Empress Liu (; personal name unknown) (died October 333) was an

empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

of China's Later Zhao dynasty during the

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded b ...

period. Her husband was the founder of the empire,

Shi Le Shi Le (; 274 –17 August 333), courtesy name Shilong, also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Ming of Later Zhao, was the founding emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. He was initially sold as a slave by Western Jin ...

(Emperor Ming).

Life

During the time that Shi Le was a

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 ...

general and later as the ruler of his own independent state, she was described as having both bravery and wisdom, often participating in Shi Le's military decisions and helpful to him. She was therefore compared to the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Empress Lü Zhi 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 ...

, who provided similar assistance her husband

Emperor Gao of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one of ...

, but traditional historians praised Lady Liu for not being jealous as Empress Lü was. In an unknown year, a man named Zhang Bi (張裨) rebelled against Shi Le in Xiangcheng. Lady Liu drew her sword and personally killed Zhang Bi, ending his rebellion. In 330, after Shi Le declared himself Heavenly King ('' Tian Wang''), he created her queen, and later that year, after he declared himself emperor, she was created empress. However, Shi Le's heir, Shi Hong, was not Empress Liu's biological son, but rather that of Consort Cheng. In 333, after Shi Le's death, his nephew

Shi Hu Shi Hu (; 295 – 26 May 349), courtesy name Jilong (季龍), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wu of Later Zhao (後趙武帝), was an emperor of the Jie-led Chinese Later Zhao dynasty. He was the founding emperor Shi Le (Em ...

the Prince of Zhongshan quickly seized power in a ''coup d'état'' and controlled the government in the name of Shi Hong. Empress Dowager Liu, seeing how quickly Shi Hu appeared to be intent on usurping the throne, conspired with Shi Le's adopted son Shi Kan (石堪) the Prince of Pengcheng to start a rebellion to overthrow Shi Hu. In fall 333, Shi Kan escaped outside of the capital Xiangguo (襄國, in modern

Xintai Xintai () is a county-level city in the central part of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Tai'an and is located about to the southeast of downtown Tai'an. ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

) and tried to seize Linqiu (廩丘, in modern

Puyang Puyang is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Henan province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern shore of the Yellow River, it borders Anyang in the west, Xinxiang in the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Hebei ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

) but was unable to. He was then captured by Shi Hu's forces and burned to death. Soon, Empress Dowager Liu's involvement was discovered, and she was deposed and executed by Shi Hu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Empress Ming 333 deaths Later Zhao empresses 4th-century Chinese women 4th-century Chinese people Executed Chinese royalty Year of birth unknown Women in ancient Chinese warfare Women in 4th-century warfare