O glorious day! The persistent supplication of our hundred-names has been accepted! Our dynasty will be changed from T’ang to Chou, for Wu is Heaven! On this day in the Year of the Horse, we celebrate the ascension of our new Son of Heaven, Tse’Tien Da Shen Huang Ti.

The Grand Preceptor, the Grand Commander and the entire Imperial court knelt in the Audience Hall of the Imperial Palace to our new Son of Heaven, who was a woman. They performed the rite of ablution of hands and placed the oblong crown upon her head, hailing her with “Wen Sui! Wen Sui! Wen Sui!”

Praying before the altar in the open court, Wu Chao, she who was our eminent Empress Dowager reported to Heaven that she was now the new Emperor. At long last! She is our Emperor, founder of the Great Chou Dynasty, Sovereign of the Celestial Empire!

In the Imperial Park tonight, the wine will flow like water. The food will be ample and generous. The music will lighten our hearts and gay our moods. Fireworks will light the sky.

So celebrate all, for the new Emperor, on this day, in honor of her acceptance and ascension, has granted the nation an amnesty and a remission of one year’s tax. To us, she is neither man nor woman but a semi-god, our Great Holy Emperor.