Empress Xiaogongren

Empress Xiaogongren
Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty
Tenure	1722–1723
Predecessor	Empress Xiaohuizhang Empress Xiaokangzhang
Successor	Empress Xiaoshengxian
Born	1660
Died	1723 (aged 62–63) Yonghe Palace
Spouse	Kangxi Emperor
Issue	Yongzheng Emperor Yinzhuo Yunti, Prince Xunqin of the Second Rank
Posthumous name Empress Xiaogongxuanhuiwensudingyucichunqinmuzantianchengshengren (孝恭宣惠溫肅定裕慈純欽穆贊天承聖仁皇后)
House	House of Uya (by birth) House of Aisin-Gioro (by marriage)
Father	Uya Weiwu

Empress Xiaogongren
Chinese name
Chinese	孝恭仁皇后
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiàogōngrén Huánghòu
Lady Uya
Traditional Chinese	烏雅氏
Simplified Chinese	乌雅氏
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wūyǎ Shì
Manchu name
Manchu script	ᡥᡳᠶᠣᠣᡧᡠᠩᡤᠠ ᡤᡠᠩᠨᡝᠴᡠᡴᡝ ᡤᠣᠰᡳᠨ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠩᡥᡝᠣ
Romanization	hiyoošungga gungnecuke gosin hūwangheo

Empress Xiaogongren (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Gungnecuke Gosin Hūwangheo; 1660–1723) was a consort of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. She was also the mother of Kangxi's successor, the Yongzheng Emperor.

Biography

Empress Xiaogongren was born in the Manchu Uya (烏雅) clan. Her personal name is unknown. Her father was Weiwu (威武), a Commander of the Guard (護軍參領) and Duke of the First Class (一等公).

In 1678 Lady Uya gave birth to the Kangxi Emperor's fourth surviving son Yinzhen. A year later she was granted the rank of Imperial Concubine De (德嬪). In 1681 she gave birth to another son and was promoted to Consort De (德妃) the following year. Over the next five years Lady Uya gave birth to three daughters, and her last son in 1688. When the Kangxi Emperor died in 1722, Lady Uya's eldest child, Yinzhen, succeeded to the throne as the Yongzheng Emperor. As the mother of the reigning emperor, Lady Uya received the title of Empress Dowager Renshou (仁壽皇太后).

Empress Dowager Renshou died of illness in 1723, a year after the death of the Kangxi Emperor. Some sources claimed that she wished to accompany her husband in death but the Yongzheng Emperor denied her permission. She fell ill shortly afterwards and refused medical treatment,^[1] eventually dying at the age of 64. She was interred in the Jingling Mausoleum (景陵) in the Eastern Qing Tombs in Zunhua. She was posthumously granted the title of Empress Xiaogongren.

Her grandnephew was the Manchu General Zhaohui (Chao-hui) who fought in the Dzungar–Qing War during the Ten Great Campaigns.^[2]

Posthumous title

Empress Xiaogongren's full posthumous title is:

• Empress Xiaogongxuanhuiwensudingyucichunqinmuzantianchengshengren
  (孝恭宣惠溫肅定裕慈純欽穆贊天承聖仁皇后)

Family

• Father: Weiwu (威武), a Commander of the Guard (護軍參領), and a First Class Duke (一等公).
• Spouse: Kangxi Emperor
• Children:
  • Yinzhen, the Yongzheng Emperor.
  • Yinzhuo (胤祚; 1680–1685)
  • Unnamed daughter (1682), seventh daughter of the Kangxi Emperor, died prematurely.
  • Kurun Princess Wenxian (固倫溫憲公主; 1683–1702)
  • Unnamed daughter (1686–1697), 12th daughter of the Kangxi Emperor.
  • Yinti

See also

• Ranks of Imperial Consorts in China#Qing
• Qing Dynasty nobility

Notes

1. Silas Wu, passage to power: K'ang-hsi and his heir apparent, 1661-1722 (Cambridge: council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1979), 14-15, 195-96, n. 5.
2. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~qing/WEB/CHAO-HUI.html

References

• Hummel, Arthur William, ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943.
• Daily Life in the Forbidden City, Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing, Lu Yanzhen ISBN 0-670-81164-5
• Draft history of the Qing dynasty《清史稿》卷二百十四．列傳一．后妃傳．聖祖孝恭仁皇后.
• Passionate women: female suicide in late imperial China. Paul S. Ropp,Paola Zamperini,Harriet Thelma Zurndorfer. ISBN 90-04-12018-1, ISBN 978-90-04-12018-1.

Succession