Wang Zhengjun, Empress Xiaoyuan

Wang Zhengjun, Empress of Emperor Yuan (Xiao Yuan Wang Huanghou), 71 BCE–13 CE, was empress to Emperor Yuan (Liu Shi, 76–33 BCE; r. 48–33 BCE). She was the mother of Emperor Cheng (Liu Ao, 51–7 BCE; r. 32–7 BCE) and an aunt of Wang Mang (45 BCE–23 CE; r. 9–23 CE), whose usurpation of the Han crown in 9 CE presaged the breakdown of the Western Han dynasty. Her family originally came from Dongpingling (southeast of present-day Licheng District, Shandong Province) but later moved to Yuancheng in Wei Prefecture (east of present-day Daming District, Hebei Province).

Wang Zhengjun’s father, Wang Jin, held the post of clerk for the chamberlain of law enforcement (tingwei shi), and he and his wife, whose name is not recorded, had four daughters. It is said that when Wang Zhengjun’s mother became pregnant with her, their second daughter, she dreamt of the moon entering her lap, clearly an auspicious omen. Wang Zhengjun grew to be a mild and virtuous young woman and received several offers of marriage. However, each of her husbands-to-be died before the wedding could be held. Even more strangely, the Prince of Dongping also died as he was about to take her as his concubine. So puzzled was Wang Jin that he approached a fortune-teller, who told him that his daughter would become very distinguished. Wang Jin decided to prepare her for this by teaching her to read and instructing her in music, and in 53 B.C.E., when she was eighteen, Wang Zhengjun entered the palace as one of the unranked palace women with the title of Woman of the Household (jiarenzi).

Two years later, by a bizarre turn of events, Wang Zhengjun was chosen as a concubine for the heir apparent, Liu Shi (the future Emperor Yuan), and she bore him his first son, Liu Ao. This is how it came about. The heir apparent’s favorite concubine, Related Lady of Excellence (liangdi) Sima, died in 51 B.C.E. and on her deathbed she told Liu Shi that his other concubines were to blame for her death since they had placed curses on her. Liu Shi became ill with grief and fell into a deep depression, refusing to see any of his concubines. When his father, Emperor Xuan (Liu Xun or Liu Bingyi, 91–49 B.C.E.; r. 74–49 B.C.E.), was eventually told of this, he instructed his Empress Wang (q.v. Wang, Empress of Emperor Xuan) to select five women of the household to serve the heir apparent, with the intention of enticing him out of his depression. Empress Wang then instructed a palace attendant (shizhong) to ask the heir apparent discreetly which of the five he preferred. Not taken by any of the young women but unwilling to disappoint the empress, the grief-stricken heir apparent managed to reply, “I like only one of them.” The palace attendant took this remark to be directed at Wang Zhengjun, who was sitting closest and who wore an attractive loose gown hemmed with red ribbon, and reported accordingly to the empress. The heir apparent did not protest when Wang Zhengjun was brought to him; she immediately became pregnant and gave birth to a son (Liu Ao). After the birth of her son, Wang Zhengjun was promoted to the rank of Lady of Handsome Fairness (jieyu), but Liu Shi rarely favored her from then on and she had no more children.

The birth of his grandson Liu Ao delighted Emperor Xuan, who gave him the title Taisun (Grandson Successor). Upon the death of Emperor Xuan in 49 B.C.E., Liu Shi (Emperor Yuan) was enthroned, Wang Zhengjun became Empress Wang, and their son Liu Ao became the heir apparent. On many occasions, however, Emperor Yuan wished to depose Liu Ao and appoint in his place another of his sons—Prince Gong of Dingtao—who was the son of a later favorite, Lady of Bright Deportment Fu (q.v. Fu, Concubine of Emperor Yuan). Liu Ao managed to retain his position as heir apparent until his father’s death largely because of the affection that his grandfather Emperor Xuan had shown to him, together with the innate cautiousness of his mother, Empress Wang, and the support of Palace Attendant Shi Dan.

Upon the ascension of Liu Ao (Emperor Cheng) to the throne, his mother was granted the title Empress Dowager Wang and her paternal relatives gradually gained in influence. Her father had been appointed Marquis of Yangping when she gave birth to Liu Ao and now her elder brother Wang Feng was appointed General-in-Chief (da jiangjun), Commander-in-Chief (da sima), and Concurrent Imperial Secretary (ling shangshu shi). After the death of Emperor Cheng, the throne passed briefly to his nephew Liu Xin (Emperor Ai, 25–1 B.C.E.; r. 6–1 B.C.E.), then to another of his nephews, the nine-year-old Liu Kan (Emperor Ping, 8 B.C.E.–5 C.E.; r. 1–5 C.E.). Empress Dowager Wang, now Grand Empress Dowager Wang, decreed that her nephew Wang Mang be appointed Commander-in-Chief to assist Emperor Ping, who was a sickly boy, with affairs of state when he became emperor. In this position of great power, Wang Mang grew autocratic, but nevertheless did his best to please his aunt. Early in the year the boy emperor died (5 C.E.). Grand Empress Dowager Wang showed special favor to Wang Mang, granting him the imperial reward known as the Nine Gifts (jiuxi). However, after the emperor’s death—it is said that Wang Mang had the boy poisoned—she was unable to prevent Wang Mang from seizing more power by appointing Liu Ying (r. 6–8 C.E.), a great-great-grandson of Emperor Xuan, as heir apparent and making himself his regent. Although not in favor of these political machinations, Grand Empress Dowager Wang blocked moves by members of the imperial Liu clan to topple Wang Mang, apparently believing that he would soon realize the error of his ways. When Wang Mang declared himself emperor on January 9, 9 C.E., however, and asked her for the imperial seal and ribbon, Grand Empress Dowager Wang was so enraged that she threw them to the ground, crying and cursing him. Upon becoming emperor, Wang Mang changed the name of the dynasty from Han to Xin (New); he also changed Grand Empress Dowager Wang’s title to Grand Empress Dowager Mother Wen. He had previously given Emperor Yuan (Grand Empress Dowager Wang’s husband) the posthumous temple name of Gaozong; now he had the temple destroyed. Grand Empress Dowager Wang was distraught at the unfolding tragedy in which she had unwittingly had a hand and resisted Wang Mang’s every effort to please and flatter her. She took her meals and refreshments only with her personal attendants and repeatedly refused to obey his edicts. When, for example, Wang Mang altered the dress for court officials from black to yellow marten coats and changed the calendar, Grand Empress Dowager Wang ordered her officials to wear black marten coats and to continue using the Han calendar.

Grand Empress Dowager Wang died in 16 C.E. at the age of eighty-four and was buried in Wei Tomb (in the present-day city of Xianyang) alongside Emperor Yuan.

The History of the Han Dynasty (Han shu) cites Ban Biao (3–54 C.E.) in commenting on Wang Zhengjun in “Yuanhou zhuan.” Empress Wang of Emperor Yuan, it says, was the mother of the state for sixty years, through four reigns. With power already having been transferred to the Wang clan through her brothers and cousins receiving imperial titles, five of them as generals and ten as marquis, the tragedy of Wang Mang’s usurpation was inevitable. What was pitiful, the History of the Han Dynasty continues, was that in finally withholding the imperial seal, in itself a futile act, she acted “as only a woman would.” However, while it is clear that Grand Empress Dowager Wang made a grave mistake in making so many concessions to Wang Mang in her last years, it may be too simplistic to hold her alone accountable for the overweening ambitions of the male members of her paternal clan that brought about the demise of Western Han.

SHEN Lidong

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