Empress Zheng (1079 – 1130) was the empress of Emperor Huizong of Song.

Imperial life

Zheng was born to a member of the gentry in

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the No ...

. She served as a lady-in-waiting to

Empress Xiang Empress Xiang (欽聖皇后; 1047–1102) was a Chinese Empress consort of the Song Dynasty, married to Emperor Shenzong of Song. She acted as co-regent of China during the reign of her adopted son, Emperor Huizong of Song, in 1100. Life Empress ...

, who was the official mother of the future Emperor Huizong of Song. When Huizong was still only a prince, he lived outside the imperial palace and would often visit the empress, who instructed Zheng and another one of her ladies to wait upon him. In 1099, Empress Xiang arranged for him to marry

Lady Wang Lady Wang (王夫人) is a character in the classic Chinese 18th century novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the wife of Jia Zheng, and mother of Jia Zhu (dead at the start of the novel), Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu. She is the elder sis ...

. As a wedding present, Empress Xiang presented Zheng and the other lady-in-waiting, also called Wang, to him as

concubines 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 ...

. In 1100, Huizong succeeded his brother as emperor. Huizong was not close to his primary wife, Empress Wang and Zheng competed with Consort Wang for his favour. Zheng was apparently studious and adept at music. Huizong had many additional favourites, including consorts Wei and Quai, several maids of Consort Zheng, and Consort Liu Mingda. However, Zheng is not described as having been jealous of them. Zheng was described as a beauty, a skillful dancer and singer, with an ability to amuse and flatter the emperor. In 1102, Huizong granted Zheng the rank of Virtuous Consort. In 1110, two years after the death of Empress Wang, Huizong appointed Zheng to the position of empress. Her elevation was somewhat controversial, as empresses were generally members of military or official families, not former servants. The influence of Empress Zheng was also resented.

Exile

Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son Emperor Qinzong in 1126. In 1127, the capital of

was captured by the Jurchen during the

Jin–Song Wars The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han-led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125), ...

. Emperor Qinzong was deposed, and he was captured and exiled to Manchuria, along with Emperor Huizong and most of the imperial court, in what is now called the Jingkang Incident. The consorts, concubines and palace women who were captured were distributed among the Jurchen men. The Jurchen defined five of Huizong's consorts as wives, among them Empress Zheng, which meant that they accompanied him into exile. Patricia Buckley Ebrey states that Empress Zheng would have been too old at this point to have been considered a good

war prize A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...

for the Jurchen.

Death

Empress Zheng died in 1130 in Wuguo,

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

, where the Jurchen held the exiled members of the imperial clan. When Emperor Gaozong was eventually told of the death of Huizong and Empress Zheng in 1137, he reportedly reacted quite severely, ordering an extended period of mourning.Toqto'a and Alutu (1346), liezhuan di er houfei xia

References

Notes

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zheng, Empress 1079 births People from Kaifeng 1130 deaths Song dynasty empresses 11th-century Chinese women 11th-century Chinese people 12th-century Chinese women 12th-century Chinese people