Empress Yuan Qigui
Encyclopedia
Empress Yuan Qigui (405–440), formally Empress Yuan (元皇后, literally "the discerning empress") was an empress of the Chinese
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

 dynasty Liu Song. Her husband was Emperor Wen
Emperor Wen of Liu Song
Emperor Wen of Liu Song , personal name Liu Yilong , nickname Che'er , was an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. He was the third son of the dynastic founder Emperor Wu . After his father's death in 422, Liu Yilong's eldest brother Liu Yifu took the throne as Emperor Shao...

 (Liu Yilong).

Yuan Qigui was the daughter of the official Yuan Dan (袁湛) and his concubine, Concubine Wang, but her mother was of such low status that Yuan Dan did not let others know of Yuan Qigui's existence until she was four or five. She married Liu Yilong when he was still the Prince of Yidu, and she bore him his oldest son Liu Shao
Liu Shao (Liu Song)
Liu Shao , courtesy name Xiuyuan , posthumously known as Yuanxiong , was briefly an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song...

 and a daughter, Liu Ying'e (劉英娥), later the Princess Dongyang. After key imperial officials concluded that his brother Emperor Shao
Emperor Shao of Liu Song
Emperor Shao of Song , also known by his post-removal title Prince of Yingyang , personal name Liu Yifu , nickname Chebing , was an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. He was the oldest son of the founding emperor, Emperor Wu, and became emperor after his father's death in 422...

 was unfit to be emperor, they deposed and killed Emperor Shao in 424 and offered the throne to Liu Yilong. Liu Yilong accepted, and took the throne as Emperor Wen. Later that year, he created her empress.

It was around this time, either right before or right after Emperor Wen became emperor, that Empress Yuan bore him Liu Shao. According to traditional histories, when she observed her son's face, she remarked that this child would bring disaster on the house, and was ready to kill her child. Emperor Wen, hearing this, rushed to her bedchambers and forced her to spare the child. (Some later historians, including Bo Yang
Bo Yang
This article is about the Chinese writer. His name in Western languages is homonymic with Bó Yáng .Boyang , also sometimes called Baiyang, was a Chinese language writer based in Taiwan...

, doubted this account.) However, because he was still within the three-year mourning period for his father Emperor Wu
Emperor Wu of Liu Song
Emperor Wu of Song , personal name Liu Yu , courtesy name Dexing , nickname Jinu , was the founding emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. He came from a humble background, but became prominent after leading a rebellion in 404 to overthrow Huan Xuan, who had usurped the Jin throne in 403...

 and supposed to abstain from sexual relations, he hid Liu Shao's birth from the public and only announced it in 426.

Emperor Wen initially favored Empress Yuan greatly. Because the Yuan clan was a poor one, she often requested him to give her money so that she could give them to her clan. Emperor Wen, known as a thrifty man, refused to give her much. Later on, he began to favor Consort Pan
Consort Pan
Consort Pan was an imperial consort during the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. She was Emperor Wen's concubine....

 greater than her, and she, in order to test Emperor Wen's affection for her, asked Consort Pan to request an amount of money six to 10 times greater than what Emperor Wen had been giving her. Emperor Wen approved Consort Pan's request, and from this point on Empress Yuan was filled with anger. Whenever Emperor Wen wished to see her, she would try to hide from him, and she also refused to see her stepchildren. She grew ill in her anger, and in 440 she grew very ill. Emperor Wen went in to see her and, crying, held her hands to ask what request she had. She looked at him for a long time and then, without saying anything, covered her face with a blanket and refused to look at him again. She soon died. Emperor Wen mourned her greatly, and had the talented writer Yan Yanzhi (顏延之) write a beautiful ode dedicated to her.
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