Empress Xiaohui (Ming dynasty)


Empress Xiaohui, of the Shao clan, was a consort of the Chenghua Emperor.

Life

Official history does not record the year of her birth. The ancestors of the Shao family were wealthy, and Lady Shao received a good education. For an unknown reason, her father Shao Lin lost his fortune overnight. He had to sell his daughter to the eunuch guarding Hangzhou. Seeing Lady Shao's beauty, the eunuch brought her to the palace. In the fourth year of Tianshun, Lady Shao was selected to serve.
In the eighth year of Tianshun, seventeen-year-old prince Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne as the Chenghua Emperor. After training in calligraphy and literature, Lady Shao was presented as a gift to the emperor. How she became his concubine remains unknown. Legends say that one night, Lady Shao recited a poem under the moon and was heard by the emperor.
In the 12th year of Chenghua, Lady Shao gave birth to Zhu Youyan, Prince of Xin. Later that year, Lady Shao was granted the title Consort Chen. In the fourteenth year of Chenghua, she birthed her second son, Zhu Youlin, Prince Hui of Xin. In the seventeenth year of Chenghua, Consort Chen gave birth to her final child, Zhu Youyun, Prince Jing of Yong.

Titles

Descendants

As a concubine:
As Noble Consort:
  • Zhu Youlun, Prince Hui of Qi, the Chenghua Emperor's fifth son
  • Zhu Youyun, Prince Jing of Yong, the Chenghua Emperor's eighth son
Zhu Youyuan was the biological father of Zhu Houcong, the Jiajing Emperor. When Zhu Houcong became emperor, Consort Chen was old and blind. In the first year of Jiajing, he honoured Lady Shao as Empress Dowager Shou'an. The next year, she died and was posthumously awarded the title Empress Xiaohui.