Empress Helian (赫連皇后) (died 453), formally Empress Taiwu (太武皇后), was an

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

of the

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were a Proto-Mongolic ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the ...

-led Chinese

Northern Wei dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during the ...

. Her husband was Emperor Taiwu. She was a daughter of the

Hu Xia Hu Xia (; English name: Fox Hu; born 1 March 1990) is a Chinese singer, actor. He won the sixth season of Taiwan's ''One Million Star'' in 2010 and released his debut album ''Hu Love Xia'' later the year. Apart from his albums, he has sung a ...

's founding emperor

Helian Bobo Helian Bobo (; Middle Chinese Guangyun: ; 381–425), né Liu Bobo (劉勃勃), courtesy name Qujie (屈孑), formally Emperor Wulie of Xia (夏武烈帝), was the founding emperor of the Xiongnu-led Hu Xia dynasty of China. He is generally cons ...

(Emperor Wulie). In 428, during the reign of her brother

Helian Chang Helian Chang (; died 434), courtesy name Huanguo (還國), nickname Zhe (折), was an emperor of the Hu Xia dynasty of China. He was the successor and a son of the founding emperor Helian Bobo (Emperor Wulie). After his father's death in 425, h ...

, Emperor Taiwu led his Northern Wei forces to capture the Xia capital Tongwan (統萬, in modern Yulin,

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

), and while Helian Chang fled, she was captured along with most nobles and officials of Xia. She and her two sisters were all taken as Emperor Taiwu's imperial consorts. In 432, she was created empress, presumably after being able to pass the traditional Tuoba tribe test by being able to forge a gold statue. Little is known about Empress Helian's life during her husband's reign. She did not bear him any sons. In 452, he was assassinated by his

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

Zong Ai Zong Ai (; ? - 31 October 452''wushen'' day of the 10th month of the 29th year of the ''Yuanjia'' era, per volume 126 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'') was a eunuch who briefly came to great power in the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Wei dynasty in 452 after as ...

, who claimed that by her orders Emperor Taiwu's son,

Tuoba Yu Tuoba Yu (拓拔余) (died 29 October 452''bingwu'' (1st) day of the 10th month of the 2nd year of the ''Zhengping'' era, per volume 4 (part 2) of ''Book of Wei''), formally Prince Yin of Nan'an (南安隱王), Xianbei name Kebozhen (可博真), wa ...

the Prince of Nan'an should be made emperor, bypassing Emperor Taiwu's apparent intended heir,

Tuoba Jun Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei ((北)魏文成帝) (July or August 440 – 20 June 465), Chinese name Tuoba Jun (拓拔濬), Xianbei name Wulei (烏雷), was an emperor of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China. He became emperor aged 12 ...

, the son of

Tuoba Huang Tuoba Huang (拓拔晃) (428 – July 29, 451''wuchen day'' of the 6th month of the 1st year of the ''Zhengping'' era, per Emperor Gongzong's biography in ''Book of Wei''), Xianbei name Tianzhen (天真), formally Crown Prince Jingmu (景穆太子 ...

the Crown Prince, who had died in 451. Tuoba Yu honored her as

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 ...

, but there is no particular evidence to suggest that Empress Helian was actually involved in Zong's conspiracy. Later that year, Zong assassinated Tuoba Yu as well, but the officials then overthrew Zong and put Tuoba Jun on the throne as Emperor Wencheng, and he honored her as

grand empress dowager Grand empress dowager (also grand dowager empress or grand empress mother) ( (太皇太后)) was a title given to the grandmother, or a woman from the same generation, of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural ...

. She died in 453.

In popular culture

* Portrayed by Wan Meixi in the 2016 Chinese TV series ''

The Princess Weiyoung ''The Princess Weiyoung'' () is a 2016 Chinese television series starring Tiffany Tang in the title role, alongside Luo Jin, Vanness Wu, Mao Xiaotong and Li Xinai. It is adapted from the novel ''The Poisonous Daughter'' () by Qin Jian and is a fi ...

''.

References

* ''

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...

'', vol. 13. * ''

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. 1

* ''

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 ...

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