Empress Wei Zifu
Encyclopedia
Empress Wei Zifu (died 91 BC), formally Wei Sihou (衛思后), was an empress during Han Dynasty
. She was Emperor Wu
's second wife, and stayed as his empress for 38 years, the second longest in Chinese history (after Empress Wang of Ming
's Wanli Emperor
). She was also the half sister of the famed general Wei Qing
, the younger aunt of Huo Qubing
and the step-aunt of Han statesman Huo Guang
.
, Emperor Wu's sister. Her brother Wei Qing was also an illegitimate child, of a different father. When Wei Zifu was still young, she became a singing dancer at the princess' estate. She also learned music, calligraphy, chess and painting.
Emperor Wu initially loved his first wife, Empress Chen Jiao
greatly but after Empress Chen was unable to bear him a son after years of marriage, she began to lose favor. Circa 139 BC, Emperor Wu paid a visit to his sister Princess Pingyang, who had prepared a collection of young women to offer for his concubinage
(girls from lowly background, such as Wei Zifu, were not included), in order to establish herself political leverage. However, the plan did not work — all the candidates failed to impress the Emperor. Realizing her brother was bored, the Princess called in the dancers for entertainment. This time, the Emperor set his eyes on Wei and had immediately fallen for her beauty. Taking the opportunity of visiting the restroom, the young Emperor took advantage on the young singer, whom the Princess ordered to follow in and serve as a handmaid. Princess Pingyang therefore offered Wei to Emperor Wu to become part of his concubinage.
However, what Wei Zifu would experience later on was far from a lovely cinderella story. Empress Chen, upon hearing the arrival of the new concubine, persuaded Emperor Wu to abandon his idea of making Wei his concubine. Wei Zifu then was demoted to an insignificant palace maid and was largely forgotten by the Emperor. More than a year later, feeling hopeless with her life inside the palaces, Wei blended into a queue of palace maids waiting to be expelled from the palace (normally those who were aged or incompetent in palace services) in the hope of getting out. Coincidentally, Emperor Wu happened to be there inspecting the expulsion process, and love soon re-flamed when he saw her pleading to go home.
Wei was made to stay and fell pregnant very shortly later. This was exciting news for Emperor Wu, who was upset over being partially blamed for Empress Chen's infertility. At the time, Emperor Wu's throne was under threat due to his previous political clash with Grand Empress Dowager Dou
in the failed 139 BC reform, after which many royal members supported the idea of deposing him under the excuse that he was incapable of fathering children, and making his uncle Liu An
the successor. Wei Zifu's pregnancy cleared Emperor Wu's name, and ensured her becoming favored over Empress Chen.
Empress Chen became exceedingly jealous of Wei Zifu, and Empress Chen's mother, Princess Liu Piao (劉嫖) tried to take vengeance by kidnapping Wei's younger brother Wei Qing
, who was then a servant at a marquess' household, and she considered killing him. Wei Qing, however, was rescued from the princess' estate by his friends, led by Gongsun Ao (公孫敖). In response to the incident and as a sign of annoyance towards Empress Chen and Princess Piao, Emperor Wu made Wei Zifu a Consort (a concubine position lower only to the Empress), and resided closely to himself. Wei Qing was appointed the head of the household at Jianzhang Palace, away from where the princess might be able to harm him. While being an imperial concubine, Consort Wei almost monopolized the Emperor's love and bore him three daughters.
In 130 BC, Empress Chen was discovered to have retained witches to use witchcraft in the attempt to restore her husband's love to her and to curse other concubines, Consort Wei in particular. She was deposed for this misconduct against imperial moral standards, but Consort Wei was not made empress at this time, because she too was sonless like the other concubines. In 128 BC, she finally bore Emperor Wu his first son, Liu Ju
, and she was created Empress later that year. Her son was created Crown Prince in 122 BC.
, and after he achieved a series of victories, not only he, but also his three young sons, were made marquess
es (although he declined the offer for his sons, suggesting instead that the emperor promote his subordinates). Similarly promoted and honored was her nephew Huo Qubing
, a great general in his own right. Despite the fact that the rise of the Wei family largely owed credit to the military talent of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, Wei Zifu was often seen as the backbone of the family. A contemporary folk song sang:
Because the great achievements of this Wei family, many later Han emperors considered marrying concubines with the surname Wei as a way of attaining good fortune.
As the years went by, the sexual attraction to Empress Wei by Emperor Wu decreased. He favored several other concubines, including Consort Li (the sister of Li Guangli and Li Yannian
) and Consort Zhao. However, he continued to respect Empress Wei's judgment in governing the palace, and he entrusted her with palace affairs while he would be out of the capital, while entrusting the governmental affairs to her son, Crown Prince Ju.
In 94 BC, Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling
was born to Consort Zhao. Emperor Wu was ecstatic in having a child at his advanced age (62), and because Consort Zhao purportedly had a pregnancy that lasted 14 months long—the same length as the mythical Emperor Yao -- he named Consort Zhao's palace gate "Gate of Yao's Mother." This led to speculations that he, due to his favor for Consort Zhao and Prince Fuling, wanted to make Prince Fuling crown prince instead. While there was no evidence that he actually intended to do anything of the such, over the next few years, there began to be conspirators against Crown Prince Ju and Empress Wei.
One of the conspirators against Prince Ju would be Jiang Chong (江充), the head of the secret intelligence, who once had a run-in with Prince Ju after arresting one of Prince Ju's assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. It appears likely that Jiang was behind many of the witchcraft accusations against important persons—including Prince Ju's sisters Princesses Zhuyi and Yangshi and cousin Wei Kang (衛伉) (Wei Qing's son), who were executed in 91 BC after being accused of witchcraft. One other conspirator was Emperor Wu's guard Su Wen (蘇文), who had falsely accused Prince Ju of committing adultery with Emperor Wu's junior concubines.
Jiang and Su decided on using witchcraft as the excuse to move against Prince Ju. Jiang, with approval from Emperor Wu, who was then at his summer palace in Ganquan (甘泉, in modern Xianyang
, Shaanxi
), searched through various palaces, ostensibly for witchcraft items, eventually reaching Prince Ju's palace. He planted dolls and a piece of cloth with mysterious writing in Prince Ju's palace, and then announced that he found them there. Prince Ju was shocked. He considered his options, and his teacher Shi De (石德), invoking the story of Ying Fusu and raising the possibility that Emperor Wu might already be deceased, suggested that Prince Ju start an uprising. Prince Ju initially hesitated and wanted to speedily proceed to Ganquan to try to see his father to explain himself, but he found out that Jiang's messengers were already on their way. He decided to accept Shi's suggestion.
Prince Ju then sent an individual to impersonate a messenger from Emperor Wu to arrest Jiang and his coconspirators — except for Su, who escaped. After they were arrested, Prince Ju personally killed Jiang. He then led the guards of his and Empress Wei's palaces and prepared to defend himself. Su fled to Ganquan Palace and told Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was committing treason. Emperor Wu, not believing it to be true and correctly (at this point) believing that Prince Ju had merely been angry at Jiang, send a messenger back to Chang'an to summon Prince Ju. The messenger did not dare to proceed to Chang'an, but instead returned and falsely reported to Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was going to kill him. By now enraged, Emperor Wu ordered his nephew, Prime Minister Liu Qumao (劉屈犛), to put down the rebellion. The forces battled for five days, but Liu Qumao's forces prevailed after it became clear that Prince Ju did not have his father's authorization. Prince Ju fled the capital and eventually committed suicide.
Shortly after Prince Ju's escape, Emperor Wu sent two officials to Empress Wei's palace to seize her seal (i.e. to depose her). In response, she committed suicide, and was buried with a small coffin in the south of the city. Most of her clan members were killed in the turmoil.
After her great-grandson Liu Bingyi (through Prince Ju) became emperor in 74 BC as Emperor Xuan
, he had her reburied in a larger but relatively modest tomb, not with her husband Emperor Wu, and gave her the posthumous title Wei Si Hou (衛思后, literally meaning "Empress Wei, the Deep Thinker"). Her new tomb, due to its remote location and relative humbleness, escaped the looting by tomb raiders later.
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
. She was Emperor Wu
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han , , personal name Liu Che , was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized...
's second wife, and stayed as his empress for 38 years, the second longest in Chinese history (after Empress Wang of Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
's Wanli Emperor
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son...
). She was also the half sister of the famed general Wei Qing
Wei Qing
Wei Qing , born Zheng Qing in Linfen, Shanxi, was a famous general during Han Dynasty of China, whose campaigns against the Xiongnu earned him great acclaim. He was the younger half-brother of Empress Wei Zifu, making him the the Emperor Wu's brother-in-law...
, the younger aunt of Huo Qubing
Huo Qubing
Huo Qubing , born in Linfen, Shanxi, was a general of the western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. Being the illegitimate son of Wei Shaoer, he was the nephew of Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu....
and the step-aunt of Han statesman Huo Guang
Huo Guang
Huo Guang , courtesy name Zimeng was a Western Han statesman who was a rare example in Chinese history of a powerful official who deposed an emperor for the good of the state rather than to usurp the throne...
.
Family background and early years
Wei Zifu was born from humble means, as an illegitimate child. She therefore took the family name of her mother's husband, who was a servant at the household of Princess Pingyang (平陽公主)Princess Pingyang (Han Dynasty)
Princess Pingyang was the eldest daughter of Emperor Jing of Han and his second empress, Empress Wang Zhi. She was the eldest sister of Emperor Wu of Han...
, Emperor Wu's sister. Her brother Wei Qing was also an illegitimate child, of a different father. When Wei Zifu was still young, she became a singing dancer at the princess' estate. She also learned music, calligraphy, chess and painting.
Emperor Wu initially loved his first wife, Empress Chen Jiao
Empress Chen Jiao
Empress Chen Jiao was an empress during Han Dynasty. She was the first wife of Emperor Wu of Han, but was deposed in 130 BC. Her father was Chen Wu , the Marquess of Tangyi. Her mother was Emperor Wu's aunt Princess Liu Piao , making her and her husband cousins...
greatly but after Empress Chen was unable to bear him a son after years of marriage, she began to lose favor. Circa 139 BC, Emperor Wu paid a visit to his sister Princess Pingyang, who had prepared a collection of young women to offer for his concubinage
Concubinage
Concubinage is the state of a woman or man in an ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented, relationship with somebody to whom they cannot be married, often because of a difference in social status or economic condition.-Concubinage:...
(girls from lowly background, such as Wei Zifu, were not included), in order to establish herself political leverage. However, the plan did not work — all the candidates failed to impress the Emperor. Realizing her brother was bored, the Princess called in the dancers for entertainment. This time, the Emperor set his eyes on Wei and had immediately fallen for her beauty. Taking the opportunity of visiting the restroom, the young Emperor took advantage on the young singer, whom the Princess ordered to follow in and serve as a handmaid. Princess Pingyang therefore offered Wei to Emperor Wu to become part of his concubinage.
However, what Wei Zifu would experience later on was far from a lovely cinderella story. Empress Chen, upon hearing the arrival of the new concubine, persuaded Emperor Wu to abandon his idea of making Wei his concubine. Wei Zifu then was demoted to an insignificant palace maid and was largely forgotten by the Emperor. More than a year later, feeling hopeless with her life inside the palaces, Wei blended into a queue of palace maids waiting to be expelled from the palace (normally those who were aged or incompetent in palace services) in the hope of getting out. Coincidentally, Emperor Wu happened to be there inspecting the expulsion process, and love soon re-flamed when he saw her pleading to go home.
Wei was made to stay and fell pregnant very shortly later. This was exciting news for Emperor Wu, who was upset over being partially blamed for Empress Chen's infertility. At the time, Emperor Wu's throne was under threat due to his previous political clash with Grand Empress Dowager Dou
Empress Dou (Wen)
Empress Dou , formally Empress Xiaowen , was a Chinese empress during the Han Dynasty who greatly influenced the reigns of her husband Emperor Wen and her son Emperor Jing with her adherence of Taoist philosophy...
in the failed 139 BC reform, after which many royal members supported the idea of deposing him under the excuse that he was incapable of fathering children, and making his uncle Liu An
Liu An
Líu Ān was a Chinese prince and advisor to his nephew, Emperor Wu of Han of the Han Dynasty in China and the legendary inventor of t'ai chi...
the successor. Wei Zifu's pregnancy cleared Emperor Wu's name, and ensured her becoming favored over Empress Chen.
Empress Chen became exceedingly jealous of Wei Zifu, and Empress Chen's mother, Princess Liu Piao (劉嫖) tried to take vengeance by kidnapping Wei's younger brother Wei Qing
Wei Qing
Wei Qing , born Zheng Qing in Linfen, Shanxi, was a famous general during Han Dynasty of China, whose campaigns against the Xiongnu earned him great acclaim. He was the younger half-brother of Empress Wei Zifu, making him the the Emperor Wu's brother-in-law...
, who was then a servant at a marquess' household, and she considered killing him. Wei Qing, however, was rescued from the princess' estate by his friends, led by Gongsun Ao (公孫敖). In response to the incident and as a sign of annoyance towards Empress Chen and Princess Piao, Emperor Wu made Wei Zifu a Consort (a concubine position lower only to the Empress), and resided closely to himself. Wei Qing was appointed the head of the household at Jianzhang Palace, away from where the princess might be able to harm him. While being an imperial concubine, Consort Wei almost monopolized the Emperor's love and bore him three daughters.
In 130 BC, Empress Chen was discovered to have retained witches to use witchcraft in the attempt to restore her husband's love to her and to curse other concubines, Consort Wei in particular. She was deposed for this misconduct against imperial moral standards, but Consort Wei was not made empress at this time, because she too was sonless like the other concubines. In 128 BC, she finally bore Emperor Wu his first son, Liu Ju
Liu Ju
Liu Ju , formally Crown Prince Li was crown prince during the reign of his father, Emperor Wu of Han, during China's Han Dynasty...
, and she was created Empress later that year. Her son was created Crown Prince in 122 BC.
As empress
After Wei Zifu became empress, Emperor Wu honored her family greatly. Wei Qing was made a key general in the war effort against XiongnuXiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
, and after he achieved a series of victories, not only he, but also his three young sons, were made marquess
Marquess
A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...
es (although he declined the offer for his sons, suggesting instead that the emperor promote his subordinates). Similarly promoted and honored was her nephew Huo Qubing
Huo Qubing
Huo Qubing , born in Linfen, Shanxi, was a general of the western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. Being the illegitimate son of Wei Shaoer, he was the nephew of Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu....
, a great general in his own right. Despite the fact that the rise of the Wei family largely owed credit to the military talent of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, Wei Zifu was often seen as the backbone of the family. A contemporary folk song sang:
Because the great achievements of this Wei family, many later Han emperors considered marrying concubines with the surname Wei as a way of attaining good fortune.
As the years went by, the sexual attraction to Empress Wei by Emperor Wu decreased. He favored several other concubines, including Consort Li (the sister of Li Guangli and Li Yannian
Li Yannian
Li Yannian was a Chinese musician during Han Dynasty. Born into a musical family, he became a court musician during Emperor Wu's reign. Later he was sentenced to castration after committing a crime....
) and Consort Zhao. However, he continued to respect Empress Wei's judgment in governing the palace, and he entrusted her with palace affairs while he would be out of the capital, while entrusting the governmental affairs to her son, Crown Prince Ju.
The Crown Prince Ju revolt and death
In his advanced age, Emperor Wu became paranoid about the use of witchcraft against him. In 96 BC, a series of witchcraft persecutions would begin. Large numbers of people, many of whom were high officials and their families, were accused of witchcraft and executed, usually with their clans. The first trial began with General Gongsun Ao and his wife, leading to the execution of their clan. Soon, these witchcraft persecutions would become intertwined in the succession struggles and erupt into a major catastrophe.In 94 BC, Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling
Emperor Zhao of Han
Emperor Zhao of Han was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty from 87 BC to 74 BC.Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han. By the time Zhao was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Zhao ascended the throne after the death of Emperor Wu in 87 BC. He was only 8 years old...
was born to Consort Zhao. Emperor Wu was ecstatic in having a child at his advanced age (62), and because Consort Zhao purportedly had a pregnancy that lasted 14 months long—the same length as the mythical Emperor Yao -- he named Consort Zhao's palace gate "Gate of Yao's Mother." This led to speculations that he, due to his favor for Consort Zhao and Prince Fuling, wanted to make Prince Fuling crown prince instead. While there was no evidence that he actually intended to do anything of the such, over the next few years, there began to be conspirators against Crown Prince Ju and Empress Wei.
One of the conspirators against Prince Ju would be Jiang Chong (江充), the head of the secret intelligence, who once had a run-in with Prince Ju after arresting one of Prince Ju's assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. It appears likely that Jiang was behind many of the witchcraft accusations against important persons—including Prince Ju's sisters Princesses Zhuyi and Yangshi and cousin Wei Kang (衛伉) (Wei Qing's son), who were executed in 91 BC after being accused of witchcraft. One other conspirator was Emperor Wu's guard Su Wen (蘇文), who had falsely accused Prince Ju of committing adultery with Emperor Wu's junior concubines.
Jiang and Su decided on using witchcraft as the excuse to move against Prince Ju. Jiang, with approval from Emperor Wu, who was then at his summer palace in Ganquan (甘泉, in modern Xianyang
Xianyang
Xianyang is a former capital of China in Shaanxi province, on the Wei River, a few kilometers upstream from Xi'an. It has an area of...
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
), searched through various palaces, ostensibly for witchcraft items, eventually reaching Prince Ju's palace. He planted dolls and a piece of cloth with mysterious writing in Prince Ju's palace, and then announced that he found them there. Prince Ju was shocked. He considered his options, and his teacher Shi De (石德), invoking the story of Ying Fusu and raising the possibility that Emperor Wu might already be deceased, suggested that Prince Ju start an uprising. Prince Ju initially hesitated and wanted to speedily proceed to Ganquan to try to see his father to explain himself, but he found out that Jiang's messengers were already on their way. He decided to accept Shi's suggestion.
Prince Ju then sent an individual to impersonate a messenger from Emperor Wu to arrest Jiang and his coconspirators — except for Su, who escaped. After they were arrested, Prince Ju personally killed Jiang. He then led the guards of his and Empress Wei's palaces and prepared to defend himself. Su fled to Ganquan Palace and told Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was committing treason. Emperor Wu, not believing it to be true and correctly (at this point) believing that Prince Ju had merely been angry at Jiang, send a messenger back to Chang'an to summon Prince Ju. The messenger did not dare to proceed to Chang'an, but instead returned and falsely reported to Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was going to kill him. By now enraged, Emperor Wu ordered his nephew, Prime Minister Liu Qumao (劉屈犛), to put down the rebellion. The forces battled for five days, but Liu Qumao's forces prevailed after it became clear that Prince Ju did not have his father's authorization. Prince Ju fled the capital and eventually committed suicide.
Shortly after Prince Ju's escape, Emperor Wu sent two officials to Empress Wei's palace to seize her seal (i.e. to depose her). In response, she committed suicide, and was buried with a small coffin in the south of the city. Most of her clan members were killed in the turmoil.
After her great-grandson Liu Bingyi (through Prince Ju) became emperor in 74 BC as Emperor Xuan
Emperor Xuan of Han
Emperor Xuan of Han was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty from 74 BC to 49 BC. His life story was a riches-to-rags-to-riches story.Emperor Xuan was the great grandson of Emperor Wu...
, he had her reburied in a larger but relatively modest tomb, not with her husband Emperor Wu, and gave her the posthumous title Wei Si Hou (衛思后, literally meaning "Empress Wei, the Deep Thinker"). Her new tomb, due to its remote location and relative humbleness, escaped the looting by tomb raiders later.