Grand Empress Dowager Wang
| Wang Zhengjun | |||||||||
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| Predecessor | Empress Wang | ||||||||
| Successor | Empress Xu | ||||||||
| Born | 71 B.C. Yuancheng |
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| Died | 13 AD (aged 83) | ||||||||
| Spouse | Emperor Yuan of Han | ||||||||
| Issue | Emperor Cheng of Han | ||||||||
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| Father | Wang Jin, Marquess of Yangping | ||||||||
| Mother | Li Qin | ||||||||
| Full name | |
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Family name: Wang 王 Given name: Zhengjun 政君 太子妃 Crown Princess (50–48 BC) 皇后 Empress (48–33 BC) 皇太后 Empress Dowager (33–7 BC) 太皇太后 Grand Empress Dowager (7 BC – 8) 新室文母太皇太后 Grand Empress Dowager Xinsin Wenwu (8–13) |
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| Posthumous name | |
| Empress Xiaoyuan 孝元皇后 |
Wang Zhengjun (Chinese: 王政君; 71 BC – 13 AD), officially Empress Xiaoyuan (孝元皇后), later and more commonly known as Grand Empress Dowager Wang, born in Yuancheng (modern Handan, Hebei), was an empress during the Western Han dynasty of China, who played important roles during the reigns of five successive Han emperors—her husband, her son, her two stepgrandsons, and her stepgreat-grandnephew—and later (according to traditional historians, unwittingly) led to the usurpation of the throne by her nephew Wang Mang. She is largely viewed sympathetically by historians as an unassuming and benevolent if overly doting woman who suffered much in her long life, who tried to influence the empire as well as she could, and who was not a party to her nephew's machinations, but whose failure, leading to the downfall of the Western Han Dynasty, was her overdependence on her clan (the Wangs).
In the middle of the 50s BC, Consort Sima, the favorite consort of Crown Prince Liu Shi (later Emperor Yuan) died from an illness. Crown Prince Shi was grief-stricken and became ill and depressed himself. His father, Emperor Xuan, was concerned, so he had his wife, Empress Wang (unrelated to Wang Zhengjun) select the most beautiful of the young ladies in waiting and had them sent to Crown Prince Shi. Wang Zhengjun was one of the ladies in waiting chosen. She bore him his firstborn son, Liu Ao (later Emperor Cheng) circa 51 BC. Prince Ao became Emperor Xuan's favorite grandson and often accompanied him.
In 49 BC, Emperor Xuan died, and Crown Prince Shi became emperor. In 48 BC, he created then-Consort Wang, as the mother of his firstborn son, empress. Her father was created the Marquess of Yangping. (His title was later inherited by his son and Empress Wang's brother Wang Feng (王鳳), who would later play a large role in government.)
In 47 BC, Emperor Yuan created Prince Ao, Empress Wang's son, Crown Prince.
Emperor Yuan was a relatively non-womanizing emperor, but he did have two favorite concubines in addition to Empress Wang -- Consort Fu (傅昭儀) and Consort Feng Yuan (馮昭儀), each of whom bore him one son. Empress Wang apparently tried to maintain a cordial relationship with both, and she was largely successful, at least as far as Consort Feng was concerned. However, a struggle between Empress Wang and Consort Fu for their sons' heir status would erupt.
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