Wang Yuanji (217 – 20 April 268) was a Chinese noble lady,

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient R ...

and later

empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was a ...

of Jin dynasty, who lived during the

Three Kingdoms period The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the We ...

. She was the wife of Sima Zhao, a regent of the state of

Cao Wei Wei ( Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' < Middle Chinese: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

period of China. She became the

during the reign of her son

Sima Yan Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, ...

, who ended the Wei regime and founded the Jin dynasty. She was posthumously honoured as "Empress Wenming" (literally "civil and understanding empress") after her death. She is known for her wisdom, good moral character, contributions to the origin and stabilization of the Jin dynasty, and for predicting

Zhong Hui's rebellion Zhong Hui's Rebellion was a rebellion in March 264 led by Zhong Hui, a general of the state of Cao Wei, against the Wei regent, Sima Zhao. Zhong Hui had support from Jiang Wei, a general from the former state of Shu Han, which was conquered by ...

in 264.

Life

Wang Yuanji was from Tan County (郯縣), Donghai Commandery (東海郡), which is present-day Tancheng County, Shandong. Her father, Wang Su, served as a military officer in Wei and held a peerage as the Marquis of Lanling (蘭陵侯). When Wang Yuanji was eight years old (by East Asian reckoning), she already had a good memory and could recite the Confucian classics fluently. Once, when she was nine, her mother fell sick so she remained by her mother's side all the time to take care of her. She possessed ''savoir faire'' and performed well when her parents allowed her to manage household chores. Her grandfather Wang Lang doted on her and felt that she was extraordinary. He said, :"This girl will bring glory to our family. It's a pity that she isn't a boy!" These words have also been interpreted as him lamenting her headstrong, tomboyish nature during her childhood. Her grandfather's words came true, years later she contributed to the stabilization of a new dynasty and became empress. When Wang Yuanji was 12 (by East Asian reckoning), her grandfather died and she cried her heart out. Her father respected her even more after that incident and felt that she was indeed very special.

Marriage

Wang Yuanji married Sima Zhao after reaching adulthood (around the age of 15) and bore him five sons –

, Sima Dingguo (司馬定國), Sima You, Sima Zhao (司馬兆) and Sima Guangde (司馬廣德) – and a daughter who was historically known as Princess Jingzhao (京兆公主; literally "Princess of the Capital"). After her marriage, she maintained her good moral character and served her in-laws well. She cried her heart out again when her father died. Due to the marriage, she was present at various events led by the Sima clan that had an impact on Cao Wei's story, such as the

Incident at the Gaoping Tombs The Incident at the Gaoping Tombs was a ''coup d'état'' that took place on 5 February 249 in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. The parties involved were Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, who were both regents for ...

, Three Rebellions in Shouchun and

Coup of Cao Mao The coup of Cao Mao was a coup d'état that occurred on 2 June 260 in Luoyang, the capital of the state of Cao Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Mao, the nominal emperor of Wei, attempted to launch a coup to oust the regent Sima Zhao, w ...

. These events eventually led the Sima family to a higher status, until her father-in-law Sima Yi acquired control over the state of Cao Wei. When Sima Zhao became the regent of Wei, he recognised

Zhong Hui Zhong Hui (225 – 3 March 264), courtesy name Shiji, was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, military general, and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the younger son of Zhang Changpu with Zhong Y ...

's talent and promoted the latter to higher appointments. Wang Yuanji told her husband, "Zhong Hui is a man who will forsake moral principles for his personal gains. He's likely to cause trouble if he's overly indulged and favoured. He shouldn't be entrusted with important responsibilities." Wang Yuanji's prediction came true later as Zhong Hui started a rebellion in 264 after helping Wei conquer its rival state, Shu Han.

Empress Dowager

Sima Zhao died in September 265 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sima Yan, as the regent of Wei. In February 266, Sima Yan forced the last Wei ruler, Cao Huan, to abdicate in his favour, thereby ending the Wei regime and establishing the Jin dynasty. After ascending the throne, Sima Yan instated his mother as the

and gave her Chonghua Palace (崇化宮) as her residence. Even after becoming the empress dowager, Wang Yuanji continued to live a humble and frugal life. There were no expensive furniture and decorations in her room; she kept her meals simple, wore old clothes again after washing them, and did her own weaving. She managed the imperial harem well and maintained harmony among Sima Yan's consorts. Wang Yuanji was admitted to the court yet sought to be simple and practical with conducting herself. However, since her followers apparently disapproved of her methods, her vassals were disorderly and instigated fights against one another. For this reason, she was said to have kept a low profile in political matters. It's not clear if the harsh charges against her were caused from her own ineptitude or due to purposeful slander from discontent retainers. Wang Yuanji died in 268 at the age of 52 (by

East Asian age reckoning Countries in the East Asian cultural sphere (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and their diasporas) have traditionally used specific methods of reckoning a person's numerical age based not on their birthday but the calendar year, and what age one is ...

). She was buried at Chongyangling (崇陽陵; somewhere in present-day

Yanshi Yanshi District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in western Henan province, China. Yanshi lies on the Luo River and is the easternmost county-level division of Luoyang. History After the Zhou conquest of Shang in mid-11th ...

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang ...

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 ...

) with her husband. Sima Yan personally wrote a eulogy praising his mother's moral character and ordered a court historian to have it published.(四年，后崩，時年五十二，合葬崇陽陵。將遷祔，帝手疏后德行，命史官為哀策曰： ...) ''Jin Shu'' vol. 31.

In popular culture

Wang Yuanji is first introduced as a playable character in the seventh instalment of Koei's ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' video game series. She has also made her appearance as a playable character in both '' Warriors Orochi 3'' and ''

Warriors Orochi 4 ''Warriors Orochi 4'', released as in Japan, is a 2018 hack and slash video game developed by Koei Tecmo and Omega Force for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. First announced in March 2018, it is the fifth installmen ...

''，as well as in '' Warriors All-Stars''. Her personality is portrayed as calm, cool, and collected, with a slight tendency to punish people who are lazy and out of order. Her character voice role is filled by

Kanae Itō is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Nagano Prefecture. Biography After graduating from high school, Ito attended thAmusement Media Academyin 2007. She was a member of the groups and , before they were disbanded between December 16, 2005 ...

Notes

References

* Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (648). ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang ...