Consort Duan (曹端妃; d. 1542), of the Cao clan, was a

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

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 ...

of the

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His father, Zhu Youyuan (1476–1519), Prince of Xing, w ...

. She was one of the emperor's most beloved concubines, but was implicated in an assassination attempt and subsequently executed.Zhang (1739)

Biography

Cao was born the daughter of an official in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

, modern

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

Province.History Office (1620s), volume 181 It is unknown when she entered the

Ming Palace The Ming Palace (), also known as the "Forbidden City of Nanjing", was the 14th-century imperial palace of the early Ming dynasty, when Nanjing was the capital of China. History 14th century Zhu Yuanzhang, who became the founder and first Emper ...

, but she was initially titled Lady Cao (). In 1536, Lady Cao gave birth to the emperor's first daughter, Shouying (), Princess Chang'an. The same year, she was promoted to Imperial Concubine Duan () and her father was made a member of the ''Jinyiwei'' with authority over 1,000 households. After the first month of his daughter's birth, the emperor held a lavish feast to celebrate. In 1537, Imperial Concubine Duan was promoted to Consort Duan.History Office (1620s), volume 191 She gave birth to the emperor's third daughter in 1539, Luzheng ().

Palace women uprising

In 1542, the

emperor 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), ...

was staying in Consort Duan's quarters. A group of palace women pretended to wait on him whilst there, tied a rope around his neck and attempted to strangle him. They failed to do so and, in the meantime, a palace woman named Zhang Jinlian () alerted

Empress Fang Empress Xiaolie (1516–1547), of the Fang clan, was a Chinese empress consort of the Ming dynasty, third empress to the Jiajing Emperor. Early life Fang originated from the area of Nanjing. She was selected for palace service in 1531, and chos ...

. The palace eunuchs revived the emperor and arrested the palace women. After the attack, the Jiajing Emperor was incapable of speaking, so Empress Fang ordered the palace women executed. As the attack had taken place in Consort Duan's palace, the empress determined that she had conspired with the palace women and sentenced her to death by slow slicing in the marketplace. Her body was then displayed, alongside those of Imperial Concubine Ning and the other palace women. 10 members of the women's families were also beheaded, while a further 20 were enslaved and gifted to ministers.History Office (1620s), volume 267 It was later determined that Consort Duan had not been involved, but she was not granted a posthumous title.

Burial

Zhaosi Hall Zhaosi Hall is a cultural site protected at the national level in Wuxi, People's Republic of China. History Zhaosi Hall was built by the father of Consort Duan, a Ming dynasty concubine of the Jiajing Emperor. The building was completed in 1528 ...

, a national-level protected site near Shuofang in

Wuxi New Area Xinwu District () is one of five urban districts of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the delta hinterland of the Yangtze River to the southeast of center Wuxi, the district has an area of and a total population of 5 ...

, was owned by Consort Duan's father. An archway near to it is built in the style of an imperial memorial, but has no inscription. Local people reported the presence of a grave tumulus near the arch that had been levelled and, as cedar () sounds similar to the local dialect's word for daughter (), the archway is popularly believed to have been erected by Cao in memory of his daughter.

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Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duan (Cao), Consort Date of birth unknown 1542 deaths Ming dynasty imperial consorts Executed Ming dynasty people People from Wuxi People executed by flaying Executed people from Jiangsu 16th-century executions by China