Biography
Family Background and Early Years
Fu belonged to one of the most prominent military families of the Five Dynasties and early Song. Her great-grandfather Fu Chu served as a military officer in Chen Prefecture. Her grandfather Fu Cunshen was a noted Later Tang general who rose to Military Governor of Xuanwu and Secretariat Director and was posthumously honored as Director of the Department of State Affairs and Prince of Qin. Her father Fu Yanqing was an even more celebrated general who served the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou and eventually became Prince of Wei.
Fu Yanqing had several daughters, three of whom became empresses. The eldest married Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, and became Empress Xuanyi. The subject of this entry was the second of these daughters and succeeded her elder sister as Chai Rong's wife. Another daughter married Zhao Guangyi, later Emperor Taizong of Song, and was subsequently posthumously honored as Empress Yide.
Fu was born in 933, the fourth year of the Changxing era. Her exact birthplace is unknown; the Chinese source suggests that she may have spent her early years following her father between military camps and official postings. She grew up in a military household while Fu Yanqing was frequently away commanding troops. Standard histories preserve very little about her early life beyond the fact that, after her elder sister died in 956, she entered the palace and became her brother-in-law's second wife.
Entry into the Palace and Installation as Empress
In 956, the third year of the Xiande era, Empress Xuanyi Fu died. In that year or shortly afterward, her younger sister entered the palace as Chai Rong's second wife. Chai Rong was then in his thirties and was pursuing a program of military unification. The Chinese source presents Fu's entry into the palace both as continuity in the relationship between the Fu family and the imperial house and as a political marriage.
On the ninth day of the sixth lunar month in 959, the sixth year of the Xiande era, Chai Rong formally installed Fu as empress. Only ten days later, on the nineteenth day of the month, Chai Rong died after falling seriously ill during a campaign against the Khitans and returning to Bianjing. He was only thirty-nine. Thus, only ten days separated Fu's formal installation as empress and her husband's death.
The Empress Dowager at Court
Before his death, Chai Rong designated his seven-year-old fourth son Chai Zongxun as crown prince. Chai Zongxun was the son of Fu's elder sister, Empress Xuanyi, rather than Fu's own child. After Chai Rong's death, Chai Zongxun succeeded as Emperor Gong of Later Zhou and honored Fu as empress dowager. Because the emperor was a child, Empress Dowager Fu formally presided over court affairs. In practice, however, major military and political business was handled by chancellors such as Fan Zhi and Wang Pu, leaving Fu more as the nominal supreme authority.
On the first day of the first lunar month in 960, reports arrived from Zhen and Ding prefectures that Khitan and Northern Han forces were launching a joint incursion. The court ordered Zhao Kuangyin, Inspector-General of the Palace Command, to lead an army north. On the third day, Zhao's troops mutinied at Chenqiao Station and acclaimed him as emperor. He returned with the army to Bianjing, and on the fourth day forced Chai Zongxun to abdicate. The Later Zhou ended and the Northern Song was founded. From Fu's assumption of a court regency to the loss of the dynasty, only about half a year had passed.
After the Fall of Later Zhou
After the dynasty fell, Zhao Kuangyin reduced Chai Zongxun to the title Prince of Zheng. Empress Dowager Fu moved to the Western Palace and became known as the Empress Dowager of Zhou. The Northern Song pursued a policy of favorable treatment toward the former Later Zhou imperial family. Chai Zongxun was later sent to Fang Prefecture, where he died in 973, the sixth year of the Kaibao era, at the age of twenty.
Historical sources do not clearly record when Fu entered Daoist religious life. Some later conjecture places it around 962, the third year of the Jianlong era, but there is no firm evidence. After entering Daoism she used the title Yuqing Xianshi and sought spiritual refuge within the tradition. She died in 993, the fourth year of the Chunhua era, aged sixty. The Northern Song buried her with the rites accorded an empress, gave her the posthumous title Empress Xuanci, and interred her near Yiling, the tomb of her elder sister. The burial mound is no longer visible.