Empress Yan Ji (閻姬) (died 28 February 126), formally Empress Ansi (安思皇后, literally "the peaceful and deep-thinking empress"), 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), ...

during the Eastern

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. Her husband was Emperor An. She was known for her conspiratorial and nepotistic behavior, both as empress and (briefly) as empress dowager regent. She ruled as Regent for seven months during the rule of

Marquess of Beixiang The Marquess of Beixiang (; died 10 December 125), personal name Liu Yi, also referred to as Emperor Shao (少帝, literally "young emperor"), was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was selected to succeed Emperor An after Emperor An's su ...

in 125. However, her plan, along with her brothers, to hold on to power for a long time ultimately resulted in failure and the deaths of her clan members.

Family background and marriage to Emperor An

Yan Ji's father Yan Chang (閻暢) was the son of Yan Zhang (閻章), an official under Emperor Ming whose two sisters were imperial consorts, and who was described as a capable official whose promotion however was halted by Emperor Ming, who did not want to appear nepotistic. When Lady Yan was young, she was described as intelligent and beautiful. In 114, she was selected as an imperial consort for Emperor An, who was 20, and she quickly became his favorite. On 1 June 115''bingwu'' day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of the ''Yuan'chu'' era, per Emperor An's biography in ''Book of the Later Han'', he created her empress—even though she was also described as jealous, to the extent that that year, she poisoned Consort Li, who had given birth to a son of the emperor, Liu Bao (劉保).

As empress

During most of Emperor An's reign, he was mostly overshadowed by his regent, Empress Dowager

Deng Sui Deng Sui ( zh, t=鄧綏; AD 81–121), formally Empress Hexi ( zh, t=和熹皇后, links=no, l=moderate and pacifying empress), was regent and ''de facto'' ruler of the Eastern Han dynasty from 106 to 121, serving as empress dowager during the ...

. But after Empress Dowager Deng died in April 121, he asserted his authority and put a number of his trusted individuals in power to displace the late empress dowager's family, many of whom were forced to commit suicide. Among these entrusted individuals were Empress Yan's brothers Yan Xian (閻顯), Yan Jing (閻景), Yan Yao (閻耀), and Yan Yan (閻晏), all were powerful, particularly Xian who was both reliable and powerful. Empress Yan herself influenced her husband in his actions greatly, much to the detriment of the empire. It is said that from the beginning she was trying to gain power after her husband's death and tried to eliminate the opposition, establish her own clan in key positions and collect a bunch of officials, generals and eunuchs close to the emperor. In 124, she falsely accused nine-year-old Prince Bao, who had been made crown prince because he was Emperor An's only son, of crimes, and Emperor An deposed Prince Bao and created him Prince of Jiyin.

As empress dowager regent

In 125, Emperor An died suddenly while on a trip to Wancheng (宛城, in modern

Nanyang Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as 南洋 (Southern Ocean) * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

). The empress, who was with him, did not immediately announce his death, but conspired with her brothers and the powerful

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 ...

s Jiang Jing (江京) and Fan Feng (樊豐), to find an alternative to Prince Bao, who would otherwise appear to be his father's natural successor. They chose a young cousin of Emperor An's, Liu Yi (劉懿) the

, and Marquess Yi was made emperor over Prince Bao. (They had made this decision because the Marquess of Beixiang was young and easy to control.) With the death of her husband and the ascension of Liu Yi (as Emperor Shao), Empress Dowager Yan achieved her long-held ambition and assumed power as regent. The Yans, working with Jiang, quickly moved to grab more power. They falsely accused some other of Emperor An's trusted individuals—including his stepuncle Geng Bao (耿寶), his wet nurse Wang Sheng (王聖), and the eunuch Fan of crimes. Fan was executed, while Geng and Wang were exiled with their families. The Yans were firmly in power—or so they thought. A major illness to the young emperor would foil their plans. The eunuch

Sun Cheng Sun Cheng () (died 132) was a eunuch at the Imperial Chinese court during the Han Dynasty. Contrary to the stereotype of Han eunuchs being corrupt and power-hungry, he was loyal to the imperial family and tried (unsuccessfully) to counter the cul ...

(孫程), believing that Prince Bao was the proper emperor and knowing that the young emperor was ill, formed a conspiracy with Prince Bao's assistant Changxing Qu (長興渠) and a number of other eunuchs with intent to restore Prince Bao. When, late in the year, the young emperor died, Empress Yan and her brothers again did not announce his death but summoned the sons of the imperial princes to the capital, intending to again bypass Prince Bao. Several days later, Sun and 18 of his fellow eunuchs made a surprise attack on the palace, killing Jiang and several eunuchs in his party and forcing his colleague Li Run (李閏) to lead their coup d'état. They welcomed Prince Bao to the palace and declared him emperor (as

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

). For several days, the eunuchs' forces battled with the empress dowager's forces, finally defeating the empress dowager and her brothers. The Yan clan was slaughtered, while Empress Dowager Yan was confined to her palace.

Death

Some officials advised Emperor Shun to depose Empress Dowager Yan from her title of empress dowager. After some consideration, Emperor Shun declined such action and continued to treat her with the honors due an empress dowager. However, perhaps in fear and in mourning for her family, she died in February 126 and was buried with her husband Emperor An.

References

* ''

Book of Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...

'', vol. 5. * ''

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 ...

'', vol. 51. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yan Ji, Empress Han dynasty empresses 126 deaths 2nd-century women rulers 2nd-century viceregal rulers Regents of China Year of birth unknown Han dynasty empresses dowager