后妃傳第五
Records of the Three
States: The Book of Wei. Fascicle 5: Empresses and Consorts
Introduction
《易》稱「男正位乎外，女正位乎內；男女正，天地之大義也」。
古先哲王，莫不明后妃之制，順天地之德，故二妃嬪媯，虞道克隆，任﹑似配姬，
周室用熙，廢興存亡，恆此之由。《春秋說》云天子十二女，諸侯九女，考之情理，
不易之典也。而末世奢縱，肆其侈欲，至使男女怨曠，感動和氣，惟色是崇，不本淑懿，
故風教陵遲而大綱毀泯，豈不惜哉！嗚呼，有國有家者，其可以永鑒矣！
The
Classic of Changes states, "A man properly takes his
place outside the home; a woman properly takes her place within the home. For a
man and a woman to be proper is the greatest principle of Heaven and
Earth."These lines are quoted from the Classic of
Changes, Hexagram 37, "Tuan zhuan" ## [Commentary on the Decision]. Cf.
Wilhelm, I Ching, 570. See also Wilhelm,
Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes, 86;
Klöpsch," `Bird in a Cage,' `Jade in the Mire,' " 238. We discuss "inner and
outer" spheres of activity in Chapter 2 above. A good discussion of the concept
as it existed in later times is Ebrey, The Inner
Quarters, 23-29. Without exception, the wise kings of bygone days
understood the regulations regarding empresses and consorts and complied with
the morals of Heaven and Earth. Therefore, two consorts were given in marriage
at Gui 媯, and the way of Yu 虞 was able to thrive; Ren 任 and Si 似 married
into the Ji 姬, and the Zhou house thus
prospered.Yu
is the culture hero Shun, who lived near the stream Gui: "All (giving =) to the
emperor said: There is an unmarried man (below =) in a low position, called
Shun of Yu. The emperor said: Yes, I have heard (of him): what is he like? (Si)
Yue said: He is the son of a blind man; his father was stupid, his mother was
deceitful, (his brother) Xiang was arrogant; he has been able to be concordant
and to be grandly filial; he has controlled himself and has not come to
wickedness. The emperor said: I will try him; I will wive him, and observe his
behaviour towards my two daughters. He (regulated, arranged =) directed and
sent down his two daughters to the nook of the Gui river, to be wives in the Yu
(house). The emperor said: Be reverent!" (Karlgren, "The Book of Documents,"
4). See also Karlgren, "Glosses on the Book of
Documents," 69-71. For more on the lore surrounding Yao's daughters, see
note 98 below and Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo
cidian, 149. Ji was the surname of the Zhou ruling house. Ren was the name
of the mother of King Wen of Zhou, and Si was the name of the mother of King Wu
of Zhou. Whether a state rises or falls, lives or dies is ever due to
this. The [Apocryphon to the] Spring
and Autumn Annals: Explaining [the Themes and
Words] says that the Son of Heaven has twelve women and the nobles have
nine.Lu
Bi notes that Chunqiu: Bao qian tu ## [Apocryphon to the
Spring and Autumn Annals: Schema for Preserving Qian]
says that "only the Son of Heaven takes twelve wives" (Sgz
jijie, 5.1b). See also Tjan, Po hu t'ung,
1:251252, 349n. 466. The latter indicates that
both the Son of Heaven and the nobles might take nine wives at a time but also
points out that some held the emperor might take twelve. On the number of wives
the Son of Heaven should have, see Chapter 3, note 40.
That San guo zhi here
writes Chunqiu shuo ## is something of a
mystery. The only apocryphon with a similar
title is Chunqiu: Shuo ti ci ## ## [Apocryphon to the
Spring and Autumn Annals: Explaining the Themes and Words], and we have
translated accordingly. However, the surviving fragments of that work do not
contain a similar passage. Perhaps Chen Shou is referring to a lost portion of
the Shuo ti ci or to some now unknown work. Another
possibility is that Chunqiu shuo is not a title at all,
but means instead "an explanation to the Spring and Autumn
Annals," as indicated by Dubs, who, however, was unsure.
If one
looks into it, this is a sound rule in terms of both emotion and reason. But
later ages were extravagant and undisciplined and indulged their wasteful
desires to the point that it left men and women pining and single and affected
and shook the spirit of harmony.Mengzi ## 1B.5 says: "At that time there
were neither girls pining for a husband [yuannü ##] nor
men without a wife [kuangfu ##]" (Lau, Mencius, 66, brackets ours). The point here is that the huge
size of the imperial harems led both to a shortage of wives for the men of the
empire and to neglected women in the harem wishing for husbands of their
own. They only exalted sex and did not take pure goodness as basic.
Therefore, customs and moral teaching deteriorated, and the major relationships
were destroyed. Is it not a pity? Alas, may whosoever possesses a kingdom or a
family always be able to learn from this!
漢制，帝祖母曰太皇太后，帝母曰皇太后，帝妃曰皇后，
其餘內官十有四等。魏因漢法，母后之號，皆如舊制，自夫人以下，世有增損。
太祖建國，始命王后，其下五等：有夫人，有昭儀，有婕妤，有容華，有美人。
文帝增貴嬪﹑淑媛﹑脩容﹑順成﹑良人。明帝增淑妃﹑昭華﹑脩儀；除順成官。
太和中始復命夫人，登其位於淑妃之上。自夫人以下爵凡十二等：貴嬪﹑夫人，
位次皇后，爵無所視；淑妃位視相國，爵比諸侯王；淑媛位視御史大夫，
爵比縣公；昭儀比縣侯；昭華比鄉侯；脩容比亭侯；脩儀比關內侯；倢視中二千石；
容華視真二千石；美人視比二千石；良人視千石。
In the Han system, the grandmother of the emperor
was called grand empress dowager, the mother of the emperor was called empress
dowager, the wife of the emperor was called empress, and for the remainder of
the palace women there were fourteen ranks. Wei followed the Han model; all the
terms for mothers and empresses were the same as under the old system. But from
the rank of lady down, there were additions and deletions. When the Grand
Progenitor [Cao Cao] established the kingdom, he initially named a queen (wanghou 王后), with five ranks below her: lady, brilliant
companion, favorite beauty, elegant lady, and beautiful lady. Emperor Wen
[i.e., Cao Pi] added honored concubine (guipin), lady of
chaste beauty (shuyuan 淑媛), lady of cultivated
countenance (xiurong
脩容), lady of complete complaisance (shuncheng 順成), and
sweet lady. Emperor Ming [Cao Rui] added pure consort (shufei 淑妃), lady of bright loveliness (zhaohua 昭華), and lady of cultivated deportment (xiuyi 脩儀) and abolished the office of lady of complete
complaisance. Only in the Taihe 太和 reign period [227-233] did Emperor Ming
restore lady to its position above pure consort.
This sentence may mean something like "Only in the Taihe period,
when he named a new lady, did he raise her position above that of pure
consort," or "In the Taihe period when he first named a new lady, he raised her
position above that of pure consort." These latter interpretations offer more
specificity about the occasion, but we are not sure which of the three might be
right. The one adopted in the translation reflects our impression that the
punctuation in the Zhonghua shuju text may be misleading. From lady
down, there were altogether twelve grades of aristocratic rank:See Appendix I,
Table 2.
The positions of honored
concubine or lady were second only to empress, and there were no equivalent
aristocratic ranks; the position of pure consort was equivalent to chancellor
of state and the aristocratic rank was comparable to king (zhuhou wang 諸侯王);The expression
zhuhou wang is a generic term that ought simply
to be understood as wang ## (king
or prince). See, for example, Hucker, A Dictionary of
Official Titles in Imperial China, no. 1384; Loewe, "The Orders of
Aristocratic Rank of Han China," 110; and Lin, Zhongguo
lishi da cidian: Qin Han shi, 374-375.
the position of lady of chaste beauty was equivalent to grandee secretary
(yushi dafu 御史大夫), and the aristocratic rank
was comparable to prefectural duke
(xian gong 縣公); brilliant companion was comparable
to prefectural marquis (xian hou 縣侯); lady of bright
loveliness was comparable to district marquis (xiang
hou 鄉侯); lady of cultivated countenance was comparable to commune
marquis (ting hou 亭侯); lady of cultivated deportment
was comparable to marquis within the passes; favorite beauty was equivalent
to an official ranking fully two thousand bushels; elegant lady was
equivalent to an official ranking exactly two thousand bushels; beautiful
lady was equivalent to an official ranking equivalent to two thousand
bushels; and sweet lady was equivalent to one thousand bushels.
武宣卞皇后
Empress Bian the Celebrious
武宣卞皇后，琅邪開陽人，文帝母也。本倡家，年二十，
太祖於譙納后為妾。後隨太祖至洛。及董卓為亂，太祖微服東出避難。袁術傳太祖凶問，
時太祖左右至洛者皆欲歸，后止之曰：「曹君吉凶未可知，今日還家，明日若在，
何面目復相見也？
Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor
(Wu Xuan Bian huanghou 武宣卞皇后), whose home of record was
Kaiyang 開陽 in Langye, was the mother of Emperor Wen.
Kaiyang prefecture in Langye commandery was located just north
of modern Linyi ## in Shandong province.
Originally, she was in a
brothel, but when
she was twenty, the Grand Progenitor took her as a concubine at Qiao.Qiao was in
the vicinity of modern Bo ## county in Anhui province.
Later, she followed him to Luoyang. When Dong Zhuo 董卓 (d. 192)
rebelled, the Grand Progenitor went eastward in disguise to avoid
trouble. One of the main anti-eunuch voices in the political
machinations of 189 was Yuan Shao. Yuan and General-in-Chief He Jin
## (d. 189), half brother of Empress Dowager He ##, wanted to
exterminate the eunuchs, but she opposed this. Yuan and others decided
to intimidate her by having military leaders bring their forces to the
capital. One such army was lead by Dong Zhuo.
Dong was a seasoned military leader, and his
advance caused the empress dowager to dismiss all the eunuchs except
those connected with He Jin. Yuan Shao urged He to execute them all,
but the latter refused. He Jin even demanded that Dong stop his
advance, and soon the eunuchs resumed their posts. But on 22 September
189, He Jin had an audience with his sister in which he requested
permission to kill the eunuchs. The eunuchs were suspicious of his
visit to court. Having discovered what he was up to, they
lured him back as he was leaving and cut off his head. Anti-eunuch
forces then went into action. Leading eunuchs, taking along the
empress dowager, the Young Emperor (Shao di ##; Liu Bian ##), the
emperor's younger brother Liu Xie ##, and others, fled to the
Northern Palace. The empress dowager slipped away from the group
en route. Yuan Shao's men are reported to have massacred more than
two thousand people at the palace, but the party leading the Young
Emperor escaped and fled the city. They were caught, and those
eunuchs not killed by the pursuers committed suicide.
While the
Young Emperor and Liu Xie were returning to Luoyang, they were
intercepted by Dong Zhuo, who then proceeded to the capital with his
royal charges. He went about solidifying his position, with many
former soldiers of the He brothers joining his army. Worried about
an army that was stationed east of the capital, Dong got its
commander's subordinate, Lü Bu, to murder his superior and bring
the force over to Dong's side. Dong now had a preponderance of
military power in the capital region. He forced Empress Dowager He to
depose the ruler and replaced him with Liu Xie (Emperor Xian), who
was just a boy. Dong also killed the empress dowager and the former
emperor (HHs, 69.2249-2253, 72.2322-2324,
74A.2374, 56.1830, 9.367, 369; Ch'ü, Han Social
Structure, 499-502, 505-506; Sgz, 1.5,
6.172, 6.174, 21.600; de Crespigny, To Establish
Peace, 1:1-25; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the
Rise of Wei," 130-131, 135-137, 140-141, 142-147, 152).
Some idea of Dong Zhuo's brutality can be had
through the following account of events after he made Liu Xie emperor:
Zhuo was transferred to be chancellor of state and
appointed marquis of Mei. Unannounced by the herald, he would
enter the hall in sword and shoes. His mother was also appointed
lady of Chiyang ## and provided with a prefect of the household
and assistant of the household.
Having happened upon tremendous chaos in the imperial
house when he came leading his crack troops, Zhuo was able
arbitrarily to set aside one ruler and establish another and
to seize the weapons of the arsenal and the treasures of state.
His might shook the world.
By nature Zhuo was ruthless and inhuman, so he menaced the
masses with severe punishments. He was sure to take retribution
over the smallest grievance, and people could not save themselves.
He once sent an army to Yangcheng ##. It was just at the time of
the secondmonth sacrifice to the
God of Earth, and the people were all at the altar. The soldiers
all went forth and cut the men's heads off, yoked up their carts
and oxen, and loaded up the women and property. They tied the
heads they had cut off to the shafts and axles of the carts and returned to Luoyang in a continuous line, saying they had attacked bandits and
made a big haul, and shouting "Long life!" They entered the
Kaiyang Gate ## and burned the heads. They gave the women to the
armored soldiers as slaves and concubines. They even raped the
palace women and princesses. Such were his
cruelty and treachery. (Sgz, 6.174)
As soon as Dong began his coup, Yuan Shao quit
the capital. Cao Cao slipped out about the same time and headed east,
where he raised an army. Both men participated in an abortive
anti-Dong alliance (HHs, 74A.2374; Sgz, 1.5-6; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of
Wei," 146-149, 151-152). On 9 April 190, because of the threat posed
by the opposition forces—and over the protests of the court—Dong
sent Emperor Xian to Chang'an ##, forcing the population of Luoyang
to move, too (HHs, 9.369, 62A.2327; Sgz, 1.7). Luoyang was at the time one of the
greatest and most populous cities in the world. The suffering
caused by Dong's decision and the violence with which he put it
into effect can only be imagined, but there are moving descriptions
of the pain and destruction he
inflicted. He razed Luoyang and pillaged its environs, even
ordering Lü Bu to loot imperial tombs and other mausolea (HHs, 9.370, 72.2327; Sgz,
1.7; Zztj, 59.1897; Bielenstein, "Lo-yang in
Later Han Times," 89-90; de Crespigny, To Establish
Peace, 1:42-43; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,"
155-156). On 22 May 192, Dong Zhuo was assassinated in Chang'an by
his adopted son and confederate Lü Bu as part of a plot organized by
Wang Yun ## (HHs, 72.2331-2332; Sgz, 6.179; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise
of Wei," 186). The literature of the Jian'an Period often refers to
the hardships and destruction that attended the end of the Han. Two
of Cao Cao's most famous poems, "Xie lu xing" ## [Dew on the Shallot]
and "Hao li xing" ## [Wormwood Village], deal with the fall of the
Han and the failure of the alliance against Dong Zhuo.
Yuan Shu spread news of his death, and at the time those of the Grand
Progenitor's associates who had come to Luoyang all wanted to go
home.Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao's half brother, had been involved
in the slaughter of the eunuchs (HHs, 8.358,
69.2252). He emerged as one of eight powerful satraps of the 190s and
even tried, to no avail, to establish his own dynasty in 197 (Mansvelt
Beck, "The Fall of Han," 342, 349, 351). He is mentioned several
times in Fascicle 50 on the empresses and consorts of Wu below.
The empress stopped them, saying, "Lord Cao's fate as yet cannot be known.
If you go home today and tomorrow he is alive, could you look him in the
eye again? And if calamity should happen to befall us, what misery is
there in dying together?"On he ku ##,
translated here as "what misery," see Sgz
jiaogu, 39.
正使禍至，共死何苦！」遂從后言。太祖聞而善之。建安初，
丁夫人廢，遂以后為繼室。諸子無母者，太祖皆令后養之。文帝為太子，
左右長御賀后曰：「將軍拜太子，天下莫不歡喜，后當傾府藏賞賜。」后曰：
「王自以丕年大，故用為嗣，我但當以免無教導之過為幸耳，亦何為當重賜遺乎！
」長御還，具以語太祖。太祖悅曰：「怒不變容，喜不失節，故是最為難。」
They did as she said. The Grand Progenitor learned
of it and praised her. At the beginning of the Jian'an period, Lady
Ding 丁 was set aside, and he made the empress his next wife.Empress
Bian herself gave birth to four sons: Cao Pi, Cao Zhang ## (d. 223),
Cao Zhi, and Cao Xiong ##, who died young. These brothers eventually
had at least twenty-one half brothers (Sgz,
20.579). The eldest brother, Cao Ang ##, referred to below by his
appellative Zixiu ##, was the son of Lady Liu ## (see also Sgz, 1.14). He was killed in battle in 197, at
which time he must have been at least twenty. Thus he would have
been born no later than 178. Cao Pi, born in 187, was the next
eldest, followed by Cao Zhang, whose birthdate is not known. Cao
Zhi may have been the next son born, but this is not an absolute
certainty, for Cao Ang's younger brother Cao Shuo ##, who seems to
have died in his teens, conceivably was older (Xu, "Cao Zhi wei Cao
Cao diji erzi," 36-38). See also Appendix I, Table 9.
He had the empress raise all his sons whose mothers
had died.
When Emperor Wen was named heir
apparent, the left and right chief attendants (zuo
you zhangyu 左右長御) congratulated her, saying, "Since the
general has been made heir apparent, everyone in the empire is
overjoyed. You should open your coffers and bestow rewards."Cao Pi was
named Cao Cao's heir in the winter of Jian'an 22 (A.D. 217; see
Sgz, 1.49, 19.557). He was general of the
gentlemen-of-the-household for all purposes (wuguan
zhonglang jiang ##) at the time. Zhang yu
##, here translated as "chief attendants," was the name of a Han
office, but it is not entirely clear that it was a formal term
(Sgz cidian, 230). Drawing on Wei Hong's ##
(fl. A.D. 25-57) Han jiu yi ## [Old Han
Ceremonies], Ru Chun notes that "a female chief attendant (nü zhang yu ##) was comparable to a [male] palace
attendant" (Hs, 63.2744).
She replied, "The king named Pi successor because he is the eldest. I
should just count myself lucky that I did not make the mistake of
failing to teach and guide him. Why should I also bestow gifts?" The
chief attendant returned and told the Grand Progenitor of this exchange.
The Grand Progenitor was pleased and said, "Not showing your
anger and maintaining your dignity when you are glad are surely the most
difficult of accomplishments."
| A. |
[一] 魏書曰： 后以漢延熹三年十二月己巳生齊郡白亭，
有黃氣滿室移日．父敬侯怪之，以問卜者王旦，旦曰：「此吉祥也．」 |
| A |
The Wei History says: The empress
was born at Baiting 白 亭 in Qi 齊 commandery on the day yisi 己 巳 in the twelfth month of Yanxi 延 熹
3.Qi
commandery was in modern Shandong. There seems to be a mistake in
the date given here, for there was no yisi
day in that month. Imataka, Inami, and Kominami, Sangoku shi, 1:149, also question this date.
Note that Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 57, reads
second month for twelfth month and thus gives the Western
equivalent 4 April 160. Yanxi 3 ran from 27 December 159 to 13
January 161.
There was a yellow pneuma that filled the room for a long time. .
Her father, the Attentive Marquis (Jing hou 敬 侯), wondered at it
and asked the diviner Wang Dan 王 旦 about it.Empress Bian's father
is referred to by his later title here.
Dan said, "This is an auspicious sign."This quotation from
the Wei History also appears in the
commentary to Shi shuo xin yu. See Xu,
Shishuo xinyu jiao jian, 19.364-365; Mather,
Shih-shuo Hsin-yü, 342. In the Shi shuo xin yu version, the diviner is called
Wang Yue ##. |
| B. |
[二] 魏略曰： 太祖始有丁夫人，又劉夫人生子脩及清河長公主．
劉早終，丁養子脩．子脩亡於穰，丁常言：「將我兒殺之，都不復念！」
遂哭泣無節．太祖忿之，遣歸家，欲其意折．後太祖就見之，夫人方織，
外人傳云 「公至」，夫人踞機如故．太祖到，撫其背曰：「顧我共載歸乎！」
夫人不顧，又不應．太祖卻行，立于戶外，復云：「得無尚可邪！」 遂不應，
太祖曰：「真訣矣．」 遂與絕，欲其家嫁之，其家不敢．初，丁夫人既為嫡，
加有子脩，丁視后母子不足．后為繼室，不念舊惡，因太祖出行，
常四時使人饋遺，又私迎之，延以正坐而己下之，迎來送去，有如昔日．丁謝曰：
「廢放之人，夫人何能常爾邪！」其後丁亡，后請太祖殯葬，許之，乃葬許城南．
後太祖病困，自慮不起，歎曰： 「我前後行意，於心未曾有所負也．
假令死而有靈，子脩若問『我母所在』，我將何辭以答！」魏書曰：后性約儉，
不尚華麗，無文繡珠玉，器皆黑漆．太祖常得名璫數具，命后自選一具，
后取其中者，太祖問其故，對曰：「取其上者為貪，取其下者為偽，故取其中者．」 |
| B |
The Wei Epitome says: In the
beginning, the Grand Progenitor had Lady Ding, and then Lady Liu, who
gave birth to Zixiu [Cao Ang] and the Senior Princess of Qinghe
(Qinghe zhang gongzhu 清 河 長 公 主). Liu
died young, and Ding raised Zixiu. Zixiu fell at Rang 穰, and Ding
would always say, "Having taken my son and killed him, you don't
think of him anymore!" Then she would weep uncontrollably. The Grand
Progenitor found this exasperating and sent her back to her family,
hoping she would have a change of heart. Later, he went to see
her. She was weaving just then, and when someone from outside
conveyed the words "His lordship has arrived," she remained kneeling
at the loom. The Grand Progenitor arrived, and stroking her back,
said, "Turn around and look at me and let us ride back together!"
She did not turn to face him or respond. He withdrew and, standing
outside the door, spoke again: "Might it still be possible?" But
there was no reply. He said, "Then this is really goodbye" and broke
off with her. He wanted her family to marry her off to someone else,
but they did not dare. Earlier, when Lady Ding had already become
the principal wife and had additionally taken on Zixiu, she had
insufficient regard for the
empress and her sons. When Empress Bian became the next wife, she
did not think about this old grudge. When the Grand Progenitor was
away, she sent someone to take presents to Lady Ding with every
season of the year. She also received her privately, inviting
her to take the seat of honor and taking the place below her. She
received her when she came and
saw her off when she left, just as in former days. Ding apologized,
"How can you always be so kind to a castoff such as me?" Afterward,
when Ding died, the empress asked the Grand Progenitor to be allowed
to hold the funeral. He permitted it, and she was buried south of
Xucheng 許 城.In 196, following the advice of Xun Yu ## (163-212),
Cao Cao took Emperor Xian under his protection and installed him
at Xu ## (or Xucheng), also
called Xuchang ##, which was located in the vicinity of modern
Xuchang in He'nan.
Later, when the Grand Progenitor was troubled by illness and thought
he would not recover, he sighed, saying, "In all of my thoughts and
deeds, there has never been anything that I was ashamed of in my
heart. But if there is a soul after death and should Zixiu
ask, `Where is my mother?'—how shall I reply?" |
|
The Wei History says: The empress
was by nature thrifty and frugal and did not value ornament and
beauty. She had no patterned embroidery or pearls or jade, and her
utensils were all of black lacquer. The Grand Progenitor once
obtained several sets of famous ear ornaments and bade the empress
to choose a set. She selected a middling set, and when the Grand
Progenitor asked her why, she replied, "It would be greedy to pick
the best and hypocritical to pick the worst, so I picked the middling
ones." |
二十四年，拜為王后，策曰：「夫人卞氏，撫養諸子，有母儀之德。
今進位王后，太子諸侯陪位，群卿上壽，減國內死罪一等。」二十五年，太祖崩，
文帝即王位，尊后曰王太后，及踐阼，尊后曰皇太后，稱永壽宮。明帝即位，
尊太后曰太皇太后。
黃初中，文帝欲追封太后父母，尚書陳群奏曰：
「陛下以聖德應運受命，創業革制，當永為後式。案典籍之文，無婦人分土命爵之制。
在禮典，婦因夫爵。秦違古法，漢氏因之，非先王之令典也。」帝曰：「此議是也，
其勿施行。以作著詔下藏之臺閣，永為後式。」至太和四年春，
明帝乃追諡太后祖父廣曰開陽恭侯，父遠曰敬侯，祖母周封陽都君及（恭）〔敬〕侯夫人，
皆贈印綬。其年五月，后崩。七月，合葬高陵。
In Jian'an 24 [219/220], she was made queen, and
the patent said, "Lady Bian has had the virtue of a model mother in
rearing all of my sons. Now let her be promoted to queen. Let the heir
apparent and the imperial marquises take their places by her side and
all the ministers wish her long life. Let the death sentences within
the kingdom be commuted by one degree."
In Jian'an 25 [220/221], the Grand Progenitor died
and Emperor Wen assumed the royal throne.Cao Cao died early in
Jian'an 25 (on 15 March 220) in Luoyang. Cao Pi succeeded him as
chancellor and king of Wei and, later, on 10 or 11 December 220,
became emperor of the new Wei dynasty (Zhang, San
Cao nianpu, 168, 177; Fang, The Chronicle of
the Three Kingdoms, 1:10, 38-39; Leban, "Managing Heaven's
Mandate," 322, 325).
He honored the queen as queen dowager. When he succeeded to the imperial
throne, he honored her, calling her empress dowager and designating her
Palace of Eternal LongevitySee note 58 below.
(Yongshou gong 永壽宮).
When Emperor Ming assumed the throne, he
honored the empress dowager as the grand empress dowager.
| C |
The Wei History says: Because the
state's finances were insufficient, the empress reduced her livery and
comestibles and got rid of all her objects of gold and silver. [Cao]
Zhi, the king of Dong'e ##, was her youngest son, and she loved him
best. Later, when Zhi committed an offense and was reported by the
officials concerned, Emperor Wen had Chief Commandant of Imperial
Equipages (fengju duwei ## ##) [Bian] Lan ##,
who was the son of the empress's younger brother, take the
deliberations of the highest officials and report them to her. The
empress said, "I did not expect this son to do such a thing. Go back
and tell the emperor that he cannot violate the laws of the country
on my account." And when she
personally saw the emperor, she said nothing about it. |
|
Your servant Songzhi notes: Emperor Wen dreamed that he was
rubbing a coin. He wanted the markings to disappear, but they
became even clearer. He asked Zhou Xuan ## about this.Zhou
Xuan was noted for his skill at dream interpretation. The
story related here by Pei Songzhi is found in Zhou's biography in
Sgz, 29.810-811. It has been translated as
follows:
The emperor also asked, "I dreamed that I was rubbing
away at the design on a coin, trying to make it disappear.
But the design only became brighter. What does this mean?"
Xuan was distraught, and he hesitated to answer. The
emperor pressed him with the question again, and Xuan said,
"This derives from a problem in Your Majesty's own household.
Although you are wishing for something, the imperial mother
does not concur. This is the reason the pattern only
brightens, although you would like to rub it away."
At that time, it was true that the emperor wanted to
inflict a punishment on his younger brother Cao Zhi, and he
was pressuring his mother to permit it. But the imperial
mother was willing only to reduce Cao Zhi in rank.
(DeWoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of
Ancient China, 139)
Xuan replied, "This derives from a problem in Your Majesty's own
household. Although you are wishing for something, the imperial
mother does not concur." Thus, the empress's intentions could not
have been as stated in this history [i.e., the Wei
History].It is unclear what offense is referred to here and
difficult to reconcile Empress Bian's response with the very
different one to an event recorded in Cao Zhi's biography: "In
the year Huangchu 2 [221/222], Regent-Receptionist (jianguo yezhe ##) Guan Jun ##, catering to the
emperor's wishes, memorialized that "While drunk, Cao Zhi was
disrespectful and coerced and intimidated Your envoy." All the
officials concerned wanted the emperor to punish this offense, but
because of the empress dowager he only demoted Cao Zhi to marquis
of An district (Anxiang hou ##)" (Sgz, 19.561). The most detailed investigation
of Cao's demotion to marquis of An district is found in Xu, "Cao
Zhi shengping ba kao," 204-212. Xu pulls the fragmentary evidence
together into a convincing sequence of events. See also Zhang,
San Cao nianpu, 189-190. |
|
The Wei History also says: Whenever
the empress dowager went on campaigns with the army and saw elderly,
white-haired people, she would always halt the carriage and call them
over to ask how they were. She would present them with taffeta and
face them weeping, saying, "I regret that my parents died before I
came into my own." Whenever the empress dowager saw her own relatives,
she did not put on a charming face. She always said, "In the
management of your daily affairs you should strive for economy and
frugality. You should not expect rewards or gifts, but be mindful
of your own excesses. The imperial in-laws must find it queer that I
treat them so stingily, but it is because I have my own norms and
standards. I have served Emperor Wu [Cao Cao] for forty or fifty
years and have practiced frugality for a long time. I cannot change
myself to be extravagant. If any among you violates a law, I can
even increase the offense one degree. Do not expect money, grain,
kindness, or leniency." The emperor [Cao Cao] built a mansion for
the empress's younger brother [Bian] Bing ##. When it was finished,
the empress paid a visit to it and invited her entire family and her
in-laws. She offered an inferior cuisine and had no special foods.
The empress and her entourage fed on vegetables and millet and had
no fish or meat. Such was her frugality.For another translation
of this Wei History entry, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:106,
124-126. |
初，太后弟秉，以功封都鄉侯，黃初七年進封開陽侯，邑千二百戶，
為昭烈將軍。秉薨，子蘭嗣。少有才學，為奉車都尉﹑游擊將軍，加散騎常侍。蘭薨，
子暉嗣。又分秉爵，封蘭弟琳為列侯，官至步兵校尉。蘭子隆女為高貴鄉公皇后，
隆以后父為光祿大夫，位特進，封雎陽鄉侯，妻王為顯陽鄉君。
追封隆前妻劉為順陽鄉君，后親母故也。琳女又為陳留王皇后，時琳已沒，
封琳妻劉為廣陽鄉君。
During the
Huangchu period, Emperor Wen wanted to ennoble posthumously the
empress dowager's parents. Master of Writing (shang
shu ##) Chen Qun ## memorialized, saying,Chen Qun's biography is
in Sgz, 22.633-638. He was an important official,
first under Liu Bei, then under Cao Cao and Cao Pi. He is often credited
with establishing the nine-rank system of official recruitment in 220,
but is perhaps better characterized as the person who formalized its
use in the government (Holzman, "Les neuf catégories," 393; Ch'en,
"A Confucian Magnate's Idea of Political Violence," 79; Fairbank,
"King and Province in the Western Chin," 10). For another translation
of Chen Qun's memorial and the emperor's response, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:11-12,
41.
Your Majesty, with Your sage virtue, responded to destiny
and received the mandate. You established the dynasty and
reformed the regulations and should forever stand as a model
for later ages. According to the texts of the canonical books,
there are no regulations for
distributing land to and bestowing titles upon one's wife's
people. In the ritual canons, the wife's noble rank
depends on the husband.As Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:41, points out, there
is a pertinent passage in the Record of
Rites. In Legge's translation it says, "Hence while the
wife had (herself) no rank, she was held to be of the rank of her
husband, and she took her seat according to the position
belonging to him" (Legge, LîKî, 1:441;
Lj, 26.19b).
Qin went against the old laws, and Han did the same. Theirs
were not the excellent canons of the early rulers.
The emperor said,
"This argument is correct. It shall not be done. We shall take the
document you have initiated and order it sent down and kept in the
imperial secretariat (taige ##) to serve
forever as a model for later ages."The term "imperial secretariat" is a
reference to the masters of writing (shang shu).
Well before the Wei, the notion that a person who had no rank during
his or her lifetime should not receive a posthumous name was no
longer strictly observed. See Ch'ü, Han Social
Structure, 78. Although Cao Pi accepted—and even praised—Chen
Qun's argument, ultimately Cao Rui conferred titles on Empress
Bian's parents, and her grandparents as well.
In the spring of Taihe 4 [230], Emperor Ming did
confer the posthumous title Respectful Marquis of Kaiyang (Kaiyang
Gong hou ##) on the empress dowager's
grandfather Guang ##.On Empress Bian's family, see Appendix I, Table 3.
Her father Yuan ## was called Attentive Marquis, her grandmother Zhou ## was made countess of
Yangdu (Yangdu jun ## ##) and lady of the
Respectful Marquis (Gong hou furen ## ##).
All received seals and ribbons of office. In the fifth month of that year
[May/June], the empress died.Note that Sgz,
3.97 gives the precise date of death as 9 July 230 rather than the
May/June date given here.
In the seventh month [July/August], she was buried with Cao Cao at Gao
Tumulus (Gaoling ##).his sentence is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:328. Gao
Tumulus lay west of Ye; that is, to the west of modern Linzhang ##,
Hebei. To judge from two surviving orders he composed, Cao Cao seems
to have personally chosen this site, which was visible from the
famous Bronze Bird Terrace (Tong que tai ##), for his tomb. He said
he wished to have a thrifty burial there (see Cao
Cao ji, 3.51, 57-58; Anhui Boxian, Cao Cao
ji yi zhu, 176-177, 187-188). As early as 205, Cao Cao prohibited
lavish burials (Sgz, 1.27). On lavish versus
thrifty burial and the numerous calls for the latter near the close
of the Han, see Poo, "Ideas Concerning Death and Burial in Pre-Han
and Han China."
Earlier, the empress dowager's younger brother Bing
had been made a marquis of the capital district (du
xiang hou ##) for his merit.Qian Daxin says that a du
xiang was a district near the capital and that a du xiang hou, or the marquis of such a district,
ranked above a regular xiang hou, or district
marquis (Sgz jijie, 5.7a).
In the year Huangchu 7 [226/227], he was promoted and appointed both
marquis of Kaiyang (Kaiyang hou ##), with a
benefice of twelve hundred households, and general of brilliant
achievements (zhaolie jiangjun ##). When Bing died, his
son Lan succeeded him. As a youth Lan possessed talent and
learning, and he
became chief commandant of imperial equipages, scouting and attacking
general (youji jiangjun ## ##) and honorary
cavalier attendant in regular attendance (sanji
changshi ##). When Lan died, his son Hui ## succeeded
him. Moreover,
Bing's benefice was divided, and Lan's younger brother Lin ## became a
full marquis and rose in office to be colonel of foot soldiers (bubing xiaowei ##). The daughter of Lan's son Long
## became empress of the Duke of Gaogui District.Duke of Gaogui District
was a title held by Cao Mao, a nephew of Emperor Ming. In Jingchu ##
3(239), Emperor Ming died and was succeeded by his adopted son Cao
Fang, a seven- or eight-year-old. Cao Fang's regents were Cao Shuang
and Sima Yi ## (179-251). A decade later, Sima Yi launched a coup, and
the Sima family took control of the Wei dynasty. After Sima Yi's death,
his eldest son Sima Shi ##, also known as King Jing of the Sima family
(Sima Jing wang ##), became the de facto ruler of Wei. In 254, he and
his younger brother Sima Zhao, also known as King Wen ##, removed Cao
Fang as emperor and replaced him with Cao Mao, who was then fourteen
years old. In 260, Cao Mao attempted to do away with Sima Zhao but was
himself killed. He was replaced by Cao Huang ##, whose name was changed
to Cao Huan because rulers' personal names were taboo, and Huang was
thought difficult to avoid (Sgz, 4.147; see Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 2:354).
Cao Huan was a grandson of Cao Cao and son of Cao Yu ## (King Yu of Yan
##). Known to history as Emperor Yuan ## ## (r. 260-265), or the Young
Emperor (Shaodi ##), he was just a teenager at the time (Sgz, 4.117-147; Zhang, San Cao
nianpu, 233; Fu, Zhongguo tong shi,
1:252-254). It is because Cao Mao did serve as emperor, even though
he is not so referred to here, that Bian Long's daughter is called
empress.
Because Long was the empress's father, he became imperial household
grandee (guanglu dafu ##) and advanced in
position with unusual rapidity. He was appointed marquis of Suiyang
district (Suiyang xiang hou ##), and his wife
Wang ## became countess of Xianyang district (Xianyang xiangjun ##). Long's late wife Liu ## was
posthumously appointed countess of Shunyang district (Shunyang
xiangjun ## ##) because she was the empress's
mother. Lin's daughter also became empress of the King of Chenliu.King of
Chenliu refers to Cao Huan, who is also referred to as Duke of
Changdao District (Changdao xianggong ##). After a five-year stint as
emperor, he abdicated in 266 to Sima Yan (r. 266-290), the first ruler
of the Jin dynasty. Cao Huan's biography is in Sgz,
4.147-154.
At the time, Lin had already died, but his wife Liu ## was appointed
countess of Guangyang district (Guangyang xiangjun
##).This paragraph is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 2:429-430.
| D |
The Wei Epitome says: Earlier, in
Jian'an times, Empress Bian's younger brother Bing attained a
position as major of a separate regiment (biebu
sima
##).Bielenstein notes that "majors might command
entire regiments in exceptional cases" (Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times, 120). That
seems to be what is meant here.
The empress once complained to Cao Cao, who replied, "But isn't
it enough that he gets to be my little brother-in-law?" She also wanted Cao
Cao to give him money and silk. Cao Cao again said, "But isn't it
sufficient that you misappropriate things and give them to him?"
Therefore, to the end of Cao Cao's days, Bing's office was not
changed, neither was his wealth increased. |
| E |
The Wei Epitome says: Lan presented
a rhapsody praising and recounting the beauty of the heir apparent's
[ Cao Pi's] virtue. The heir apparent replied, saying, "A rhapsody
speaks of the attributes of objective categories, and a eulogy
praises the form and appearance of great virtue. Therefore, their
authors do not falsify the words, and their recipients must live up
to them. How can I live up to this rhapsody of yours? Formerly,
when Wuqiu Shouwang ## once discoursed on a precious tripod
cauldron and He Wu ## and others sang eulogies, they even received
rewards of gold and silk.Wuqiu Shouwang (ca. 156-110 B.C.) is
sometimes referred to as Yuqiu Shouwang ##, as in Xiao Tong's ##
(501-531) "Wen xuan xu" ## ## [Preface to
Selections of Refined Literature]. During
the reign of the Han Emperor Wu, a bronze tripod cauldron (ding ##) was unearthed. All the other officials
saw this object as a numinous Zhou relic, but Wuqiu dissented. When
the emperor asked why, he said it was a gift from Heaven in
approbation of the Han. Emperor Wu was greatly pleased (Hs, 64A.2798). Hs,
30.1747 credits Wuqiu with fifteen fu, or
rhapsodies, all of which are lost (Knechtges, Wen
xuan, 1:95n).
During the reign of the Han Emperor Xuan ##
(r. 74-49 B.C.), Wang Xiang ##, who was inspector of Yi
province ## (in the region of modern Sichuan), had Wang Bao ##
(d. ca. 61 B.C.) compose a eulogy on the virtue of the Han,
which He Wu and others learned to sing. Wang, He, and
others were rewarded by Emperor Xuan (Hs,
86.3481).
Although your action has not been sincere, the intent is commendable.
We now award you one ox." Thenceforth, Lan was treated as an
intimate and respected. |
| F |
The Wei
Epitome says: In Emperor Ming's time, Lan saw that while there
were two external difficulties, the emperor devoted his attention
to his household.The "external difficulties" would have been Wu and
Shu. The emperor seems to have been more interested in the ladies
of the palace, as indicated near the end of Chapter 4 above.
Lan always took advantage of attending upon and accompanying the
emperor to remonstrate earnestly with him several times. Although the
emperor was unable to follow his advice, he still acknowledged his
sincerity. Later, Lan suffered from diabetes caused by drinking. At
the time, Emperor Ming believed in a shamaness's cure using water.
He sent someone to deliver the water to Lan, but Lan was unwilling
to drink it. The emperor summoned him and asked why. Lan said that
in curing illness one should use prescribed medicines. How could one
trust in this? The emperor was irked, but Lan never did take the cure.
Later, the diabetes gradually worsened and Lan died. Thus people of
today view Lan as someone who was fond of speaking bluntly, but when
they say that he committed suicide because the emperor humiliated
him face-to-face, such was not actually the case. |
Empress Zhen the Illustrious
Empress Zhen the Illustrious of the Civilizing
Emperor (Wen Zhao Zhen huanghou ##), whose home of
record was Wuji ## in Zhongshan ##, was the mother of Emperor Ming and a
descendant of Grand Guardian (taibao ##) Zhen Han
## of Han times.Fang, The Chronicle of the Three
Kingdoms, 1:70-71, makes much of some confusion about the date of
birth of Cao Rui (Emperor Ming). However, it seems likely that he was
born later than Fang allows, probably sometime in 206. See Zhang, San Cao nianpu, 94.
Wuji, in the Han kingdom of Zhongshan, was in
the vicinity of the modern county by the same name in Hebei. Zhen
Han was the son-in-law of Minister over the Masses (situ ##) Kong Guang ##, a supporter of Wang Mang.
Both Zhen and Kong played a role in Wang's consolidation of his
power, and Zhen became a member of his circle of advisers and one
of his most important officials. See Dubs, The
History of the Former Han Dynasty, 3:137-138, 140, 142-145,
167, 181, 200, 225, 234, 236-237, 263, 319.
The family had been officials for generations at two thousand bushels.This places
Empress Zhen's family in the level just below the highest officials in
the bureaucracy. See Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of
Han Times, 4-5; Hucker, A Dictionary of Official
Titles in Imperial China, 16.
Her father Yi ## was prefect of Shangcai ## ##.Shangcai, in the Han
commandery of Ru'nan ##, was located near modern Shangcai in He'nan.
Liu Jun's ## (462-521) commentary to A New Account of
Tales of the World quotes the Wei Epitome,
which calls her father Zhen Hui ## (Xu, Shishuo xinyu
jiao jian, 35.489; Mather, Shih-shuo
Hsin-yü, 484). However, the sentence in which Zhen Yi's name is
given as Zhen Hui is missing from the Wei Epitome
as that text has been preserved in Pei's commentary. According to Lu Bi,
the Wei Epitome text has probably been garbled in
the commentary to Shi shuo xin yu (Sgz jijie, 5.11a).
She lost her father when she was three.
Later, when the
armies of the empire rebelled and there was also famine, people all sold
their precious objects of gold, silver, pearls, and jade.This is
apparently a reference to the disintegration of the Han in the 190s
and the concomitant rise of various military leaders, rebels, and
powerful regional administrators. See Mansvelt Beck, "The Fall of Han,"
349.
At that time, the empress's family had an abundance of stored grain, and
they bought many such objects with it. The empress was ten or so and
said to her mother, "Although the world is now in turmoil, we are buying
more precious objects. `Though a man may be innocent, just possessing a
jade may constitute a crime.'This is a proverb found in Zuo zhuan, Huan 10.
Moreover, all about us everyone is
starving and in want. It would be better to give our grain as relief to
kinsmen and neighboring villages and to practice benevolence and charity
on a broad scale."
The whole family agreed it was a good idea and followed
her advice.
| G |
The Wei History says: Yi married a woman
named Zhang ## from Changshan ##, and she gave birth to three boys
and five girls.Changshan was a Han commandery with its seat located
in modern Yuanshi ## country,
Hebei. Its name was changed from Hengshan ## to avoid the personal
name of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng ##.
The eldest son Yu ## died young. Next was Yan ##, who was recommended
as filially pious and incorrupt, was clerk (yuan
##) to the general-in-chief (da jiangjun ##), and was chief of Quliang ##.Quliang
was a Han prefecture in the area of modern Yongnian ##, Hebei.
Next was Yao ##, recommended as filially pious and incorrupt. The eldest
daughter was Jiang ##, followed in order by Tuo ##, Dao ##, Rong ##, and
the empress. The empress was born during the Han on a dingyou ## day in the twelfth month of Guanghe ## 5
[26 January 183]. Every time she went to sleep, her family seemed to see
something like a person bringing a jade garment to cover her, and they
often marveled at it together. When Yi died, she added [her little voice]
to the keening and wailing,On hao mu ##
("keening and wailing"), see Sgz jiaogu,
40.
and those within and without the family increasingly regarded her as
special. Later, when the physiognomist Liu Liang ## examined the
empress and other children, he pointed to her and said, "The exalted
status of this girl shall be inexpressible." From the time she was
little until she was grown, the empress never liked frivolity. When
she was eight, someone performed outside by riding standing up on a
horse. The people in the household and all her older sisters went up
to the gallery to watch it. Only the empress did not go along. All
her older sisters thought this was odd and asked her why. She replied,
"A woman should not watch such things." When she was nine, she enjoyed
writing, and whenever she saw a character, she always recognized it.
She often used her elder brothers' brushes and inkstones, and they
said to her, "You ought to learn women's work. Do you think all this
writing and study will make you a woman erudite?" The empress replied,
"I have heard that, of the worthy women of antiquity, there was never
one who did not study the successes and failures of former times in
order to admonish herself. If one does not understand writing, how
can one examine these?" |
| H |
The Wei Epitome says:
When the empress was fourteen, she lost her middle elder brother Yan,
and her sorrow continued beyond the stipulated mourning period. In
serving her widowed sister-in-law, she was humble and respectful.
Managing and dealing with the work and solicitously caring for Yan's
child, her affection and love were very great. The empress's mother
was by nature stern and had norms for treating all her
daughters-in-law. The empress often remonstrated with her mother,
saying, "My elder brother unfortunately died early.Sister-in-law is young to be a celibate
widow and has been left with but a single child.See Chapter 3, note
89.
Speaking in terms of moral obligations, you ought to treat her like
a daughter-in-law, and you should love her like a daughter." Her
mother was moved by the empress's words and shed tears. She then ordered the
empress and her sister-in-law to live together. Whether sleeping or
resting, sitting or rising, they were always together, and their
mutual affection grew increasingly deep. |
In the Jian'an period, Yuan Shao obtained her for
his middle son Xi. When Xi went out to govern You province, the empress
remained behind to care for her mother-in-law.You province was to the
northeast, in the region of modern northern Hebei and Liaoning.
When Ji province was pacified, Emperor Wen married the empress in
Ye.Cf.
Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms,
1:68. Ye was the seat of Ji province and was the base of power
of Yuan Shao and his son Yuan Shang ## (d.207). Cao Cao captured the
city in 204. It was located in Hebei in the vicinity of modern Yezhen
## and Santai cun ##, in the southwest of Linzhang county.
She was favored and gave birth to Emperor Ming and the Princess of
Dongxiang.
In the first month of Yankang ## 1 [February/ March 220], Emperor Wen
assumed the throne as king. In the sixth month, he went on a military
expedition south and the empress remained in Ye. In the tenth month of
Huangchu 1 [October/November 220], the emperor ascended the throne as
emperor.See
note 19 above for the date Cao Pi became emperor. This actually
marked the beginning of the Huangchu reign period, but the name was
applied retroactively to the whole calendar year.
Afterward, the Duke of Shanyang presented two daughters in marriage to
the Wei ruling house.These two sentences are also translated in Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:40. Duke
of Shanyang is the title that was bestowed on Emperor Xian, the last
Han emperor, after he abdicated. The abdication took place on either
19 or 25 November 220 (Fang, The Chronicle of the
Three Kingdoms, 1:10, 36-37; Leban, "Managing Heaven's Mandate,"
324-325). The new title was given on 13 December 220 (Sgz, 2.76; Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:10, 39).
Empress Guo and the Honorable Ladies Li and Yin were all loved and
favored.Honorable Lady Li was the mother of Cao Pi's son
Cao Xie ##, the Lamented King of Zan ##, who died at a relatively
young age (Sgz, 20.590).
The empress was increasingly discouraged and had fractious words. The
emperor became irate, and in the sixth month of the second year, he
sent an envoy to order her to commit suicide.Empress Zhen's suicide
was ordered on 6 August 221 (Fang, The Chronicle
of the Three Kingdoms, 1:48, 71).
She was buried in Ye.
| I |
The Wei Epitome says: Xi went out to
run You province, and the empress remained behind to wait on her
mother-in-law. When Ye's city wall was breached, Shao's wife and
the empress sat together in the main hall. Emperor Wen entered
Shao's residence and saw Shao's wife and the empress.See
Chapter 5, note 83.
As the empress, terrified, put her head on her mother-in-law's lap,
Shao's wife instinctively clutched her with her hands. Emperor Wen
said, "Lady Liu, what makes her thus? Have your daughter-in-law
lift her head." The mother-in-law then supported her and made
her look up. Emperor Wen approached and looked at her. Seeing that she was extraordinary, he sang
her praises. When Cao Cao learned how he felt, he brought her
back as Emperor Wen's wife.Cf. Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:69; Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yü,
484. |
|
The Conversations of the Eras says: When
Cao Cao subjugated Ye, Emperor Wen was first to enter Yuan Shang's
compound. There was a woman with disheveled hair and a dirty face
standing behind Shao's wife Liu shedding tears. Emperor Wen asked
about her, and Liu replied, "This is Xi's wife." Turning around,
she gathered the woman's hair and rubbed her face with a kerchief.
Her good looks were matchless. Once it was over, Liu said to the
empress, "You don't need to worry about dying now!" She was taken
in marriage and was favored.Cf. Fang, The
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, 1:69-70; Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yü, 484-485. |
| The Wei History says:
The more the empress's favor grew, the more she denigrated herself.
She advised and encouraged those in the rear palace who had favor,
and consoled and instructed those who did not.Rear palace (hou gong ##) is a commonly used term that
refers to the section of a palace complex where the consorts
dwell.
She always took advantage of leisure times to exhort the emperor,
saying, "In former times the descendants of the Yellow Emperor
were born in great numbers. It was probably because his royal
ladies were multitudinous that he obtained this blessing. What I
wish is for you to search everywhere for ladies of chaste beauty
to make your progeny abundant." The emperor in his
heart appreciated this. |
|
Later, the emperor was about to banish Madam Ren, and the
empress implored him, "Ren is from a well-known clan of your
hometown, and her virtue and beauty are more than someone like me
can match. Why banish her?" The emperor said, "Ren is by nature
rash and impetuous and is not pleasant and agreeable. She has all
in all angered me more than once. This is why I am banishing her."
The empress, shedding tears, insistently implored, "Everyone knows
that I have received the favor of your esteemed attention. They
will say Ren's leaving is all my doing. Just as you fear criticism
for being prejudicial, I may have a hard time for being specially
favored. I hope you will reconsider!" The emperor did not heed her
and sent Ren away. |
|
In Jian'an 16 [211/212], Cao Cao led a military expedition to
Guanzhong ##, and Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor
went along [part of the way], stopping off at Mengjin ##.Guanzhong
(Within the Passes) is the name that was commonly applied to the
area of modern Shaanxi. The campaign mentioned here brought
virtually all of the area under Cao Cao's control (see Sgz, 1.34-36). Both Cao Zhi and Cao Pi refer
to it in rhapsodies. The preface to Cao Zhi's "Li si fu" ##
[Rhapsody on Thoughts of Parting] says, "In the sixteenth year of
Jian'an, a great force went west to quell Ma Chao ## [176-222].
The heir apparent stayed behind in the capital while I went along."
Cao Pi's preface to his "Gan li fu" ## [Rhapsody on Being Moved
by Parting] likewise notes, "In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, the
emperor went on a military expedition west. I stayed behind in
charge. My elderly mother and all my younger brothers went along"
(Zhao, Cao Zhi ji jiao zhu, 1.40; Wei Wendi ji, 1.2b). See also Cutter, "On
Reading Cao Zhi's `Three Good Men,' " 8. Mengjin (Meng Ford) was
south of modern Meng county, He'nan.
The emperor [Cao Pi] stayed behind in charge of Ye. At that time,
Empress Bian was in poor health and indisposed. The empress could not
periodically check on her and was so anxious and frightened that
she wept day and night. Her
attendants repeatedly sent messengers to ask about and report [on her
improvement], but the empress still did not believe it. She said,
"When the consort was at home, every time her old ailment flared up,
it lasted for a time. How could she improve so quickly now? You just
want to put my mind at ease!" Later she received a return letter from Empress Bian which said that
she had already recovered from her ailment and had returned to
normal. The empress rejoiced. |
|
In the first month of [Jian'an] 17 [February/March 212], the
great army returned to Ye, and the empress had an audience with
Empress Bian. When she gazed on her seated in her tent, she was
both sad and happy, which moved those in attendance. When Empress
Bian saw the empress like this, she, too, cried and said to her,
"Were you upset over my recent illness, as you were on former
occasions? It only lasted for a little while, and I was better in
ten days or so. But don't look at my face!" She sighed and said,
"This is a truly filial daughter-in-law." |
|
In [Jian'an] 21 [216/217], Cao Cao led a military expedition
east. Empress Bian, Emperor Wen, Emperor Ming, and Princess of
Dongxiang all accompanied him. At the time, the empress remained in
Ye due to illness.This was an expedition against Sun Quan. See Sgz, 1.49.
In the ninth month of [Jian'an] 22 [October/ November 217], the
great army returned. The attendants and courtiers of Empress Bian
noticed that the empress's face was plump and full. They were
surprised and asked, "Since the empress has been separated from her
two children for so long, and feelings for offspring cannot be put
out of one's consciousness, how is it that the empress's face is
more magnificent?" The empress smiled and answered them, "Since Rui
and the others were with the consort, what have I had to be anxious
about?" Such was the way the empress ably and intelligently used
propriety to maintain her composure. |
| J |
The Wei History says: The officials
concerned memorialized the throne about naming a Palace of
Prolonged Autumn.Palace of Prolonged Autumn (Changqiu gong ##)
refers to the empress (Sgz jijie, 5.12b;
HHs, 10A.409, commentary). The usage is
like that of referring to Empress Dowager Bian as Palace of
Eternal Longevity. Prolonged Autumn was the title of an official
responsible for matters pertaining to the empresses during the Former
Han (Hs, 19A.734). The Palace of Prolonged
Autumn was established during the Later Han and was occupied by
the empress (DHhy, 38.405). There are at
least two explanations of the name. One holds that autumn was
adopted because it refers to the season when everything begins
to ripen (HHs, 10A.409, commentary).
Another says that autumn was used because an empress is yin (as opposed to yang),
and autumn is when yin begins to wax (Wei
Zhao, Bian Shi ming ## [Debating Explaining Names], cited in Sghy, 9.163). See also Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times, 69.
The emperor sent a letter bearing his seal inviting the empress to
come to him. The empress sent up a memorial stating, |
|
I have heard that, from the beginning of the earliest
dynasties, the perpetuation of sacrifices to the state and the
handing down of blessings to descendants all were due to empresses
and consorts. Therefore, you must carefully select such women in
order to make moral education thrive in the palace. Now, when you
have just assumed the imperial throne, you really should raise and
promote a worthy and good woman to take overall charge of the Six
Palaces.The term Six Palaces (liu
gong ##) generally refers to the quarters of the empress
and lesser consorts within the imperial palace. The Rites of Zhou says, "[The administrator of
the interior (nei zai ##)] teaches the
rites of yin to the Six Palaces." The
commentary explains:
Zheng Sinong ## [Zheng Zhong ##, d. 83] says, "The
rites of yin are the rites of the
women. Six Palaces: five in the rear, one in front. . . . "
[Zheng] Xuan says, " `Six Palaces' refers to the queen. The
wives refer to the boudoir as `palace.' `Palace' is a
euphemism for the queen. Just as the king puts up six
palaces and occupies a primary boudoir, there are also a
primary boudoir and five pleasure boudoirs. The
instructor dares not rebuke her, so he refers to her as
`Six Palaces.' This is similar to the-current way of
referring to the emperor as `Central Palace.'"
(Zlzy, 13.12a; cf. Biot,
Le Tcheou-li, 1:142 n.3)
I consider myself ignorant and lowly, not up to the offerings of
grain-filled vessels. Besides, I am
sick in bed and dare not maintain the slightest aspirations.
The sealed letter came three times and the empress thrice declined, her
words being very sincere. At the time it was the height of summer,
so the emperor wanted to wait until
the coolness of autumn before again inviting the empress. But it happened
that her illness became grave, and that summer, on the dingmao ## day of the sixth month [4 August 221], she died
in Ye. The emperor sighed in sorrow and pain and issued a patent bestowing on
her the seal and ribbon of empress. |
| Your servant Songzhi understands the principles of
the Spring and Autumn Annals to be that great evils
within the palace are concealed, while lesser evils are recorded.The
Spring and Autumn Annals, one of the
canonical texts of Confucianism, is said to be by Confucius himself. It
is an extremely terse chronicle, but due to the importance that
Confucius and others placed on it, it has traditionally been held to
be made up of carefully nuanced judgments on events of the time. More
recently, however, the existence of such praise and blame messages in
the text has been called into question. See Durrant, "Ching," 313. We follow Wu Jinhua ## in considering
the negative bu ## in this sentence to be an
interpolation and have omitted it (Sgz jiaogu,
41).
We have clear knowledge of the fact. that Emperor Wen did not make Madame
Zhen empress and went so far as to kill her. If the Wei historiansThe term
translated here as "Wei historians" could be taken as Wei History, as in Miao, San guo
zhi daodu, 22. In any case, it means the Wei
shu or those who wrote it.
considered this to be a great evil, they should have concealed it and
not spoken of it. If they considered it a lesser evil, then they should
not have written falsely about it. Such revering of embellished and
untrue texts is alien to what we learn from the old historians. If we
were to judge from this, then whenever the historians praised the
goodness of the words and deeds of the empresses Bian and Zhen, they
would be difficult to find credible. Chen Shou's abridgements and
omissions truly have some basis. |
When Emperor Ming assumed the throne, the officials
concerned memorialized, requesting to bestow a title on her posthumously,
so the emperor sent Minister of Works (sikong ##)
Wang Lang ## ##, commissioned with a verge and offering a patent, to make
the announcement to the shrine at her tumulus by means of a Great
Sacrifice.See also Sgz, 13.412; Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:234;
Ss, 16.444. Wang Lang was an important official
and scholar who was close to Cao Pi. He was the recipient of a famous
letter from Cao Pi in which Cao subordinates literature to
"establishing virtue and making a name" as a means to immortal fame.
See Holzman, "Literary Criticism in China in the Early Third Century
A.D.," 121-122; Cutter, "The Incident at the Gate," 249; and Cutter,
"To the Manner Born?"
To be commissioned with a verge (shi chi jie ##) conferred great prestige on the recipient and granted him
extraordinary powers over government agencies. See Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China,
no. 5223. A Great Sacrifice (tailao ##)
involved sacrificing an ox, a goat, and a pig. Great Sacrifices were offered on only the most
important occasions, for example, as offerings to the altars, to Soil
and Millet, who were the protective deities of the empire. The
precise date of Empress Zhen's canonization is in doubt. See Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:203,
215.
He also separately established a temple. In the third month of Taihe 1
[April/May 227], he posthumously awarded [Zhen] Yi a thousand households
of Ancheng ## district, Weichang ## prefecture in Zhongshan, and gave
him the posthumous title Attentive Marquis.For another translation
of Empress Zhen's biography through the preceding sentence, see Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:68-69.
See also Sgz, 3.92; Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:223, 234. Weichang prefecture
in Zhongshan commandery was in the vicinity of modern Wuji
county in Hebei.
His legitimate grandson Xiang ## inherited the rank. In the fourth month
[May/June], they first began to lay out the [Wei] ancestral
temple. They excavated the earth and found a jade seal 1.9 cun square.A Han cun ## (inch)
was about 2.3 cm. Three States period cun were
a bit longer—about 2.4 cm. For convenient tables of Han weights and
measures, see Nienhauser, The Grand
Scribe's Records, 1:xxxi-xxxiv, and Twitchett and Loewe, The Cambridge History of China, 1:xxxviii. For more
detailed information, see Qiu, Zhongguo lidai
duliangheng kao, 12-69. See especially pp. 68-69 on the Three
States period.
Its inscription read, "The Son of Heaven Longingly Misses His Mother."
Emperor Ming blanched over this and reported it to the imperial
temple by means of a Great
Sacrifice. He also once saw the empress in a dream. Thereupon, he ranked
the members of his maternal uncles' family on the basis of how close they
were and their status, and employed them accordingly. His gifts to them
reached gigantic proportions. He made Xiang general of the
gentlemen-of-the-household rapid as tigers. That month the empress's mother
died, and the emperor put on sackcloth and attended the funeral, with the
members of officialdom accompanying him.
In the eleventh month
of Taihe 4 [December 230/January 231], because the empress's old tumulus
was too low, he sent Xiang, concurrently serving as grand commandant (taiwei ##) and commissioned with a verge, to go to Y
e and make a public announcement to the God of Earth. In the twelfth
month [January/February 231], they reinterred her at Zhaoyang Tumulus
(Zhaoyang ling ##).The reburial of Empress Zhen took place on 17 February
231 (Sgz, 3.97; Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:320, 333).
When Xiang returned, he was transferred to be cavalier attendant in
regular attendance. In the spring of Qinglong ## 2 [234], the emperor
bestowed the posthumous title Serene Marquis (Mu hou
##) of Ancheng district on the empress's elder brother Yan. In the summer,
the Wu bandits pillaged Yang province ##. Xiang was made billowsubduing general (fubo jiangjun ##) and, commissioned with a verge,
supervised all the generals on a military expedition east. Upon returning,
he was also made colonel of archers who shoot by sound (shesheng xiaowei ##). In [Qinglong] 3 [235/236], he
died. He was posthumously presented with the title general of the guards,
had his benefice changed to Weichang prefecture, and was given the
posthumous title Pure Marquis (Zhen hou ##). His
son Chang ## succeeded him. Chang's younger brothers Wen ##, Wei ##, and
Yan ## were all appointed full marquises. In [Qinglong] 4 [236/237], the
original benefices of [Empress Zhen's father] Yi and [her brother] Yan
were changed and both were called Marquis of Weichang, but their
posthumous names remained as before. Yan's wife Liu ## was made countess
of Dong district (Dongxiang jun ##), and Yi's
wife Zhang was posthumously made countess of Anxi (Anxi jun ##).Dongxiang probably refers to one of the prefectures of Pei.
It was located in the northeastern part of modern Anhui province. Anxi
prefecture was in the vicinity of modern Ding ## county, Hebei.
| K |
The Wei History contains
a memorial of the Three Dukes, which says:The memorial is also
mentioned in Ss, 16.444. |
|
In general, the way of filial
piety and respect is to be devoted to one's family. It is that by
means of which the lands within the four seas are civilized, that
by means of which Heaven and Earth are understood and observed.This
is an allusion to the "Ganying" ## [Sympathetic Responses]
section of the Xiao jing ## [Classic of
Filial Piety]. See Xiao jing zhu shu,
8.1a.
What this refers to is seeing to their support when they are alive,
glorifying their spirits when they are dead, telling of them to
fully convey their excellence, and exalting them to make their
names renowned. Now Your Majesty, because of Your sage and fine
virtue, continues the magnificent enterprise. Your perfect filial
piety rises thickly and communes with the gods. Enmeshed in deep
grief, You always strive to be modestly deferential. When the
former emperor was moved to his divine tumulus, a great ceremony
was prepared, but as for the former empress, she does not yet have an illustrious
posthumous title. We humbly consider that the former empress's
respectful deference was obvious in her obscurity, and her
perfect behavior was manifest in her silence. Her civilizing
influence circulated in the country, and her virtue equaled
that of the "Two Nan."The first two groups of poems in
the "Airs of the States" section of the Classic
of Poetry are "Zhou nan" ## and "Shao nan" ##, referred to
collectively as the "Er nan" ## [Two Nan]. The "Two Nan," as
shown by the "Minor Preface" to the Classic
of Poetry, have traditionally and allegorically been read
as depictions of the virtues of rulers' consorts and other women.
See Legge, The Chinese Classics, 4:36-41,
and the discussion in Chapter 3 above.
Therefore, she was able to receive auspicious signs from divine
spirits and become the first royal wife of the Great Wei. Although
she will have passed away long before, myriad years from now people
will everlastingly spread her shining brilliance. None of the
achievements of empresses and consorts will be able to surpass hers.
According to the standards for posthumous titles, "When one's sage
reputation extends everywhere, one is called zhao
## [`illustrious'] and when one's virtue is bright and one has
achievements, one is called zhao."It is
unclear whether shi fa ## here refers to an
actual work. Su Xun's work of the same title contains virtually
the same explanation of zhao, citing the
Eastern Han scholar Liu Xi (Sf, 1.7b).
See also Wang, Shi fa yanjiu, 367-368.
Zhao is the quintessence of brightness,
something that is not diminished even after a great length of time.
It would be fitting for the Emperor to honor her with the posthumous
title the Illustrious Empress of the Civilizing Emperor. |
|
That month the Three Dukes again memorialized: |
|
From ancient times, the people of Zhou first
made Lord Millet their ancestor and set up a temple to worship Jiang
Yuan.Lord Millet was a legendary ancestor of the Zhou
ruling house, and Jiang Yuan was his mother (see also Chapter 2,
note 4 above). She was the wife of Di Ku, said to be a
great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and she became pregnant by
treading on the footprint of a giant. See Sj,
4.111-112; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques,
1:209-210; and Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's
Records, 1:55.
Now, as for the effect of the Illustrious Empress of the Civilizing
Emperor on myriad later generations, how can her sage virtue and
perfect influence be measured? She had the honor due the first royal
wife of the imperial family, yet was disarmingly deferential and
sincerely respectful.These are the same terms used by the Hallowed Documents in describing Yao. Cf. the
opening of "Yao dian" ## [Canons of Yao] of the Hallowed Documents. See Legge, The Chinese Classics, 3:15.
She firmly rejected grandiose status until her divine soul was
transformed [by death], but for her not to have a temple to receive
and enjoy sacrifices is not the way to reward her eminent virtue or
to make your filial respect apparent. Looking it up in the old
regulations, it is fitting, according to the Rites of
Zhou, to establish a temple for a deceased mother.This
memorial also appears, with some textual differences, in Ss, 16.444. |
|
He approved both memorials. |
In the summer of the first year of the Jingchu
reign period [237], the officials concerned suggested establishing seven
temples.The "Wang zhi" ## [Ruler's Institutions] section of the
Record of Rites says that the emperor has seven
miao ## (temples) for seven generations of ancestors
(Lj, 12.13b). See also Zhongguo
wenhuashi gongju shu, 222, and the subcommentary in Zlzy, 42.19b.
In the winter they also memorialized, saying:
In general, when an
emperor or king arises, there is both a ruler who has received the
mandate and a sage consort who is
agreeable to the divine spirits. Only then can the ruler make his age
prosper and complete the royal enterprise. Of old, Gaoxin shi ## divined
that the sons of his four wives would all possess the world, and hence
Di Zhi ##, Tao Tang ##, Shang,
and Zhou arose in turn.Gaoxin shi is another name for Di Ku (see note 71 above).
Gaoxin is said to have been a toponym, perhaps the name of his benefice.
Di Ku divined that his four sons would become rulers. The four sons were:
Di Zhi, who succeeded him as ruler;
Tao Tang shi ##, i.e., the legendary sage-ruler Yao; Qi ##, reputed
ancestor of the ruling house of the Yin ##, or Shang, dynasty; and Hou
Ji. See Sj, 1.13-14, 45, 3.91, 4.111; Chavannes,
Mémoires historiques, 1:39-42, 93-94, 173-174,
209-210; Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records,
1:5-6, 17, 41, 55. See also Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua
chuanshuo cidian, 295296.
The people of Zhou reached back to Lord Millet and thereby worshiped him
together with august Heaven. Tracing and recounting his kingly beginnings,
they found his origins in Jiang Yuan and specially established a temple
where, generation after generation, they offered sacrifices to her. This
is what the Rites of Zhou refers to by "Play the
yize ##, sing the zhonglü
##, dance the grand huo ## in order to make an
offering to the ancestral mother."See Zlzy, 42.19b. Yize ## and zhonglü (called by
its name xiaolu ## in the Rites of
Zhou) are two of the notes of the classical Chinese scale of twelve
notes (Needham, Science and Civilisation in China,
4.1:165-176; Zhongguo wenhuashi gongju shu, 175-176).
The grand huo ## was music from the time of the Shang
founder Tang. See Zlzy, 42.8a. The ancestral mother
is Jiang Yuan (see note 71 above).
The poets eulogized her, saying, "She who in the beginning gave birth to
our people [of Zhou], / This was Jiang Yuan."Karlgren, The Book of Odes, 263. See Mao
shi 245.
This means she was the root of the king's civilizing influence, the
source which gave birth to his people. Further, they say, "Silent was
the Closed Hall, / Solid and closely timbered. / Majestic was Jiang
Yuan, / Flawless her virtue."Karlgren, The Book of
Odes, 259-261. See Mao shi 300.
The magnificence of the Ji ancestors
praised by the [Classic of] Poetry and the Rites [of Zhou] was as beautiful as this.
The Great Wei has come round at its appointed time
and inherited from Youyu ##.Youyu shi ## is the legendary sage-ruler Shun. The main point
here is that, like Cao Pi, Shun became emperor through the abdication of his
predecessor. On other references to this similarity, see Leban, "Managing
Heaven's Mandate," 330, 333-334.
In exalting and spreading the imperial way, however, the Three
Generations have been even more eminent.This refers to the three
generations of the Wei: Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui.
The number of temples is actually the same as in Zhou
times. Now Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor and Empress Guo
the Virtuous of the Civilizing Emperor (Wen De Guo huanghou ##) each share in inexhaustible blessings. As for
Empress Zhen the Illustrious of the Civilizing Emperor, she received Heaven's
numinous sign and gave birth to and raised the enlightened sage. Her
achievement saved the people, and her virtue filled the universe. She began all
the later generations and so is the starting point for moral civilization.
Special sacrifices at a temple would be taken as another Closed Hall of Jiang
Yuan. But since we have not yet made known an irrevocable rule, we fear that
myriad later generations will be deficient concerning the principles of
evaluating merit and rewarding virtue. This is not the way to make Your filial
respect known and to demonstrate it to later generations. At Empress Zhen's
temple it would be appropriate to offer sacrifices and play music for
generation after generation, just as at the ancestral temple. Make forever
known an irrevocable statute in order to spread Your zephyr of holy
goodness.
Thereupon, it was engraved with the petition for
the seven temples on golden slips and placed in a golden chest.
The emperor thought incessantly about his maternal
uncles' families. [Zhen] Chang was still a child, but at the end of the
Jingchu period, he was made colonel of archers who shoot by sound and
additionally made cavalier attendant in regular attendance. The emperor
also specially erected a great mansion for him and personally visited it.
Furthermore, in its rear garden he erected a lodge and temple for Xiang's
mother. He named the ward Weiyang ## ward to commemorate his mother's
family.This is an allusion to the
poem "Weiyang" [North of the Wei] in the Classic of
Poetry (Mao shi 134). The traditional
interpretation says it is about Duke Kang of Qin's ## longing for his
mother. See Legge, The Chinese Classics, 4:58,
203.
In the first month of Jiaping ## 3 [February/March 251],
Chang died. He was posthumously awarded the title of general of chariots
and cavalry (juji jiangjun ##) and given the
posthumous name Respectful Marquis. His son Shao ## succeeded him. In
Taihe 6 [232/233], Emperor Ming's beloved daughter Shu ## died.This section
on the death of Cao Shu and the subsequent
designation of Guo De as her posthumous offspring is also translated in Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:388. See also
Sgz, 22.636, 25.707; Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:373-374, 388-390. He gave her
the posthumous appointment and name Exemplary Princess of Pingyuan (Pingyuan Yi
gongzhu ## ##) and established a temple for
her.Pingyuan is the name of a commandery that had its seat in the
modern county by the same name in northwest Shandong. He selected the
empress's deceased grandnephew [Zhen] Huang to be buried with her and
posthumously appointed him a full marquis. He made Lady Guo's younger cousin
[Guo] De their offspring, and having him take the surname Zhen, appointed him
marquis of Pingyuan and let him inherit the princess's noble
rank. In the Qinglong
period, he also appointed Yi ##, who was son of the empress's older cousin, and
Xiang's three younger brothers, making all of them full marquises. Yi often
sent up memorials expounding contemporary government affairs, and he rose in
office to be colonel of picked cavalry (yueji xiaowei
##). During the Jiaping period, he also appointed Chang's two sons full
marquises. The granddaughter of the empress's elder brother Yan became empress
of the king of Qi.This sentence is also translated in Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:665. King of Qi here refers to Cao
Fang. She became empress on 29 May 243, while Cao Fang was still titular
emperor (Sgz, 4.120; Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:655, 665). The empress's father
had already died, but her mother was appointed countess of Guangle district
(Guangle xiangjun ## ##).
| L |
Sun Sheng ## [fl. ca. 350] says: If there are no statutes for the appointment
and ennoblement of wives in the rites, this is even more so for their children,
so how can they be established in great benefices? De was from a different
clan, yet he was brought in to carry on another family. He was neither
meritorious nor closely related, but he inherited his [posthumously adoptive]
mother's noble rank. Defying feelings and disregarding statutes were at their
worst here. Although Chen Qun spoke in opposition and Yang Fu ## cited events
to serve as analogies, neither was able to expound to their full extent the
rites of the former kings and make clear the
principles of appointment and inheritance.Yang Fu has a biography
in Sgz, 25.700-708. See also Zhuo, San guo renwu lun xu ji, 77-80. Zhuo deems him
one of the few people to offer honest criticisms to Emperor Wen.
Words whose sincerity is perfect may still have
shortcomings! The Classic of Poetry says, "Awe-inspiring
are you, O [Grand-] master Yin,/And the people all look to
you!"Mao shi 191. The translation is from
Legge, The Chinese Classics, 4:309. This poem is
traditionally read as a criticism of the reign of King You of Zhou and of his
minister Yin ##, who did not take steps to improve the situation. See Legge,
The Chinese Classics, 4:67. On King You, see Chapter 2
above. The top executive officials might as well be done away
with! |
|
Encomia on the Dukes of
Jin (Jin zhugong zan ##)The author of Encomia on the Dukes of Jin
is Fu Chang ##. See Zhao, Nianer shi zhaji,
6.106. says: De's appellative was Yansun ##. When King Jing of the Sima
family was ruling as regent, he married his daughter to De. She died early, and
King Wen gave him a daughter for his next wife; this was Senior Princess of the
Capital (Jingzhao zhang gongzhu ##). Kings Jing and Wen
wanted to tie themselves to Empress Guo and because of this frequently made
such marriages. Although De lacked talent and learning, he was respectfully
reverent and humbly compliant. Zhen Wen ##, appellative Zhongshu ##, together
with Guo Jian ##, De, and others, all were of the empress's clan and were
favored as a matter of policy. At the beginning of the Xianxi ## period [264],
Guo Jian was appointed duke of Linwei prefecture (Linwei xian
gong ##) and De as duke of Guang'an prefecture (Guang'an xian gong ## ##), each with a benefice of eighteen hundred
households. Wen was originally a marquis with a state. He was promoted to
general-in-chief who supports the state (fuguo da
jiangjun ##),General-in-chief who supports the state was an honorific
designation used but occasionally (Hong, San guo zhiguan
biao 57). serving also as palace attendant and concurrent colonel
of archers who shoot by sound, and De was made general-in-chief of the subduing
army (zhenjun da jiangjun ##).The office of general-in-chief of the subduing army originated
under Emperor Wen (Lü, Zhongguo lidai guanzhi da cidian,
848; Rogers, The Chronicle of Fu Chien, 215n). In
Taishi 1 [265/266], Jin accepted the abdication [of Cao Huan] and promoted
Jian, Wen, and De with great rapidity.The reign title was retroactively changed
from Xianxi to Taishi in the twelfth month of the year
(January/February 266). See also note 32 above.
As a man, De was upright and pure and, in addition, was the
husband of the Succedent Progenitor's elder sister.Shizu ## (Succedent Progenitor) refers to Sima Yan, the first
emperor of the Jin dynasty. Because of this, he was esteemed at that
time. In De's later years, his post was again changed to director of the
imperial clan (zong zheng ## ##), and he was transferred
to palace attendant. |
|
In the Taikang period [280-289],
Commander-in-Chief (da sima ## ##) You ##, King of Qi,
was about to go to his benefice. De and Left General of the Guards (zuo wei jiangjun ##) Wang Ji ## jointly remonstrated and
petitioned [that he remain], and their contemporaries admired them. The
Succedent Progenitor blamed De for this. Consequently, he sent him out to be
grand herald (da honglu ##), and made him concurrent
palace attendant and imperial household grandee.You, King of Qi, was noted for his virtue. At the advice of
ministers who disliked You, Emperor Wu ordered him to leave the capital and
proceed to his fief. As it says here, this was protested by Zhen De, Wang Ji,
and others (Zztj, 81.2581-2582). Yuan Bo ## misconstrues
these two sentences, taking them to mean Sima Yan (the Succedent Progenitor)
was pleased by Zhen De's actions (Cao, Baihua San guo
zhi, 1:206). But, as Hu Sanxing ## (1230-1287) points out, Zhen's new offices involved a
shift out of the inner court, with its proximity to the throne, to the outer
court, or general bureaucracy (Zztj, 81.2582). See also
Js, 42.1205. Soon De became ill and died. The
emperor gave him the titles general-in-chief of the Middle Army (zhong jun da jiangjun ##)In 188, a special defense force of eight units was organized,
partly to protect the capital and the emperor and partly to offset the power of
General-in-Chief He Jin. The force was led by the eight commandants of the West
Garden (Xiyuan ba xiaowei ##; see Hucker,
A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, nos.
2285, 4368, 6568; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 124-127; Mansvelt
Beck, "The Fall of Han," 326). When first organized, its head was the eunuch
Jian Shi ##, who was in command of the Upper Army (Shang jun ##). The other
seven commandants included Yuan Shao, who commanded the Middle Army (Zhong jun
##), and Cao Cao, commandant of the Control Army (Dian jun xiaowei ##; see HHs, 8.356 n,
69.2247, 74A.2374; Sgz, 1.5; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the
Rise of Wei," 126; Ch'ü, Han Social Structure,
495-496.) and palatine palace attendant (kaifu
shizhong ## ##), as before. He was posthumously named the Respectful Duke,
and his son Xi ## succeeded him. Xi was refined and pure and had
the virtue of magnanimity. He served as
gentleman of the Palace Writers, right general of the guards, and palace
attendant, and he rose to be general-in-chief who supports the state, to which
was added cavalier attendant in regular attendance. Xi was close to the throne
by marriage. That he got through the incidents involving Lun, King of Zhao ##,
and Jiong, King of Qi ##, and was able to remain uninvolved at this juncture
was really because he was considered short on
talent.This sentence refers to two of the kings involved in the
turbulent events of 290-306, especially that segment known to history as the
Ba wang zhi luan ## (Eight Kings Insurrection; 300-306).
Brief accounts of this period appear, for instance, in Zhao, Nianer shi zhaji, 8.125-126, and Fu, Zhongguo tong shi, 1:260-264. Much more thorough is
Fairbank, "Kingdom and Province in the Western Chin." The following summary is
based on these sources.
Kings were very powerful in early Jin
times, in contrast to the case under the Wei. Not long after Emperor Wu (Sima
Yan) took the throne in 266, he made twenty-seven male relatives kings, some of
them with very large incomes and considerable military power. At first these
kings resided in the capital. In 277, they were sent to their benefices. Some
were placed in charge of the military affairs of the provinces (zhou ##) into which Jin territory was divided. That same
year, Emperor Wu further reduced the military apparatus of the provinces and
commanderies. This resulted in virtually all military power residing in the
kingdoms.
In 290, Emperor Wu died, and the heir
apparent Sima Zhong, known to history as Emperor Hui, ascended the throne at
nine years of age. During Emperor Hui's reign, the empire suffered from
factionalism at court, incursions by non-Chinese peoples in the North and West,
armed struggle among members of the imperial family, as well as famine and
local rebellion.
In the 290s, Sima Zhong's consort Empress
Jia and her faction held sway at court. The heir apparent was Sima Yu ##, who
was not her own son. In 297, when Sima Yu was twenty, the empress and her
adherents hatched a plot to get rid of him and the threat he posed to their
hold on power. The heir was deposed and his
mother executed. Sima Lun (Lun, King of Zhao), mentioned here in the
Encomia on the Dukes of Jin, then tricked the empress
into having Sima Yu murdered. By charging her with this crime, he was able to
remove her and take control of the whole central government. Sima Lun had been
assisted in his machinations by a number of people, including Sima Jiong ##
(Jiong, King of Qi; d. 303).
Sima Lun and his senior advisor Sun Xiu ##
were not popular among the Jin elite, and their program of increasing Sima
Lun's authority led to the Eight Kings Insurrection. An initial attempt to
overthrow Sima Lun was made by Sima Yun ## in September of the year 300 and
failed, at the cost of many lives. Early in 301, Sima Lun forced the abdication
of Emperor Hui, assumed the throne himself, and changed the reign title to
Jianshi ##. Sima Jiong and others then rose up and defeated and killed Sima Lun
and his supporters. Although Sima Jiong then became the dominant figure in Jin
government, it was not long before he drew the criticism of other kings. He was
overthrown and killed in 303. But he also avoided them by withdrawal
and quietude. |
Empress Guo the Virtuous
Empress Guo the Virtuous of the Civilizing Emperor
had her home of record in Guangzong ## in Anping
##.Guangzong prefecture in Anping commandery was east of modern Wei
## county, Hebei. Her forebears were senior subalterns (zhang li ##).
When the empress was young, her father Young ## thought
she was extraordinary and said, "This is the queen of my daughters," so he gave
her the appellative Queenie. She lost both parents at an early age and drifted
about in the death and disorder of the times, coming to rest in the household
of the marquis of Tongdi ##.Tongdi was a prefecture with its seat south of that of modern
Qin ## county, Shanxi. When the Grand Progenitor was Duke of Wei, she
was able to enter the Eastern Palace.Eastern Palace (Dong gong ##) is the term for the residence of
an heir apparent. The empress was a shrewd strategist and from time to
time offered advice [to Cao Pi]. When he was designated the successor, she had
a hand in planning it. Once he had assumed the royal throne, the empress was
made lady, and when he assumed the imperial throne, she was made honored
concubine. The death of Empress Zhen resulted from the favor shown Empress Guo.
In Huangchu 3 [222/223], Emperor Wen was about to name an empress, and he
wanted to designate her. Gentleman-of-the-Household Zhan Qian
presented a memorial:
When
the emperors and kings of yore governed the empire, they not only had
assistance without, they also had help within. From this proceeds order or
disorder, and rise or fall come from it. Thus Xiling ## was spouse to the
Yellow Emperor, and Ying ## and E ## married Gui, who was below their
station.Leizu ##, the daughter of Xiling shi ##, is said to have been
the principal wife of the Yellow Emperor, as well as the first sericulturalist.
See Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo cidian, 423-424.
Gui is another name for the legendary sage-ruler Shun, whose wives Ehuang ##
and Nüying ## ## were the daughters of Shun's benefactor Yao. Sj, 6.248 says of the First Emperor of Qin: "Traveling in a
southwesterly direction be crossed over the R[iver] Huai and came at length to
Hengshan. At Nanjun [##] he took boat and was sailing down the river to the
Xiangshan shrine when a great wind arose and nearly prevented his getting to
land. The emperor inquired of his wise men who Xiangjun was. They replied,
`According to our information, Xiangjun are the daughters of Yao and the wives
of Shun who are buried in this place' " (Hawkes, "The Quest of the Goddess,"
56). See also Karlgren, "Legends and Cults in Ancient China," 296; O'Hara,
The Position of Woman in Early China, 13-17. All
of them were thereby worthy and enlightened and spread their fragrances through
the ancient ages. When Jie fled to Nanchao, the disaster stemmed from
Moxi.Jie was the last ruler of the Xia dynasty, banished by the Shang
founder Cheng Tang ## to Nanchao (modern Chao ## county, Anhui). Moxi, Jie's
consort, is mentioned in a variety of books and is traditionally treated as a
beautiful but utterly depraved woman who contributed to the downfall of the
dynasty. See Gy, 7.255; Legge, The
Chinese Classics, 3:177; Sj, 2.88-89, 19.1967;
Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo cidian, 259.
Zhou used the punishment of roasting alive to give joy and delight to
Daji.On
Daji, see Chapter 3, "Texts Devoted to Women" above. Hence, sage wisdom
exercises circumspection in setting up a principal consort. One must select
from the household of an eminent clan of former ages, and pick an outstanding
maiden to control the Six Palaces, make reverent offerings at the imperial
temples, and cultivate the feminine civilizing influence. The Changes says, "When the way of the family is correct, the
empire is settled.Yi jing, Hexagram 37, "Tuan zhuan." Cf.
Wilhelm, I Ching, 570. This is a part of the same
passage that Chen Shou used to open this juan.
From within to without was the excellent
precept of the former kings. The Spring and Autumn
Annals writes that Ancestral Intendant (zong ren
##) Xin Xia ## said there is no rite for making a concubine a
lady.Cf. Zuo zhuan, Ai 24. [Duke] Huan
## of Qi swore an oath at Kuiqiu ##, also saying, "Do not make a concubine your
wife.Mengzi, 6B.7. At present, the
favorite from the rear palace is often second only to the emperor. If for
love's sake you promote her to empress, causing someone of humble station to
become suddenly noble, I fear that, should in later ages inferiors be
usurpative and superiors be set aside, then the turmoil will have originated
with Your Highness.This is an allusion to Zuo zhuan, Zhao
18. For another translation of Empress Guo's biography through the following
sentence, see Fang, The Chronicle of
the Three Kingdoms,
1:106-107, 125-126. She was made empress on 1 November 222 (Sgz, 2.80; Fang, The Chronicle of the
Three Kingdoms, 1:106, 126).
The emperor did not heed his advice and
subsequently made her empress.
| M |
The Wei History says:
Her father Yong rose in office to hold the post of grand administrator of Nan
commandery ## and was posthumously named Attentive Marquis. Her mother,
surnamed Dong ##, was countess of Tangyang [Tangyang jun
##] and gave birth to three boys and two girls. The eldest boy was Fu ##, who
was prefect of Gaotang ##. Next was the girl Yu ## and next was the empress.
The empress's younger brothers were Du ## and Cheng ##. The empress was born
during the Han on an yimao ## day in the third month of
Zhongping ## 1 [8 April 184]. From birth there was something extraordinary
about her. |
| N |
The Wei History says:
The empress sent up a memorial saying: |
|
I lack the integrity of Huang and Ying's
marrying below their station, and I am not one to hope to emulate Jiang and
Ren.References are to Yao's daughters, Ehuang and Nüying, who
married the lowly Shun, and Tai Jiang ## and Tai Ren ##, grandmother and mother
of King Wen of Zhou. I am really inadequate to be relied on to fill the
grand position of woman ruler and to manage the important duties of your
household. |
|
From the time the empress was in the Eastern Palace
until she assumed the venerable throne, even though she was extraordinarily
favored, her heart was increasingly respectful. She cared for the Palace of
Eternal Longevity [Empress Dowager Bian] and was famous for her filial piety.
At that time, Honorable Lady Chai [Chai guiren ##] also
was favored, and the empress taught and trained, encouraged and guided her.
When there was some lapse on the part of the worthy ladies of the rear palace,
she always covered it up. When one of them was reprimanded, she always
explained the ins and outs of the affair to the emperor. If perhaps he were
greatly angered by someone, she would even
kowtow and appeal for leniency for the lady's sake. Because of this, the Six
Palaces had no enmity toward her. By nature she was frugal and economical. She
did not like music and always admired the way Empress Ma the Virtuous of the
Enlightened Emperor ## of Han times comported
herself.In
the year A.D. 77, then Empress Dowager Ma issued a long edict in which she
decried, and claimed to eschew, an unduly extravagant way of life. The
statement was possibly part of a piece of special pleading in which she was
hoping to deflect criticism from herself and her family. She claimed that her
thrift was intended to set a good example and to bring moral pressure to bear
where it was most needed (Loewe, "The Conduct of Government and the Issues at
Stake [A.D. 57-167]," 295). See also Chapters 2 and 3 above.
|
The empress lost her brothers early, and Yong's
line was carried on by her elder cousin Biao ##, who was made chief
commandant of imperial equipages. The empress's
maternal relative Liu Fei ## married into another kingdom. When the empress
heard of it, she cautioned, "In marrying, all my relatives naturally should
make matches with families in their own hometowns and should not utilize their
position to force marriage with people of other places." The empress's elder
sister's son, Meng Wu ##, returned to his hometown and sought a concubine, but
the empress stopped him. Subsequently, she cautioned all of her family: "In the
present age, there are too few women, so they should pair up with the officers
and men. One cannot use some pretext to take them as concubines. It is
appropriate for each of you to be circumspect and not be the first to get
punished."
| O |
The Wei History says: The empress often cautioned and
warned Biao, Wu, and others, saying, "The reasons the families of the pepper
rooms of the Han house were seldom able to keep themselves intact were always
pride and excess.On the pepper rooms (jiao fang ##), where
the empresses lived, see Knechtges, Wen xuan,
1:122n. You must be circumspect!" |
In [Huangchu] 5 [224/225], the emperor went east on
a military expedition, and the empress remained behind at the Terrace of
Perpetual Beginning in Xuchang.The expedition in question was an abortive
move against Wu and
seems to have begun in the seventh month (August of 224). See Zhang,
San Cao nianpu, 205-206. The Terrace of Perpetual
Beginning (Yongshi tai ##) is mentioned as a feature of Xuchang in He Yan's ##
(d. 249) "Jingfu dian fu" ## [Rhapsody on the Hall of Great Blessings], a work
ordered by Emperor Ming. See Wx, 11.31b; Knechtges,
Wen xuan, 2:294 n, 295. At this time it poured
rain for over a hundred days, and the city walls and towers were much damaged.
The officials concerned asked her to move elsewhere. The empress replied:
Of old, King Zhao of Chu ## went out traveling and
Jiang the Chaste (Zhen Jiang ##) remained behind at Jian Terrace (Jian tai ##).
When the waters of the Yangtze came, an envoy arrived, but since he had no
verge, she would not leave, and
drowned.See O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early
China, 116-117. Now the emperor is far away. If I were simply to up
and move elsewhere, even though I have been fortunate enough not to experience
such adversity, what then?
None of the officials dared say anything more. In
[Huangchu] 6 [225/226], the emperor went east on a military expedition against
Wu. He got as far as Guangling ##, while the
empress remained behind at Qiao Palace.Guangling commandery had its seat in the vicinity of modern
Yangzhou ## ##. Cao Pi set out from Xuchang in the third month (March/April
225) and reached Qiao in the fifth month (June/July). He reached Guangling in
the tenth month (November/December), but cold weather forced him to withdraw.
See Sgz, 2.84-85; Zhang, San Cao
nianpu, 209. At this time, Biao remained behind in the imperial
bodyguards. He wanted to stem the river's flow to get
fish.Probably this is a reference to the Guo River ##. The
empress said:
The river is meant to freely transport supplies.
Besides, there is too little timber, and servants are not available. You would
also need to take state-owned bamboo and wood for your personal use to make the
dam. But now, Commandant of Equipages, whatever it is that you find you lack,
how can it be fish?
When Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he honored
the empress as empress dowager and designated her Palace of Eternal Peace
(Yongan gong ##). In Taihe 4 [230/231], by edict he appointed Biao marquis of
Anyang commune (Anyang ting hou ##), then advanced his
rank to district marquis. The added households, when combined with what he had
before, totaled five hundred. He was transferred to be general of the capital
rampart (zhong lei jiangjun ##). Biao's son Xiang ## was
made chief commandant of cavalry (ji duwei ##). That
year, the emperor posthumously named the empress dowager's father Yong the
Attentive Marquis of Anyang district (Anyang xiang Jing
hou ## ##) and her mother Dong countess of the capital
district (du xiang jun ##). Biao was transferred to be
general of brilliant virtue (zhaode jiangjun ##),
awarded an honorary gold [seal] and purple [cord], and designated Specially
Advanced (te jin ##). Biao's second son Xun ## was made
chief commandant of cavalry. When Meng Wu's mother died, he wanted to give her
an elaborate burial and erect a shrine, but the empress dowager stopped him,
saying, "Since the death and disorder began, there is no tomb that has not been
dug up, all because of elaborate burials. Let Shouyang Tumulus (Shouyang ling
##) be your model."
In the spring of Qinglong 3 [235/236], the empress
died in Xuchang.This sentence and the next one are also translated in Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:485. Empress Guo
apparently died on 14 March 235. See Sgz, 3.104; Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:465, 483,
484485. They built her tumulus in accordance
with her last will, and on the gengyin ## day in the
third month [16 April 235], she was buried west of Shouyang
Tumulus. The emperor
advanced Biao's noble rank to marquis of Guanjin (Guanjin hou ##) and increased his benefice by five hundred
households, bringing the total to one thousand. Xiang was transferred to be
chief commandant of attendant cavalry (fuma duwei ##).
In the fourth year [236/237], Yong had his appointment
posthumously changed to Attentive Marquis of
Guanjin (Guanjin Jing hou ##), and his hereditary consort Dong was made countess
of Tangyang. The empress's elder brothers were posthumously ennobled, Fu as
Venerated Marquis of Liangli commune (Liangli ting Dai
hou ##), Du as Filial Marquis of Wucheng commune
(Wucheng ting Xiao hou ##), and
Cheng as Reassuring Marquis of Xinle commune (Xinle ting
Ding hou ##). In every case an envoy was sent to present
a patent and offer a Great Sacrifice. When Biao died, his son Xiang succeeded
him, Biao's benefice was divided, and Xiang's younger brother Shu ## was
appointed a full marquis. When Xiang died, his son Zhao ## succeeded him.
| P |
The Wei Epitome says:
After Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he was pained by the memory of Empress
Zhen's death; therefore, Empress Dowager [Guo] died unexpectedly from worry.
When Empress Zhen was near death, she had placed the emperor under the care of
Lady Li. Once the empress dowager had died, Lady Li
explained the harm done by Empress
Zhen's being slandered, that she was not properly coffined, and that her
disheveled hair covered her face.This refers to Empress Zhen's having been buried hastily and
without proper ceremony. Neither was her body properly clothed and coffined for
burial nor was her hair appropriately coiffed. On burial preparations in
general, see volume 1 of de Groot, The Religious System of
China. Da lian ## refers to the coffining of the deceased, including the
final stage in the dressing of the corpse (de Groot, The
Religious System of China, 1:36, 331-342). The emperor shed tears
in his sorrow and regret and commanded that in the funeral and burial of the
empress dowager all be done as in the case of Empress
Zhen.The passage is also translated in Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:483-484. Emperor Ming was born in
Jian'an 11 (206), so he would have been about sixteen or seventeen by the time
of Empress Zhen's death in Huangchu 2 (221). As Lu Bi notes, it seems odd that
he was so much in the dark as to the circumstances of her death and burial, if
these were, in fact, as they are reported by Wei lüe
(Sgz jijie, 5.21a). |
|
The Han-Jin Spring and
Autumn says: Earlier, the killing of Empress Zhen stemmed from the
favoritism shown Empress Guo, and when she was buried, they let her disheveled
hair cover her face and stuffed her mouth with chaff. Subsequently Empress Guo
was made empress and charged with raising Emperor
Ming.See also Sgz, 3.91 (Wei
lüe); Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms,
1:211-212. The emperor was aware of this, and in his heart always
harbored resentment. He often tearfully inquired about the circumstances of
Empress Zhen's demise. Empress Guo replied, "The late emperor killed her. Why
blame me? Besides, may a child carry a grudge against his deceased father and
wrongly kill his stepmother because of his natural mother?" Emperor Ming was
angry and subsequently hounded her to death. In ordering her funeral, he had
them do as previously in the case of Empress
Zhen.The passage is also translated in Fang, The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:483. |
|
The Wei History contains
the tablet of lament which says: In the third month of Qinglong
3,Some texts have the Wei shu say Qinglong
2, a mistake. See Sgz pangzheng, 7.6a; Sgz jijie, 5.21b. on the renshen day,The day renshen ## was actually in the
second month of Qinglong 3, making the date 29 March 235 (Sgz
pangzheng, 7.6a; Sgz jijie, 5.21b). The interment
of Empress Guo took place on 16 April. with the empress dowager in a
catalpa coffin, the funeral procession to bury her at Western Tumulus (Xiling
##) at Shouyang will begin. Her bereaved son Rui, the emperor, personally
presented the tablet and performed the sacrifice to initiate the funeral. Next,
he personally made the offerings to send off the departed. Striking his heart,
he beat his breast and stamped his feet; loudly crying, he looked up and
appealed: |
|
I am pained at the soul's journeying abroad,
Sad at the hearse's facing the road.
She has turned her back on the Three Luminaries to
conceal herself;The Three Luminaries (san
guang ##) are the sun, moon,and stars.
Drawing nigh the Yellow Earth, she shall be placed in the
crypt.The Yellow Earth (huang lu
##) is another name for the Yellow Springs (huang
quan ##), that is, the subterranean abode of the dead. See,
for example, Loewe, Chinese Ideas of Life and
Death, 34.
Alas! Alack!
Of old,
The two daughters were consorts to Yu,See notes 2 and
98 above.
And his imperial way was thereby distinguished;
The three mothers married Zhou rulers,The three mothers
(san mu ##) are the women referred to
as Tai Jiang, Tai Ren, and Tai Si; that is, the mothers of
Hou Ji and kings Wen and Wu, respectively.
And sage goodness attained full brightness.
Since these rulers received so much good fortune,
They enjoyed the prolongation of their kingdoms.
Alack! Alack! My late loving Mother
Brought transformation to the women's apartments,
Flew dragonlike to the Purple Bourne,The Purple Bourne
(zi ji ##) refers to imperial status.
From the start cooperated with the sage sovereign,
And did not expect in middle age
Suddenly to encounter catastrophy.
Pity me, the little child,
All alone, crushed and wounded.
Her soul is forever gone.
How can I hope to pay her morning and evening courtesies?
Alas! Alack! |
Empress Mao the Lamented
Empress Mao the Lamented of the Enlightened Emperor
(Ming Dao Mao huanghou ##) had Henei as her home of
record.Henei ## was a Han commandery roughly encompassing the area
along both banks of the Yellow River within modern Henan. Dao ## ("Mourned")
was a posthumous name given to royal personages who died young, but it could
also imply an inability to cultivate virtue. See Sf,
3b-4.4a; LXSf, B.6b-7a. During the Huangchu
period, she entered the Eastern Palace by selection. At the time, Emperor Ming
was king of Pingyuan ##. On going in and giving herself to the emperor, she won
his favor, and she shared a carriage with him going and coming. When he assumed
the imperial throne, he took her to be his honored concubine. In Taihe 1 [227],
he established her as empress.Empress Mao was made empress in the eleventh month (27
November/25 December 227; Sgz, 3.92). Her father
Jia ## was made chief commandant of cavalry, and her younger brother Zeng ##
gentleman-of-the-palace (lang zhong ##).
Earlier, when Emperor Ming was a prince, he first
took Madam Yu of Henei as his consort. When he became emperor and Madame Yu was
not made empress, Grand Empress Dowager Bian consoled and encouraged her.
Madame Yu said:
The Caos have always been
fond of establishing the
inferior. They have never been able to promote someone on the basis of
what was right. Yet an empress manages
affairs within, and the ruler attends to governing without. Their ways
complement each other, so if they are unable to get off to a good start, they
will never be able to end well. I fear that because of this they will surely
ruin the state and let the sacrifices die out!
Madam Yu subsequently was demoted and returned to
the Ye Palace. Jia was advanced to be chief commandant of imperial equipages
and Zeng to chief commandant of cavalry, and their gifts as favorites were
bountiful and substantial. Before long, Jia was appointed marquis of Boping
district (Boping xiang hou
## ##)Boping ## was a prefecture northeast of modern Liaocheng ##
county, Shandong. and transferred to imperial household grandee, and
Zeng became chief commandant of attendant cavalry. Jia originally was a
carriage maker (che gong ##) under the chief commandant
of waters and parks.We
are not certain just what Mao Jia did. Dianyu ## seems
to be an abbreviation for shuiheng dianyu ##, which in
turn is equivalent to shuiheng duwei ## (Hucker,
A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, nos.
5496, 5497; Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times,
82-83). Among other responsibilities, this office oversaw the manufacture of
various items. Perhaps vehicles were among them. When he suddenly became
rich and noble, Emperor Ming ordered the court officers to assemble at Jia's
home for
symposia.A
symposium, of course, was originally a drinking party, and that is the sense of
the word here. On the Han-Wei penchant for such activities and its effect on
literature, see, for example, Cutter, "Cao Zhi's Symposium Poems." Jia's
demeanor and his behavior were very stupid and foolish, and when he spoke, he
always referred to himself as "the Lordly
Person."For another translation of Empress Mao's biography through the
following sentence, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three
Kingdoms, 1:229, 240-241. As Fang Beichen ## notes, a noble of the time
would not refer to himself in such an overblown way. See Fang,
San guo zhi zhu yi, 301 n. 8. People of the time
thought he was a
joke. Later, Jia was
awarded the designation Specially Advanced. Zeng was transferred to cavalier
gentleman-in-attendance. In Qinglong 3, Jia died. He was posthumously accorded
the office of imperial household grandee, and had his appointment changed to
marquis of An state (An guo hou ##), with an increase of
five hundred households, which, added to what he had before, brought the total
to one thousand. He was posthumously named the Decent Marquis (Jie
hou ##). In [Qinglong] 4 [236/237], the empress's mother
Xia ## was appointed countess of Yewang (Yewang jun
##).
| Q |
Sun Sheng says: The kings of antiquity made
sure to seek excellent maidens in order to match and glorify their own perfect
virtue. They extended royal transformation through "Guan ju" and brought about
simple customs through "Lin zhi."According to the traditional interpretation as represented by
the "Minor Preface," "Guan ju" (Mao shi 1, see Chapter 3
above, in the "Han Philosophers" section) and "Lin zhi" ## (Mao shi 11) are related. The topic of the latter, said to be
the ruler's good offspring and family, is seen as a natural outcome of the
topic of the former, said to be the acquisition of a virtuous mate (or mates)
and the moral transforming influence exerted on the world thereby. See Legge,
The Chinese Classics, 4:36-37, 38-39. The last
rulers of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods disturbed this thread; righteousness
was drowned by passion, status was muddled by favoritism, noble and inferior
lacked order, and the low ascended and the high declined. Rise or fall, success
or failure all are in this thing. During the Wei, beginning with King Wu and
extending down to the Illustrious Ancestor,Illustrious Ancestor (Liezu ##) refers to Emperor Ming.
the empresses of all three rulers arose from obscure and inferior positions.
Since their origins were humble, how could they be used to perpetuate the line?
The [Classic of] Poetry lines
"Fine linen and coarse, / Cool they are because of the wind" probably refer to
such a case!The lines are from Mao shi 27, a poem
traditionally interpreted as the complaint of a neglected wife, a woman who has
been replaced by a concubine and herself demoted. See Legge, The Chinese Classics, 4:41 (prolegomena), 42.
|
From the time the emperor began to favor Empress
Guo, the love and favor shown Empress Mao diminished daily. In Jingchu 1
[237/238], the emperor was touring the rear garden and summoned those of the
rank of lady of talents and above to a private feast to enjoy themselves fully.
Empress Guo said, "It would be fitting to invite the empress." But the emperor
would not allow it. He then prohibited those about him from mentioning it so
that it would not be made known. But the empress learned of it, and the next
day when the emperor saw her, she asked, "Were the outing and feast yesterday
in the northern garden fun?" The emperor assumed that those about him had
leaked it, and more than ten people were killed. The empress was allowed to
commit suicide, but she was still given a posthumous name and buried at Min
Tumulus (Minling ##).The dates of Empress Mao's death and interment, 22 September and
25 October 237, are given in Sgz, 3.110. Fang notes that
the word zu ## ("died") is used at Sgz 3.110 instead of the hong ## one
would normally expect for one of her rank, and speculates that Chen Shou's
intention may have been to indicate "that she died under an infamous
circumstance" (Fang, The Chronicle of the Three
Kingdoms, 1:549). Zeng was transferred to become cavalier attendant
in regular attendance,For another translation of the paragraph to this point, see
Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:518-519,
549-550. and was later shifted to general of the
gentlemen-of-the-household rapid as tigers and of the feathered forest (yulin huben zhonglang jiang ## ##), and [colonel] director
of agriculture for Yuanwu (Yuanwu diannong ##).Zeng, must have been a diannong xiaowei
##, or colonel director of agriculture, in charge of one of the agricultural
garrisons established by the government at the direction of Cao Cao. The
agricultural garrison at Yuanwu ## prefecture was in the vicinity of modern
Yuanyang ##, He'nan. The rank of colonel director of agriculture was equivalent
to a commandery administrator. See Crowell, "Government Land Policies and
Systems in Early Imperial China," 158-162; Tan, Zhongguo
lishi dituji, vol. 3, map 5-6.
Empress Guo the Paramount
Empress Guo the Paramount of the Enlightened
Emperor (Ming Yuan Guo huanghou ##) had her home of
record in Xiping ##.Xiping was a commandery in the vicinity of modern Xining ##
county, Gansu. For generations, hers was a great clan in Heyou
##.Heyou refers to the region to the "right" (west) of the Yellow
River, as the name implies. It roughly corresponds to modern Gansu and the
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In the Huangchu period, her home
commandery rebelled, so she was impressed into the palace. When Emperor Ming
assumed the throne, she was greatly loved and favored and was appointed lady.
Her father's younger brother Li ## became chief commandant of cavalry, and her
paternal uncle Zhi ## became general of the gentlemen-of-the-household rapid as
tigers. When the emperor was stricken with illness, she was established as
empress.Empress Guo was made empress on 16 January 239 (Sgz, 3.113; Fang, The Chronicle of the
Three Kingdoms, 1:580, 606). When the King of Qi [Cao Fang] assumed
the throne, he honored the empress as empress dowager and designated her Palace
of Eternal Peace. He posthumously appointed and named the empress dowager's
father Man ## the Reassuring Marquis of the Western Capital (Xi du Ding
hou ##) and had Li's son Jian carry on the noble rank.
He appointed the empress dowager's mother Du ## countess of Geyang (Geyang
jun ##). Zhi was transferred to cavalier attendant in
regular attendance and colonel of the Chang River encampment (Chang shui
xiaowei ##),
and Li to general of manifest virtue (xuan de jiangjun ##). Both were appointed full marquises.
Jian's older brother De was raised by the Zhen family. De and Jian were both
generals for garrison defense (zhenhu jiangjun ##) and
each was appointed a full marquis. Together
they were in charge of the imperial bodyguards. It happened that three rulers
in a row were minors, and the top executive officials controlled the government
and settled great affairs with them. They always checked with or
informed the empress dowager
before taking any action.These two sentences are also translated in Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 2:44. When
Guanqiu Jian ##, Zhong Hui ##, and others rebelled, they all did so in her
name.Guanqiu Jian has a biography in Sgz,
28.761-768. See also Zhuo, San guo renwu lun xu ji,
121-127. Guanqiu was a loyal Wei official who had some success as a military
leader. However, when he tried to use his military power to oppose the Simas,
he ultimately failed.
lang="english"Zhong Hui (225-264) has a biography in
Sgz, 28.784-795. He was a Wei general and a leading
supporter of the Sima family in their struggles against Cao Shuang and his
followers for control of the Wei government. After Sima Zhao gained control of
the government, Zhong Hui and Deng Ai ## led the Wei campaign against Shu in
263-264. They defeated Shu, and Zhong was rewarded with the position of
minister over the masses. He apparently had more grandiose ambitions, however,
and mounted a rebellion in Shu in an attempt to overthrow Sima Zhao. He failed
and was killed (Sgz, 4.149, 28.787-793; Wan,
Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi lungao, 90-91; Fu,
Zhongguo tong shi, 1:251-252).
She died in
the twelfth month of Jingyuan ##4 [January/February 264]. In the second month
of [Jingyuan] 5 [March/April 264], she was buried on the west of Gaoping
Tumulus (Gaoping ling ##).
| R |
The Wei Epitome says: Of
all the Guos, Zhi was the most vigorous and upright. At an earlier time he
himself had been appointed a marquis for some other deed of merit. |
| S |
Encomia on the Dukes of
Jin says: Jian's appellative was Shushi ##. He had ability and was
strongly inquisitive. He died of illness in the Taishi period [265-275]. His
son Jia ## succeeded him and became a palace steward. |
The evaluation says: Although the families of the
Wei empresses and consorts may be said to have been rich and noble, there were
not any who took advantage of what was not their rightful position to carve up
the court's administration. Admirable it is to take the past as a mirror for
changing one's course. In retrospect, Chen Qun's argument and Zhan Qian's
theory are perfectly sufficient to be canons for all kings and to provide a
model for later generations.