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Nambui, Empress of the Yuan Dynasty (1283-1290)

Nambui was the second Empress Consort of the Yuan Dynasty and married Kublai Khan after the death of his empress and her aunt, Chabi. After the death of Chabi, Kublai Khan would retreat to Nambui’s residence and would only allow very few people in to see him. Some sources even state that Nambui was allowed to issue important decrees on his behalf. Unfortunately Nambui and her son, Temechi, would go missing in 1290. 

Titles:

Empress (from 1283)

Khatun (from 1283)

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Chabi, Empress of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1281)

The first Empress Consort of the Yuan Dynasty was Chabi, wife to Kublai Khan (temple name of Emperor Shizu). She was born around the year 1216 and married Kublai Khan in 1239 as his second wife. She would first become Khatun of the Mongols and then later Empress after her husband conquered China. Chabi was described as extremely beautiful and charming and held important political influence during her husband's reign. As a fierce Buddhist she would mediate disputes between Kublai Khan and Phagpa, the director of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs. 

Chabi is also well known for her fashion achievements. She is credited with adding brims to Mongols hats and inventing the bijia. She designed the bijia as a convenient form of attire to wear while riding horses and shooting arrows. The bijia would continue to persist even after the fall of the Yuan dynasty and saw great popularity during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

Chabi would die in 1281, most likely while arranging for her niece to marry Kublai Khan and take her place as empress. 

Titles:

Khatun (from 1260)

Empress (from 1271)

Empress Zhaorui Shunsheng (posthumous)

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Yuan Dynasty Harem

The Yuan Dynasty harem was rather simple and consisted of only three ranks:

Empress

Consort

Concubine

As usual, the emperor was only allowed one empress but could have an unlimited number of consorts and concubines. 

An imperial concubine's status in the Yuan dynasty was based on the position of her tent and it was common for multiple concubines to share one. Typically the most important imperial consort would be given the first tent nearest to the west.

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Empress Xiaojielie of the Ming Dynasty (1627-1644)

Lady Zhou was born on 10 May 1611 to a poor family from Suzhou. She would marry Zhu Youjian in 1626 and became empress a year later when he ascended the throne as the Chongzhen Emperor. She was described as being stern and prudent, maintaining a frugal policy in the palace affairs as she never forgot her origins. She was reported to have a good relationship with her husband and his concubines, although she did have a few conflicts with the emperor’s favorite concubine, Consort Tian. 

Lady Zhou would die on 24th April 1644 at the age of 32. When the rebel army led by Li Zicheng attacked the capital the Chongzhen Emperor ordered the deaths of female family members, concubines included. Lady Zhou would hang herself in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. 

Titles:

Lady Zhou (from May 1611)

Princess Consort of Xin (from 1626)

Empress (from 1627)

Empress Xiaojielie (posthumous from 1645)

Empress Xiaojingduan (posthumous from 1644)

Empress Zhuangliemin (posthumous from 1659)

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Empress Xiao'aizhe of the Ming Dynasty (1621-1627)

Lady Zhang was born sometime in the year 1606 in Xiangfu County, Henan. She was selected to be the primary spouse and empress of the Tianqi Emperor in 1621. Though only 15/16 years old when she became empress, Lady Zhang was described as being very calm, straightforward, and strict but fair in palace affairs. 

She tried very hard to sway the emperor away from the influence of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and the wet nurse Madame Ke, who are suspected to have caused the miscarriages of all the imperial concubines, but was unable to do so. Lady Zhang would become pregnant in 1623, but sadly she miscarried. 

Wei Zhongxian and Madame Ke did their best to cause her downfall by accusing her father of piracy as they could not outright attack the empress. Luckily for Lady Zhang this plot would fail and she would continue to hold her position as Empress Consort. 

When the Tianqi Emperor died in 1627 there was a succession crisis as all of his children had been miscarried or died in infancy. Wei Zhongxian attempted to usurp the throne by trying to convince some of the imperial concubines to claim to be pregnant, and then get pregnant by a male accomplice of his. Lady Zhang successfully thwarted his plans by quickly securing the Tianqi Emperor’s younger brother as the new emperor. The Chongzhen Emperor would title her as Empress Yi’an in thanks. 

In April 1644 the capital would be attacked by the rebel army led by Li Zicheng. The Chongzen Emperor would order the female family members to be killed to avoid being captured. Lady Zhang and Empress Zhou would commit suicide. 

Titles:

Lady Zhang (from 1606)

Empress (from 1621)

Empress Yi’an (from 1627)

Empress Xiao’aizhe (posthumous from 1644)

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Empress Xiaoduanxian of the Ming Dynasty (1578-1620) The Longest Reigning Empress Consort

Wang Xijie was born on 7 November 1564 and would go on to become the longest reigning empress consort in Chinese history. 

Wang Xijie would attend the empress selection event held in the year 1577 and be chosen to marry the young Wanli Emperor. She would formally wed him a year later in the first month of 1578 at the age of 13. After becoming empress Wang Xijie’s family would be showered in royal favor with her father being given the rank of Count which would be passed down through his son and his son's son. 

While Wang Xijie was unable to have a son of her own, her relationship with the Wanli Emperor seems to have suffered little from this. The emperor continued to hold great respect for his wife throughout their entire 42 year marriage as she never openly criticized his relationships with the other concubines.  

Wang Xijie would help raise the emperor’s oldest son, Zhu Changluo, as his mother was not well liked by the emperor. When the emperor wished to make his son with the highly favored Noble Consort Zheng the crown prince, Wang Xijie helped secure Zhu Changluo’s right as the crown prince. 

Wang Xijie would pass away at the age of 56 on 7 May 1620. She had reigned as Empress Consort for 42 years. 

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Empress Xiao'an of the Ming Dynasty (1567-1572)

Lady Chen was the daughter of an imperial guard and grew up in Tongzhou, Zhili. In 1558 Lady Chen would marry Crown Prince Zhu Zaiji after the death of his first wife and became empress when he ascended the throne as the Longqing Emperor in 1567. 

Two years later Lady Chen would lose favor with the emperor and be moved to a different palace. There are different reasons for why she may have lost favor, it might have been because she had no sons or because she had criticized the emperor’s love of women and music. No matter the reason, Lady Chen was ignored by the emperor after this even when falling ill. 

Despite the emperor’s apathy towards his empress, his son Zhu Yijun still treated Lady Chen kindly. Zhu Yijun made a point to visit Lady Chen whenever he went to visit his father and mother. When the prince ascended the throne in 1572 he granted her the title of Empress Dowager alongside his mother and always treated Lady Chen with respect. 

Lady Chen would pass away on 6 August 1596.

Titles:

Lady Chen

Princess of Yu (from 1558)

Empress (from 1567)

Empress Dowager Rensheng (from 1572)

Empress Dowager Rensheng Zhenyi (from 1578

Empress Dowager Rensheng Zhenyi Kangjing (from 1582)

Empress Xiao’an (posthumous from 1596)

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Empress Xiaolie of the Ming Dynasty (1534-1547)

Lady Fang was born in 1516 and grew up in the Nanjing area. She was selected to become an imperial concubine in 1531 at the age of 15. Despite never sharing a bed with the Jiajing Emperor she was chosen to become his third empress consort just nine days after Empress Zhang was deposed. The reason for her ascension is most likely because she had sided with the emperor during one of his disputes with court officials over honoring imperial ancestors. For the first several years as empress Lady Fang was described as being the favorite spouse of the emperor. 

Their relationship would be damaged after the Renyin Palace Rebellion in 1542. In October of that year sixteen palace maids conspired to assassinate the emperor for being exceedingly cruel to the palace women. It’s reported that the Jiajing Emperor had up to 200 palace maids beaten to death during his reign. The maids attacked the emperor when she was spending the night with his favorite concubine, Consort Duan, and attempted to strangle him. During the attack one of the women became afraid and ran to Lady Fang. Lady Fang would rush in and save the emperor’s life. 

As the emperor was in an extreme state of shock after this attempt, Lady Fang took control of the situation and had all sixteen maids and Consort Duan executed. The emperor was upset after Consort Duan’s execution and refused to believe she was involved with the attempt. He would blame Lady Fang for Consort Duan’s death and their relationship never recovered. Lady Fang reportedly became depressed after this. 

In 1547, Lady Fang would become trapped in a fire. An eunuch asked the Jiajing Emperor if they should try to save her, but the emperor refused to answer and as a result Lady Fang burned to death. Despite blaming her for his favorite concubine's death and letting her burn to death, the emperor granted her all honors after her death. 

Titles:

Lady Fang (from 1516)

Concubine De (from 1531)

Empress (from 1534)

Empress Xiaolie (posthumous from 1547)

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Empress Zhang of the Ming Dynasty (1529-1534)

Zhang Qijie, the daughter of an imperial guard, was selected to join the imperial harem in 1526 and given the title of Consort Shun. She was chosen to become empress after the Jiajing Emperor’s first empress passed away in 1528.

Unfortunately for Zhang Qijie, she would be deposed and stripped of her title in 1534. No official reason was given, but it is believed to be because of the favor Zhang Qijie was shown by Empress Dowager Zhang. She would die three years later in 1537 and was never given any posthumous titles. 

Titles:

Lady Zhang

Consort Shun (from 1526)

Empress (from 1529)

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Empress Xiaojiesu of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1528)

Lady Chen was the daughter of Chen Wanyang and born in the year 1508. Not much is known about Lady Chen until she entered the palace of the Jiajing Emperor in 1522 and became his empress upon the command of Empress Dowager Zhang. At first the marriage seemed to be going well, Lady Chen was beautiful and said to be very talented. The Jiajing Emperor was pleased with his wife but things began to sour when Lady Chen started to grow close with the empress dowager. Soon after this the emperor would start to ignore Lady Chen in favor of his concubines. 

When she became pregnant in 1528 Lady Chen would become angry at her husband for openly lusting after his concubines in front of her. As she went to leave the room the emperor grew upset at her for being openly angry and kicked her several times, causing her to miscarry the child. Unfortunately Lady Chen would never recover from this and passed away a year later. 

After her death, the emepror gave her a very simple funeral and gave her the posthumous name of Empress Daoling, meaning “sorrowful spirit”. In 1536 he would change her posthumous name to Empress Xiaojielie, meaning “filial and pure”, at the request of the Minister of Rites. When the Jiajing Emperor’s Yongling Mausoleum was completed in 1539 he refused to allow her to be buried there. It wouldn’t be until 1567 when the Jiajing Emperor’s son, the now Longqing Emperor, would allow Lady Chen’s body to be moved to the mausoleum and given the new posthumous title of Empress Xiaojiesu, restoring her rights as the first Empress of the Jiajing Emperor. 

Titles:

Lady Chen (from 1508)

Empress (from 1522)

Empress Daoling (posthumous from 1528)

Empress Xiaojielie (posthumous from 1536)

Empress Xiaojiesu (posthumous 1567)

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The Empresses of China Blog last scheduled post is January 8, 2025. My next post won’t be until March 1, 2025 as I will be taking a break to grieve the death of my younger brother.

Thank you for your patience and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

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Empress Xiaojingyi of the Ming Dynasty (1506-1521)

Lady Xia was born in 1492 to Xia Ru in the Shangyuan district. In 1506 she was selected to marry the Zhengde Emperor and become his empress. Lady Xia was noted as being virtuous and elegant. Unfortunately the Zhendge Emperor would die childless in 1521 and be suceeded by his cousin. Lady Xia was unable to become empress dowager and instead became titled Empress Zhuangsu until her death in 1535. 

Titles:

Lady Xia (from 1492)

Empress (from 1506)

Empress Zhuangsu (from 1521)

Empress Xiaojingyi (posthumous from 1535)

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Empress Xiaochengjing of the Ming Dynasty (1487-1505)

Lady Zhang was born in 1471 in Xingji County, Zhili. She married Crown Prince Zhu Youcheng in 1487 and later that year became empress after her husband ascended the throne as the Hongzhi Emperor. 

Their marriage was unusual in the fact that the Hongzhi took no other wives or concubines, as was the custom of the time. Lady Zhang was described as being foolish and demanding, desiring expensive objects and unlimited favor for her family. Her brothers would take advantage of this and constantly abuse their power. 

Lady Zhang would give birth to a son, Zhu Houzhao, in 1491. The Hongzhi Emperor would die in 1505 and Zhu Houzhao would succeed his father, making Lady Zhang the Empress Dowager. Unfortunately Zhu Houzhao would pass away in 1521 with no children to inherit the throne. Instead a cousin would be selected and ascend the throne as the Jiajing Emperor. 

It was originally thought that the new emperor would continue the line of succession by stepping into the role of an adopted son of Lady Zhang. This plan would fail when the new emperor’s mother, Lady Chiang, arrived. Upon hearing she was to be received as princess and her son was being pressured to view Lady Zhang as his mother, she threatened to return to Anlu and take the new emperor with her. Eventually an edict was issued by Lady Zhang to give Lady Chiang an imperial title. 

This would not be the end of the issue as Lady Zhang refused to treat Lady Chiang as an empress dowager and instead would receive her with the courtesies for an imperial princess. This behavior would infuriate the mother and son, who would use every chance to humiliate Lady Zhang. The Jiajing Emperor would snub Lady Zhang on her birthday and refuse to have anything to do with the wife she picked for him. When Lady Zhang’s palace was destroyed by a fire in the spring of 1525 the emperor found any reason to halt construction on it. 

Lady Zhang would pass away on 28 August 1541 and her funeral was treated with as little ceremony as possible. 

Titles:

Lady Zhang (from 1471)

Crown Princess (from 1487)

Empress (from 1487)

Empress Dowager (1505)

Empress Dowager Cishou (from 1510)

Empress Dowager Zhaoshengcishou (from 1521)

Empress Xiaokangjing (posthumous from 1541)

Empress Xiaochengjing (posthumous from 1644)

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Empress Xiaozhenchun of the Ming Dynasty (1464-1487)

Lady Wang, second Empress Consort of the Chenghua Emperor, was born sometime between 1440-50 and became a consort in 1464. She would be promoted to Empress in the same year after Empress Wu was deposed after fighting with the favored Consort Wan. Anxious to avoid the same fate, Lady Wang kept her head down and it’s even believed she stayed childless to avoid Consort Wan’s wrath. 

Lady Wang’s plan worked and she stayed Empress until 1487 when the Chenghua Emperor died and his son Zhu Youcheng ascended the throne as the Hongzhi Emperor and she was promoted to Empress Dowager. She would become the Grand Empress Dowager in 1505 when Zhu Youcheng’s son succeeded him as emperor. 

Lady Wang would pass away in 1518. 

Titles:

Lady Wang

Consort (from 1464)

Empress (from 1464)

Empress Dowager (1487)

Grand Empress Dowager (1505)

Grand Empress Dowager Cisheng Kangshou (1510)

Empress Xiaozhenchun (posthumous from 1518)

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Empress Wu of the Ming Dynasty (1464-1464) The One Month Empress

Lady Wu was born sometime in the late 15th century in the capital city of Beijing. In 1464 she was selected to be the wife and empress of the Chenghua Emperor. Unfortunately Lady Wu would not hold this position for very long. Within one month Lady Wu had gotten into a fight with the favored Consort Wan and ordered her to be whipped. Furious by this the Chenghua Emperor had Lady Wy demoted and stripped of her title. Lady Wu would continue to live in the Forbidden City and stayed involved in palace life. For five years she would help hide Consort Ji and her son, the future Hongzhi Emperor, from Consort Wan. 

Lady Wu would pass away in 1509, her funeral was that of a consort and she was never awarded a posthumous name. 

Titles:

Lady Wu

Empress (1464)

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Empress Suxiao of the Ming Dynasty (1452-1456)

Not much is known about Lady Hang prior to her husband's ascension to the throne. In 1449 Zhu Qiyu was made emperor after his older brother, the Zhengtong Emperor, was captured by the Mongols and Lady Hang was elevated to Consort Hang. Lady Hang would give birth to a son in March of 1452 and soon afterwards the Jingtai Emperor deposed Empress Wang and promoted Lady Hang to Empress and her son was made the crown prince. Unfortunately Lady Hang would pass away sometime in 1456. 

Titles:

Lady Hang 

Consort Hang (from 1449)

Empress (from 1452)

Empress Suxiao (posthumous from 1456)

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Empress Xiaoyuanjing of the Ming Dynasty (1449-1452)

Lady Wang was born in the year 1427 and married Zhu Qiyu in 1449. Not long after her marriage, Lady Wang’s husband would become the Jingtai Emperor when his older brother was captured by the Mongols in battle. 

Lady Wang would have two daughters, but no sons which would lead to her deposition. In 1452 the Jingtai Emperor would declare the son of Consort Hang as heir to the throne and then had Lady Wang stripped of her titles and sent to live outside the palace. Consort Hang was then promoted to Empress. 

Lady Wang lived a relatively peaceful life after being deposed. In 1457 when the rest of the Jingtai Emperor’s wives and concubines were ordered to commit suicide, she was spared from this fate. The most likely reason for being spared was because she had helped the future Chenghua Emperor hide from Jingtai. She would pass away in 1506. 

Titles:

Lady Wang (from 1427)

Princess of Cheng (from 1445)

Empress (from 1449)

Princess of Cheng (from 1457)

Empress Zhenhui Anhe Jing (posthumous from 1507)

Empress Xiaoyuanjing (posthumous from 1644)