Empress Dowager Xiao (Tang dynasty)

Empress Dowager Xiao (蕭太后) (died June 1, 847), formally Empress Zhenxian (貞獻皇后, "the virtuous and wise empress"), known at times in her life as Empress Dowager Jiqing (積慶太后), was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. She was the mother of Emperor Wenzong and a concubine of Emperor Muzong.

It is not known when the future Empress Dowager Xiao was born, but it is known that she was from Fujian Circuit (福建, headquartered in modern Fuzhou, Fujian). She became a concubine of Li You, a son of Emperor Xianzong, while Li You was the Prince of Jian'an. At the time she left home, her parents had already died, and the only family member remaining at her home was a younger brother. She bore Li You a son, Li Han, in 809, when he was the Prince of Sui. In 821, by which time Li You's name had been changed to Li Heng and he had become emperor (as Emperor Muzong), Li Han was created the Prince of Jiāng, although it is not known what title she carried during Emperor Muzong's reign or the subsequent reign of Li Han's older brother Emperor Jingzong following Emperor Muzong's death in 824.

In 826, Emperor Jingzong was assassinated, purportedly by his polo players, led by Su Zuoming (蘇佐明). The eunuch Liu Keming (劉克明) initially supported Emperor Muzong's younger brother Li Wu the Prince of Jiàng (note different tone) to succeed Emperor Jingzong, but soon the eunuch army commanders Wang Shoucheng, Yang Chenghe (楊承和), Wei Congjian (魏從簡), and Liang Shouqian (梁守謙) killed Liu and Li Wu, supporting Li Han instead (as Emperor Wenzong, with his name changed from Li Han to Li Ang). Emperor Wenzong honored his mother empress dowager while honoring Emperor Jingzong's mother Empress Dowager Wang "Empress Dowager Baoli" ("Baoli" (寶曆) being Emperor Jingzong's era name). There were thus three empresses dowager in the palace at the time (along with Emperor Muzong's mother and Emperor Wenzong's grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Guo). It was said that Emperor Wenzong was filially pious and honored the three empresses dowager properly. Whenever he received valuable food items, he would first submit them to the ancestral temples, then the empresses dowager, before receiving them himself.

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