Empress Fu Xunying

Fu Xunying (苻訓英) (died 407) was an empress of the Chinese/Xianbei state Later Yan. Her husband was Murong Xi (Emperor Zhaowen).

Fu Xunying was a daughter of Fu Mo (苻謨), a member of Former Qin's imperial house before he surrendered to Later Yan under military pressure. As of 397, he was the mayor of Later Yan's capital Zhongshan (中山, in modern Baoding, Hebei) when the Later Yan emperor Murong Bao (Emperor Huimin) abandoned Zhongshan in face of Northern Wei military attacks, and he was subsequently killed by Murong Bao's nephew Murong Xiang (慕容詳) the Duke of Kaifeng, who wanted to be emperor himself. His family was slaughtered.

Somehow, however, Fu Xunying and her older sister Fu Song'e (苻娀娥) were not killed—perhaps they escaped the slaughter, or perhaps they were no longer in Zhongshan at that point. After Murong Xi became emperor in 401 after succeeding his nephew Murong Sheng (Emperor Zhaowu), he took Fu Song'e and Fu Xunying as imperial consorts in 402 and greatly favored them. This caused him to neglect Murong Sheng's mother Empress Dowager Ding, with whom he had an affair and whose support was instrumental in his becoming emperor. Empress Dowager Ding, in anger, plotted to overthrow him and replace him with Murong Bao's son Murong Yuan (慕容淵), but her plot was discovered, and she was forced to commit suicide.

Around the new year 404, Murong Xi created Fu Xunying empress. He was described to be so inclined to grant every wish that she and her sister Consort Fu had, and providing them with every luxury, that his small empire's resources were highly drained. In fall 404, Consort Fu grew ill, and after she died despite a doctor's promise that he could cure her, Murong Xi had the doctor executed by drawing and quartering, and then burned his body. After Consort Fu's death, he grew even more doting of Empress Fu, who favored huntings and journeys. In winter 404, they went on a long hunt and tour that took them as north as Bailu Mountain (白鹿山, in modern Tongliao, Inner Mongolia), as east as Qingling (青嶺, described as about 100 kilometers east of the capital Longcheng (龍城, in modern Jinzhou, Liaoning)), and as south as Haiyang (海陽, in modern Qinhuangdao, Hebei) before returning to Longcheng. On this winter journey, it was described that more than 5,000 escorting soldiers died from attacks by tigers or wolves or exposure to the cold. In other known events, she was described to be demanding to have jellied fish in the summer and fresh Rehmannia roots in the winter—neither of which could be obtainable—and Murong Xi executed officials in charge of supplying the palace for their failures.

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