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| han dynasty empresses | |
| wei zifu, empress | |
| 91 bc deaths | |
| chinese royalty who committed suicide | |
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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, who was a servant at the household of Princess Pingyang (平陽公主), 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 singer at the princess' estate. 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 , when Emperor Wu was visiting Princess Pingyang, he saw Wei and was impressed by her beauty. The princess therefore offered her to him, and she became part of his Concubinage . She became greatly favored over Empress Chen. Empress Chen became exceedingly jealous of her, and Empress Chen's mother, Princess Liu Piao (劉嫖) tried to take vengeance by kidnapping Consort Wei's 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, Emperor Wu made Wei Qing 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 bore him three daughters. In 130 BC , Empress Chen was discovered to have retained witches to use witchcraft to try to restore her husband's love to her and to injure Consort Wei. Empress Chen was deposed, but Consort Wei was not made empress at this time, because she, too, was sonless, as were the other concubines at the palace. in 128 BC , she finally bore him his first born son, Liu Ju . She was created empress later that year, and 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 Xiongnu , and after he won some major victories, not only he, but also his three young sons, were made Marquess es. Similarly promoted and honored was her nephew Huo Qubing, a great general in his own right. As the years went by, the sexual attraction to Empress Wei by Emperor Wu would decrease tremendously. 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. THE CROWN PRINCE JU REVOLT AND DEATH In his advanced age, Emperor Wu became fairly 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 (劉弗陵) 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 and accused Prince Ju of 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 he fled because 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 flight, Emperor Wu sent two officials to Empress Wei's palace to seize her seal (i.e., to prepare to depose her). In response, she committed suicide. She was buried in a small coffin south of the city. Many of her clan members were killed. 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, and gave her the posthumous title Wei Sihou (literally, Empress Wei, the deep thinker). |
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