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Empress Xiao (Sui dynasty)

Empress Xiao
Empress consort of the Sui Dynasty
Tenure 605 – 11 April 618
Born 566
Jiangling, Western Liang
Died 17 April 648 (aged 82)
Chang'an, Tang China
Burial Jiangdu
Spouse Emperor Yang of Sui
Issue Yang Zhao, Crown Prince Yuande
Yang Jian, Prince of Qi
Princess Nanyang
Posthumous name
Empress Min 愍皇后
"the suffering empress"
House Liang Dynasty (by birth)
Sui Dynasty (by marriage)
Father Emperor Ming of Western Liang
Mother Lady Zhang
Posthumous name
Empress Min 愍皇后
"the suffering empress"

Empress Xiao (蕭皇后, personal name unknown) (566? – 17 April 648), formally Empress Min was an empress, a beautiful and clever empress of the Chinese Sui Dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Yang of Sui.

The future Empress Xiao was born into the imperial house of the Liang Dynasty – as a daughter of Emperor Ming of Western Liang, who claimed the Liang throne as a vassal of Northern Zhou and then Sui. She was born in the second month of the lunar calendar, and at that time, the superstitious Emperor Ming believed birth in that month to be an indicator of ill fortune. She was therefore given to her uncle Xiao Ji (蕭岌) the Prince of Dongping to be raised, but Xiao Ji and his wife both soon died. (As Xiao Ji died in 566, she was probably born in 566, but could have been born earlier.) She was instead raised by her maternal uncle Zhang Ke (張軻). As Zhang was poor, she had to participate in labor, and she willingly did so. In 582, Emperor Wen of Sui, because Emperor Ming had supported him during Northern Zhou's civil war in 580 against the general Yuchi Jiong, wanted to take one of Emperor Ming's daughters to be the wife of his son Yang Guang the Prince of Jin. Emperor Ming had fortunetellers discern whether any of his daughters was suitable, but the fortunetellers ruled that none was suitable. Emperor Ming then welcomed her back from Zhang's house, and the fortunetellers found her to be suitable, and so she was given to Yang Guang in marriage. She thereafter carried the title of Princess of Jin.

Princess Xiao was said to be meek and intelligent, and she was talented both in reading text and in fortunetelling. Emperor Wen was pleased with her, and Yang Guang favored and respected her. Further, in order to please his mother Empress Dugu, who disfavored men who had concubines, Yang Guang, while having some concubines, pretended to have none beside Princess Xiao, and as part of his elaborate attempt to appear both filially pious and frugal, when Empress Dugu's servant girls arrived at Yang Guang's defense post at Yang Province (揚州, roughly modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) to deliver messages to and from Empress Dugu, Yang Guang would have the servant girls stay with Princess Xiao despite their inferior status. Eventually, Emperor Wen deposed Yang Guang's older brother Yang Yong (whose faults, in his parents' eyes, were wastefulness (which displeased Emperor Wen) and having many concubines (which displeased Empress Dugu)) from his position as crown prince in 600 and created Yang Guang crown prince to replace him. Thereafter, Princess Xiao carried the title of crown princess. She and Yang Guang had two sons together – Yang Zhao and Yang Jian (note different character than Emperor Wen, whose name is also rendered "Yang Jian" in pinyin); it is likely that Yang Guang's only known daughter, the later Princess Nanyang, was also her daughter. (Yang Guang's third and final son, Yang Gao, was born of a Consort Xiao, who might have been a sister of hers.)


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