Empress Dowager Wang (Taichang)


Empress Dowager Xiaojing, of the Wang clan, was a Ming dynasty concubine of the Wanli Emperor and the biological mother of the Taichang Emperor.

Biography

Lady Wang was born in 1565 and began working as a maid in the household of Empress Dowager Li, mother of the Wanli Emperor, in 1578. In late 1581, the emperor became attracted to the young maid during one of his visits to her mother, and she soon became pregnant by him. Although the Wanli Emperor initially wanted nothing to do with the child, his mother convinced him to acknowledge paternity through records of his visits and arranged for Lady Wang to be promoted to the emperor's concubine with the title of Consort Gong. In August 1582, Lady Wang gave birth to a son, Zhu Changluo, who was the emperor's first child. Two years later, in 1584, the Wanli Emperor's interest in Lady Wang diminished as he became more enamored with another concubine, Lady Zheng, who also gave birth to a son, Zhu Changxun, in 1586.
Lady Wang lived in seclusion and isolation within the Forbidden City, neglected by the emperor. Even her own son was rarely allowed to visit her. Despite being the emperor's eldest, he was not immediately named as heir to the throne. Instead, the Wanli Emperor and Lady Zheng favored Zhu Changxun, while government officials and the emperor's mother advocated for Zhu Changluo's appointment. It was not until 1601, after prolonged disputes and discussions, that Zhu Changluo finally became the designated heir. Five years later, in 1606, after the birth of Zhu Changluo's first son, Lady Wang was finally granted the title of Imperial Noble Consort, a fitting recognition for the mother of an heir.
She died in 1611 and was buried on Tianshou Mountain. Her son ascended the throne in 1620 but died after only one month of reign. Her grandson, the Tianqi Emperor, upon assuming the throne, bestowed upon her the posthumous name Empress Dowager Xiaojing and reburied her in the Wanli Emperor's tomb, Ding Mausoleum, in the Ming tombs outside Beijing.

Titles

  • During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor :
  • *Lady Wang
  • During the reign of the Wanli Emperor :
  • *Palace Lady
  • *Consort Gong
  • *Imperial Noble Consort
  • *Imperial Noble Consort Wensu Duanjing Chunyi
  • During the reign of the Tianqi Emperor
  • *''Empress Dowager Xiàojìng Wēnyì Jìngràng Zhēncí Cāntiān Yìnshèng''

Issue

Works cited

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