Empress Jia Nanfeng
| Jia Nanfeng 賈南風 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 257 Xiangfen County, Shanxi |
| Died | 300 (aged 42-43) Luoyang, Henan |
| Spouse | Emperor Hui of Jin |
| Issue | Princess Hedong (河東) Princess Shiping (始平) Princess Hongnong (弘農) Princess Aixian (哀獻) |
| Clan | Jia (賈) |
| Father | Jia Chong |
| Mother | Guo Huai (郭槐) |
| This article is part of the War of the Eight Princes series. |
|
|---|---|
| Eight Princes | |
| Sima Liang | |
| Sima Wei | |
| Sima Lun | |
| Sima Jiong | |
| Sima Ai | |
| Sima Ying | |
| Sima Yong | |
| Sima Yue | |
| Other key figures | |
| Emperor Hui | |
| Emperor Huai | |
| Empress Yang Zhi | |
| Jia Nanfeng | |
| Yang Xianrong | |
| Sima Yu | |
| Yang Jun | |
| Wei Guan | |
| Zhang Hua |
Jia Nanfeng (賈南風) (257–300), nickname Shi (時), was a Chinese Empress consort. She was the daughter of Jia Chong and first wife of Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty (265–420) and also the granddaughter of Jia Kui. She is commonly seen as a villainous figure in Chinese history, as the person who provoked the War of the Eight Princes, leading to the Wu Hu rebellions and the Jin family's loss of northern and central China.
Jia Nanfeng was born in 257 to the Jin official Jia Chong and his second wife Guo Huai (郭槐). She was their oldest daughter, although Jia Chong had two daughters from his previous marriage to Lady Li. The couple had another daughter, Jia Wu (賈午), in 260. They also had two sons, both of whom died young.
In 271, Jia's father desperately wanted to avoid an assignment to lead an army against the Xianbei rebel Tufa Shujineng (禿髮樹機能), so he decided to have either Jia or her younger sister marry the developmentally disabled crown prince, Sima Zhong. The emperor initially rejected the idea, as he preferred Wei Guan's daughter as a bride for the crown prince. Indeed, Emperor Wu argued:
There are five reasons why Duke Wei's daughter is appropriate, and there are five reasons why Duke Jia's daughter is inappropriate. The Wei family are known for producing male children, and Lady Wei is mild-tempered, beautiful, tall, and fair-skinned. The Jia family lacks male children, and Lady Jia is jealous, ugly, short, and dark-skinned.
However, Guo Huai was on friendly terms with Empress Yang Yan, whose associates all greatly praised Jia's daughters. Eventually, Emperor Wu agreed, but selected Jia Wu to marry Crown Prince Zhong. When Wu was to wear formal dress to be examined, however, she was too young and too short for the dress, so Jia Nanfeng was chosen. They married in 272, and she was created crown princess. She was 14, and he was 12. She became quickly known for her jealousy, but she established a relationship with the crown prince where he both loved and feared her. For the rest of her life, she would have him firmly in her control. When several of his concubines became pregnant, she killed them herself in fits of jealousy; Emperor Wu was going to depose her, and only intercession by his second wife Empress Yang Zhi (Empress Yang Yan's cousin, whom he married after her death) led to Crown Princess Jia's being spared. When, on one occasion, Wei hinted to Emperor Wu that Crown Prince Zhong was so unintelligent as to be an inappropriate heir, it was Crown Princess Jia who thought of the solution to Emperor Wu's subsequent inquiries of Crown Prince Zhong—having someone else write simple but correct answers to the inquiries, so that Emperor Wu was impressed.
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