Empress Liu (劉皇后, personal name unknown) (877–November 8, 943

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

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), formally Lady Dowager Xiande of Qin (), was the wife of

Li Maozhen Li Maozhen (; 856 – May 17, 924), born Song Wentong (), courtesy name Zhengchen (), formally Prince Zhongjing of Qin (), was the only ruler of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Qi (901–924). He had become a powerful wa ...

, the only ruler 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 ...

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...

state Qi. During Li Maozhen's reign as the independent Prince of Qi, she carried the title of empress (even though he never assumed the title of emperor). After he later submitted as the vassal of the new

Later Tang Tang, known in historiography as the Later Tang, was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China and the second of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The first three of the Later Tang's four ...

, she became known as the Lady of Qin, and later Lady Dowager of Qin after his death.

Lack of records in official histories

Nothing was said about Empress Liu's identity in the official histories of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period — the '' History of the Five Dynasties'' and the ''

New History of the Five Dynasties The ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties'' (''Wudai Shiji'') is a Chinese history book on the Five Dynasties period (907–960), written by the Song dynasty official Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to ...

''. What was mentioned was that after the destruction of the preceding

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, Li Maozhen continued to use Tang's

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...

to show refusal to submit to Later Liang and continued to use the Tang-bestowed title of Prince of Qi. However, he took on much of the trappings of an emperor, including creating an Office of the Prince of Qi that had a large staff and many offices that had imperial government-like titles and creating his wife (who was not named) empress. No other reference was made in his biography in the two official histories about his wife.'' History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 132.''

'', vol. 40.

Family history, based on Li Maozhen's and her tombstones

What little is known about Empress Liu largely came from the discovery of her and Li Maozhen's tombstones in a 2001 excavation of their joint tomb. Based on the tombstone of Li Maozhen, who died in 924 at the age of 68, he had six sons and four daughters, and, at the time of his death (by which time he was a Later Tang vassal bearing the title of Prince of Qin), his wife Lady Liu was bearing the Later Tang-bestowed title of Lady of Qin.''Short Explanation of the Newly Discovered Tombstone of Li Maozhen, Tang's Prince of Qin''
. Lady Liu's tombstone, which referred to her as Lady Dowager Xiande of Qin, gave more information about her, although it gave no personal name. According to her tombstone, she died on November 8, 943 at the age of 66, and that she bore four sons and three daughters for Li Maozhen. The four sons were his oldest

Li Congyan Li Congyan () (898'' History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 132. – November 26, 946Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter), né Li Jiyan () (name changed 926), formally the Prince of Qi (), was a son and the heir of Li Maozhen, the o ...

, Li Congchang (), Li Congzhao (), and Li Jiwei (). (The fact that Li Jiwei's name had "Ji" as his generational character rather than "Cong" as his brothers implied that he died before the bestowment of the "Cong" character by

Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang Li Siyuan (李嗣源, later changed to Li Dan (李亶)) (10 October 867 – 15 December 933), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (後唐明宗), was the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China, reignin ...

in 926.) Her three daughters were not named; the oldest was described as having married a man named Lu () and having died early; the second and third daughters married officers of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern

Baoji () is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a population of 3,321,853 accordin ...

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 ...

), which made up most of the state of Qi, Han Fang () and Zhang Juxun (), respectively. As for Lady Liu's family itself, she was said to be from Qi Prefecture (i.e., Fengxiang Circuit's capital Fengxiang Municipality). Her great-grandfather was named Liu Sichong (); her grandfather was named Liu Ao (); and her father was named Liu Yuehuang ().

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Empress 877 births 943 deaths People from Baoji Qi (Li Maozhen's state) empresses Qi (Li Maozhen's state) people born during Tang Later Tang people Later Jin (Five Dynasties) people