Empress Yang (; personal name unknown; died 386) 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 Di-led Former Qin dynasty of China. Her husband was

Fu Pi Fu Pi (; died 386), courtesy name Yongshu (永叔), formally Emperor Aiping of (Former) Qin ((前)秦哀平帝), was an emperor of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty of China. He was Fu Jiān's oldest son, although not his crown prince, and after Fu ...

(Emperor Aiping). She was already Fu Pi's wife and duchess at least by 380, when her brother Yang Ying (楊膺) was described as one of the Di officers who commanded soldiers distributed to Fu Pi, then serving as

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

over the six eastern provinces formerly ruled by

Former Yan The Former Yan (; 337–370) was a dynastic state ruled by the Xianbei during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Initially, Murong Huang and his son Murong Jun claimed the Jin dynasty-created title "Prince of Yan," but subsequently, in 352, ...

, as part of

Fu Jiān Fu or FU may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Fool Us, Penn & Teller's magic-competition television show *Fǔ, a type of ancient Chinese Chinese ritual bronzes, vessel *Fu (poetry) (赋), a Chinese genre of rhymed prose *''FU: Friendship Unli ...

(Emperor Xuanzhao)'s plan to distribute his Di people around the empire to serve as a stabilizing force. When the empire subsequently began collapsing in 384 following the failure to conquer Jin and defeat at the

Battle of Fei River The Battle of Fei River, also known as the Battle of Feishui (), was a battle in AD 383 in China, where forces of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty was decisively defeated by the outnumbered army of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The location of the bat ...

in 383, Yang Ying suggested to Fu Pi, whose headquarters of Yecheng (鄴城, in modern

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

) was the only city in the eastern empire that had not fallen either to Jin or to the new state

Later Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Later Yan (; 384 – 407 or 409) was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xianbei people, located in modern-day northeast China, during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. All rulers of the Later Yan declared them ...

, established by the rebel general

Murong Chui Murong Chui (; 326–396), courtesy name Daoming (道明), Xianbei name Altun (阿六敦), formally Emperor Chengwu of (Later) Yan ((後)燕成武帝) was a great general of the Xianbei-led Chinese Former Yan dynasty who later became the foundi ...

, that he should surrender to Jin. When Fu Pi refused, Yang Ying conspired with another official, Jiang Rang (姜讓), to forcibly seize Fu Pi and surrender to Jin, but was discovered and killed. Despite this, Duchess Yang remained Fu Pi's wife. In 385, the Former Qin capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

fell to the rebel state Western Yan, and Fu Jiān was killed by another rebel general,

Yao Chang Yao Chang (; 331–394), courtesy name Jingmao (景茂), formally Emperor Wuzhao of (Later) Qin ((後)秦武昭帝), was the founding emperor of the Qiang-led Chinese Later Qin dynasty. His father Yao Yizhong (姚弋仲) had been a powerful gene ...

the founder of

Later Qin The Later Qin (; 384–417), also known as Yao Qin (), was a state ruled by the Qiang ethnicity of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin dynasty (266–420) in China. The Later Qin is entirely distinct from the Qin dynasty, the Former Qin and the We ...

. Upon hearing this news, Fu Pi, who had then withdrawn from Yecheng to Jinyang (晉陽, in modern

Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

), declared himself emperor, and he created Princess Yang empress. In 386, however, as he tried to intercept Western Yan's prince

Murong Yong Murong Yong (; died 394), courtesy name Shuming (叔明), was the last emperor of the Xianbei-led Chinese Western Yan dynasty. He was the grandson of Murong Yun (慕容運), the uncle of Former Yan's founder Murong Huang. As a member of Former ...

, who was trying to return east, he was defeated by Murong Yong, and Empress Yang was captured. Fu Pi would then be intercepted by the Jin general Feng Gai (馮該) and killed. Murong Yong wanted to take Empress Yang as a consort, but she tried to assassinate him with a sword. He then put her to death.

References

, - style="text-align: center;" , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Empress Aiping Former Qin empresses 386 deaths Executed Former Qin people People executed by Western Yan 4th-century births 4th-century executions Executed royalty 4th-century Chinese women 4th-century Chinese people