| Empress Yuan 女帝元氏 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor ofNorthern Wei (disputed) | |||||||||
| Reign | 1 April 528 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Emperor Xiaoming | ||||||||
| Successor | Yuan Zhao | ||||||||
| Born | 12 February 528 Luoyang,Northern Wei (present-dayLuoyang,Henan,China) | ||||||||
| Died | after 1 April 528 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | Yuan | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Northern Wei | ||||||||
| Father | Emperor Xiaoming | ||||||||
| Mother | Pan Wailian[2] | ||||||||
Empress Yuan (12 February 528[3] – after 1 April 528), personal name unknown, was briefly anemperor of theXianbei-led ChineseNorthern Wei dynasty.[4] She bore thesurnameYuan (Chinese:元;pinyin:Yuán), originallyTuoba.[note 2] Yuan was the only child ofEmperor Xiaoming (r. 515–528), born to hisconcubine Consort Pan. Soon after her birth, her grandmother theEmpress Dowager Hu, who was also Xiaoming'sregent, falsely declared that she was a boy and ordered ageneral pardon. Emperor Xiaoming died soon afterwards. On 1 April 528, Empress Dowager Hu installed the infant on the throne for a matter of hours before replacing her withYuan Zhao the next day. Emperor Xiaoming's daughter was not recognised as a legitimate emperor (huangdi) by later generations. No further information about her or her mother is available.[6]
Empress Dowager Hu (d. 528),known posthumously as Empress Dowager Ling, was originally one ofEmperor Xuanwu's (483–515, r. 499–515) consorts; she gave birth to his only living heirYuan Xu (510–528). Following Xuanwu's death, Yuan Xu ascended the throne asEmperor Xiaoming, and Hu was honoured as Consort Dowager, and soon Empress Dowager.[7] Because Emperor Xiaoming was still young, she became hisregent.[7] To exert her power as the highest ruler of Northern Wei, she addressed herself asZhen (Chinese:朕;pinyin:Zhèn), a first-person pronoun reserved for use by the emperor after theQin dynasty. Officials addressed her asBixia (Chinese:陛下;pinyin:Bìxià), anhonorific used when addressing the emperor directly.[8]
When Emperor Xiaoming grew up, however, his mother refused to hand authority over to him. She successfully eliminated many of her opponents, including favourites of the emperor.[9] The ancient Chinese historians who wrote theofficial history of theNorthern Wei portrayed her as promiscuous.[10] Both her lifestyle and her ruling style elicited widespread dissatisfaction among officials and from her son.[11] Emperor Xiaoming gathered the people to oppose her and executed her loverYuan Yi (元怿) in 520,[12] causing deep hatred from his mother.[13] After several failed attempts to overthrow the empress dowager, Xiaoming secretly ordered GeneralErzhu Rong to send troops to the capitalLuoyang to coerce her into handing over the authority.[14] When she learned about the plot, she discussed strategies with the officials who supported her.[15]
As these events were occurring, on 12 February 528, Consort Pan, one of Emperor Xiaoming's nine concubines, gave birth to a daughter.[16][17] Empress Dowager Hu falsely declared that the child was a son;[16] she issued an edict the following day, ordering ageneral pardon and changing the emperor'sreign title from Xiaochang (孝昌) to Wutai (武泰).[18][19]
On 31 March 528, Emperor Xiaoming suddenly died in Xianyang Palace (顯陽殿).[20] The following day (1 April 528), Empress Dowager Hu declared the 50-day-old baby girl Yuan the new emperor, while she herself continued to be regent.[21] She ordered another general pardon. As the year of Emperor Xiaoming's reign had not ended, theera name was not changed and the name "Wutai" remained in use. Empress Dowager Hu continued to be effectively in power.[21]
Within 1 April 528, Empress Dowager Hu issued an edict[22][23] to dethrone the infant Emperor and declared that Wutai was a girl. She placedYuan Zhao—son of the deceasedYuan Baohui (元寶暉), Prince of Lintao—on the throne instead.[24] Yuan Zhao ascended the throne on 2 April 528, the day after Empress Dowager Hu issued the edict.[25]
As he was too young to rule, Yuan Zhao was made a puppet emperor under Empress Dowager Hu.[26] The series of events involving her son's death and the installation of the infant girl and the three-year-old Yuan Zhao on the throne occurred to ensure the continuation of her regency.[26]
Because Empress Dowager Hu replaced the emperor in an unbridled manner, GeneralErzhu Rong sent in troops to overthrow her, stating that she had deceived Heaven as well as the Imperial Court by letting the infant girl succeed to the throne.[27] Erzhu Rong madeYuan Ziyou (507–531) emperor.[28] Not long after, Erzhu Rong sent troops to occupy the capital Luoyang, and Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Zhao were held captive. They were delivered to his camp at Heyin (河陰). Empress Dowager Hu begged him for mercy, but he refused and had her and Yuan Zhao drowned in theYellow River.[29] Erzhu later killed thousands ofHan Chinese officials and their families who had served at the Northern Wei court during her regency.[30][31] This massacre is known as the Heyin Incident (河陰之變).[32] Erzhu Rong became the highest authority of the empire. From that time on, political power fell into the hands of powerful ministers andwarlords.Gao Huan andYuwen Tai were generals during the Erzhu Rong era who respectively controlledEastern Wei andWestern Wei following the split of the dynasty,[33] while Erzhu controlled the northern part of the empire. This division eventually led to the downfall of the dynasty.[31]
For the acts she committed during her regency, Empress Dowager Hu was discredited and became infamous in history for causing the downfall of the dynasty.[34][35]
Wutai's status as anemperor (huangdi) remains controversial and is not recognised by many. Official historical records have never listed her as a legitimate sovereign because she was a puppet under Empress Dowager Hu and reigned for less than a day. She was also an impostor for the throne as a boy. Hence,Wu Zetian remains as the first and only recognised femalehuangdi inChinese history.[36] Researcher Cheng Yang (成扬) believes that the fact that Yuan was the "first female in history to ascend the imperial throne" cannot be denied despite it being a plot by Empress Dowager Hu. According to Cheng, Wu Zetian was not the only femalehuangdi, but the only one to have reigned over the empire.[37] Luo Yuanzhen (罗元贞), another researcher on Wu, thinks that modern historians should not acknowledge Wutai's title asHuangdi as ancient Chinese historians did not.[36]
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| Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (467–499) | |||||||||||||||
| Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei (483–515) | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Wenzhao (469–497) | |||||||||||||||
| Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei (510–528) | |||||||||||||||
| Hu Guozhen (438–518) | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Ling (d. 528) | |||||||||||||||
| Lady Huangfu | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Regnant Wutai (b. 528) | |||||||||||||||
| Pan Wailian | |||||||||||||||
Yuan briefly appeared in Chapter 47—Xiao Baoyin's rebellion and capture byErzhu Rong (Chinese:蕭寶夤稱尊叛命 爾朱榮抗表興師) of theRomance of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (Chinese:南北史演義) ofRepublic of China novelistCai Dongfan'sPopular Romance of Dynasties (Chinese:歷朝通俗演義); the story largely conforms with the historical account.[38]
{{cite book}}:|editor2= has generic name (help)武泰元年（528年）二月，肃宗暴崩于显阳殿。
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Emperor of Northern Wei 528 | Succeeded by |