Empress Dong (董皇后, personal name unknown) was the only

empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the short-lived Chinese state Ran Wei. Her husband was its only emperor,

Ran Min Ran Min (; died 352), also known as Shi Min (石閔), posthumously honored by the Former Yan as Heavenly King Wudao of (Ran) Wei ((冉)魏武悼天王), courtesy name Yongzeng (永曾), nickname Jinu (棘奴), was a military leader during the er ...

. When he proclaimed the new state in 350 after overthrowing the

Later Zhao Zhao, briefly known officially as Wei (衛) in 350 AD, known in historiography as the Later Zhao (; 319–351) or Shi Zhao (石趙), was a dynasty of China ruled by the Shi family of Jie ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Among the ...

emperor

Shi Jian Shi Jian () (died 350) was briefly (for 103 days) an emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. He was the third of four short-lived Later Zhao emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu (Emperor Wu). He is sometimes referred to b ...

and declared himself emperor, he created her empress and created her oldest son

Ran Zhi Ran Zhi (; died ) was the crown prince of the short-lived Chinese state Ran Wei. His father was the state's only emperor, Ran Min. Ran Zhi, as Ran Min's oldest son, was created crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the he ...

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

. After he was captured and executed by

Former Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Former Yan (; 337–370), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Murong clan of the Xianbei during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. From Liaoning, the Former Yan later conquered and ruled over Hebei, Shaanxi, ...

's prince

Murong Jun Murong Jun (; 319 – 23 February 360), Xianbei name Helaiba (賀賴跋), courtesy name Xuanying (宣英), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Jingzhao of Former Yan (前燕景昭帝), was the second and penultimate ruler of the Form ...

in 352, Former Yan forces quickly arrived at the Ran Wei capital Yecheng. Empress Dong, Ran Zhi, and high-level officials led by the commander of armed forces Jiang Gan (蔣幹) tried to hold out and enlist Jin assistance (by sending Jin the imperial seals that had previously been Jin's, but had passed through the hands of

Han-Zhao The Han-Zhao ( zh, s=汉赵, t=漢趙, p=Hàn Zhào; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao ( zh, s=前赵, t=前趙, p=Qián Zhào), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Liu ( Luandi) clan of Chuge-Xiongnu ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms per ...

and Later Zhao emperors), but even with (limited) assistance Jin provided, could not hold out. The city fell in late 352, and Empress Dong and Ran Zhi surrendered. Publicly claiming (falsely) that Empress Dong had surrendered the imperial seals, Murong Jun created her the Lady Fengxi (奉璽君, literally "the lady who offered the imperial seals") and Ran Zhi the Marquess of Haibin. No further record of them were mentioned (although officials named Ran in the later

Northern Wei Dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an imperial dynasty of Chi ...

claimed descent from Ran Min, presumably through Ran Zhi), and it is not known when Empress Dong died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dong, Empress (Ran Min) Ran Wei Sixteen Kingdoms empresses 4th-century Chinese women 4th-century Chinese people