Empress Dowager Gong (龔太后, personal name unknown) (died 562), formally Empress Dowager Yuan (元太后, literally "the discerning empress dowager") was an

empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was also g ...

of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

dynasty Western Liang dynasty. She was the mother of

Emperor Xuan of Western Liang Emperor Xuan of (Western) Liang ((西)梁宣帝; 519 – March or April 562), personal name Xiao Cha (蕭詧), courtesy name Lisun (理孫), was the founding emperor of the Western Liang dynasty of China. He took the throne of the Liang dynasty ...

(Xiao Cha) who founded the Western Liang with the support of

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

. Lady Gong was a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Xiao Tong Xiao Tong (, September/October 501 – 30 May 531), courtesy name Deshi (), formally Crown Prince Zhaoming (昭明太子, literally "Accomplished and Understanding Crown Prince"), was a Crown Prince of the Chinese Liang Dynasty, posthumousl ...

, the first

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

's founder Emperor Wu. Her rank was the second rank for a concubine of the crown prince, ''Baolin'' (保林). She gave birth to Xiao Cha in 519. (It is not known whether any of Xiao Tong's other four known sons were her sons as well, although his oldest son Xiao Huan (蕭歡) was not, as he was the son of Xiao Tong's wife Crown Princess Cai.) Little is known about her background, including her birth family, and Xiao Cha himself appeared to be closer to Crown Princess Cai's nephew Cai Dabao (蔡大寶) than he was with any cousins he might have had through his mother. Historical references to Lady Gong were not numerous. In 549, while Liang was in a state of disarray after the fall of the capital

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

to the rebel general

Hou Jing Hou Jing (; died June 552), courtesy name Wanjing (萬景), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician. He was a general of Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Liang, and briefly, after controlling the Liang imperial regime for several ...

and the imperial princes were battling each other, Xiao Cha, then the Prince of Yueyang, was leading an army against his uncle Xiao Yi the Prince of Xiangdong to try to save his brother Xiao Yu (蕭譽) the Prince of Hedong (whom Xiao Yi's forces were besieging), when he left his headquarters

Xiangyang Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

in the hands of Cai Dabao and Lady Gong (who was at that time still referred to as ''Baolin'', not as princess dowager), and they defended the city against a surprise attack by the general Du An (杜岸), who served under Xiao Cha but had defected to Xiao Yi. When Xiao Cha retreated at night, Lady Gong, unaware of his military failure, mistook him for enemy; only until the next morning she realized him and let him in. Subsequently, in order to fend off Xiao Yi's attacks, Xiao Cha became a Western Wei vassal and was created the Prince of Liang. In 555, after Western Wei forces had defeated and killed Xiao Yi, Western Wei created Xiao Cha the emperor of (Western) Liang (as Emperor Xuan). While Emperor Xuan posthumously honored Xiao Tong as an emperor and Xiao Tong's wife Crown Princess Cai as an empress, he honored his mother as an empress dowager. After he died in 562 and was succeeded by his son

Xiao Kui Emperor Ming of (Western) Liang ((西)梁明帝; 542 – 1 July 585), personal name Xiao Kui (蕭巋), courtesy name Renyuan (仁遠), was an emperor of the Chinese Western Liang dynasty. He, like his father Emperor Xuan and his son Emperor J ...

(as Emperor Ming), Emperor Ming honored her as grand empress dowager. She died about three months after her son.

References

* ''

History of Northern Dynasties The ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. The text contains 100 volumes and covers the period from 386 to 618, the histories of Northern Wei, Western We ...

'', vol.

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vols. 162, 166, 168. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gong, Empress Dowager Liang dynasty empresses dowager 562 deaths Year of birth unknown