68 covers about 95% of the words in this content — roughly 1 unfamiliar word in 20, the coverage research links to comfortable listening. Level 68 sits in the Advanced range. How difficulty works: Advanced · 68

Difficulty is estimated from vocabulary: knowing common words through Level 68 covers about 95% of the words in this content — roughly 1 unfamiliar word in 20, the coverage research links to comfortable listening. Level 68 sits in the Advanced range.

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Vocab coverage

The Level you need to know each share of this video’s words. The dark 95% step is its difficulty.

Lv 1

Lv 5

Lv 22

Lv 68

HSK 3.0 coverage

Which HSK 3.0 list each of this video’s words comes from.

HSK 1 55%
HSK 2 9%
HSK 3 9%
HSK 4 3%
HSK 5 5%
HSK 6 6%
HSK 7–9 1%
Not on HSK 12%

Cumulative: HSK 1–4 covers 76% of the words, HSK 1–6 covers 87%, HSK 1–9 covers 88%.

Words to learn first

Pick a level to see the words a learner there needs to understand 95% of this video’s words.

Starting from zero (Beginner), learn 132 words to reach 95% of this video’s words.

The 20 most-used of these 132 words.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning (CC-CEDICT)	In video	Level
的	de	of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的[pi2 ge2 de5] "one made of leather" or 跑堂兒的\|跑堂儿的[pao3 tang2 r5 de5] "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one"); also pr. [di4] or [di5] in poetry and songs; really and truly; a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士[di1 shi4]); (bound form) bull's-eye; target	49	Lv 1
她	tā	she	31	Lv 1
皇帝	huáng dì	emperor; CL:個\|个[ge4]	28	Lv 68
呢	ne	particle indicating that a previously asked question is to be applied to the preceding word ("What about ...?", "And ...?"); particle for inquiring about location ("Where is ...?"); particle signaling a pause, to emphasize the preceding words and allow the listener time to take them on board ("ok?", "are you with me?"); (at the end of a declarative sentence) particle indicating continuation of a state or action; particle indicating strong affirmation; dense wool fabric (used for coats and jackets)	18	Lv 2
是	shì	to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4]	18	Lv 1
这个	zhè gè	(pronoun) this; (adjective) this	18	Lv 1
他	tā	(third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2])	14	Lv 1
很	hěn	very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element)	14	Lv 1
在	zài	to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)	13	Lv 1
有	yǒu	to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional)	13	Lv 1
了	le	(completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); to finish; (used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4 bu5 liao3] "cannot forget"); (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無\|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least; (of eyes) bright; clear-sighted; to understand clearly; to understand clearly (variant of 瞭\|了[liao3]); unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4]	12	Lv 1
所以	suǒ yǐ	therefore; as a result; so; the reason why	12	Lv 2
个	gè	used in 自個兒\|自个儿[zi4 ge3 r5]; (classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier); (bound form) individual; variant of 個\|个[ge4]	10	Lv 1
时候	shí hòu	time; length of time; moment; period	10	Lv 1
多	duō	many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly-	9	Lv 2
也	yě	also; too; as well; (not ...) either; (used after a verbal or nominal expression X to indicate that X is an extreme or unexpected case) even (X); (literary) particle having functions similar to 啊[a5]; surname Ye	8	Lv 1
做	zuò	to make; to produce; to write; to compose; to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc); (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, friends etc); (of a thing) to serve as; to be used for; to assume (an air or manner)	7	Lv 1
一	yī	one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit	6	Lv 1
可以	kě yǐ	can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good	6	Lv 1
一个	yī gè	a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc)	5	Lv 1

Is this video right for my Chinese?

A 5-minute video from BlaBla Chinese with 5 minutes of speech at 190 syllables per minute. It's 615 words long, using 164 different words. Difficulty: Advanced, Level 68 — it suits Advanced learners: knowing the common words through Level 68 covers about 95% of its words, roughly 1 unfamiliar word in 20. Words to learn first include 的, 她, 皇帝.