Empress Dowager Ma (1578–1669), personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Dowager Zhaosheng (), was an empress dowager of the Chinese

Southern Ming dynasty The Southern Ming (), also known as the Later Ming (), officially the Great Ming (), was an imperial dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the Jiashen Incident of 1644. Shun forces ...

.Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Sue Wiles:
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 1: The Qing Period, 1644-1911
' She was the birth mother of the

Yongli Emperor The Yongli Emperor (; 1623–1662; reigned 18 November 1646 – 1 June 1662), personal name Zhu Youlang, was a royal member to the imperial family of Ming dynasty, and the fourth and last commonly recognised emperor of the Southern Ming, reigni ...

. She converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and adopted the name Maria.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Empress Dowager Ming dynasty empresses dowager Southern Ming empresses 1578 births 1669 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism 17th-century Chinese women 17th-century Chinese people Sichuanese Roman Catholics