Liang Na

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Liang Na came from the powerful Anding Liang clan, one of the leading imperial-relative families of Eastern Han. Her grandfather Liang Yong was the younger brother of Empress Gonghuai, a consort of Emperor Zhang, and held the title Marquis of Chengshi. Her father Liang Shang entered office as the descendant of meritorious officials, first serving as a gentleman and later Yellow Gate Attendant, an office he is said to have held around the time of Liang Na’s birth. Historical accounts praise Liang Shang as modest despite his high status as an imperial relative and as willing to recommend talented men. He later rose to General-in-Chief.

As a girl, Liang Na was skilled in needlework and enjoyed reading. At nine she could recite the Analects and studied the Book of Songs with the commentary of Han Ying, understanding its main ideas. She kept images of exemplary women near her as moral reminders. Her father was deeply impressed and told his brothers that their ancestors had saved countless people in Hexi; although the emperor had not publicly rewarded the deed at the time, accumulated virtue might bring blessings to descendants and perhaps make this daughter especially fortunate.

Entering the Palace and Becoming Empress

In 128, the third year of Yongjian, Liang Na at age thirteen was selected for the women’s quarters together with an aunt. A physiognomist named Mao Tong who saw her among the candidates declared that her appearance indicated great fortune and high status. Emperor Shun made her a Noble Lady. She became highly favored and was frequently summoned, but the source emphasizes that she did not monopolize the emperor’s favor. She told Emperor Shun that a ruler should spread benevolence broadly like warm sunlight and that an empress should avoid jealousy and exclusive favor; she asked him to distribute his attention among the palace women so that she would not incur criticism. Emperor Shun respected her even more for this response.

In the first lunar month of 132, officials petitioned that Liang Na be made empress, citing the prestige of her family and ritual principles in choosing a consort from a major house. Emperor Shun approved and held the investiture in Shou'an Hall. Even after becoming empress, Liang Na is described as avoiding arrogance. When eclipses or other ominous celestial phenomena occurred, she changed into plain clothing and examined her own conduct.

Regency

On the sixth day of the eighth lunar month in 144, the first year of Jiankang, Emperor Shun died at the age of thirty. Liang Na had no son. After consulting her elder brother Liang Ji, she installed Liu Bing, Emperor Shun’s son by Beauty Yu, as Emperor Chong. The new emperor was only two years old. Liang Na became empress dowager and ruled from court.

Emperor Chong soon became ill. Liang Ji prepared for succession by summoning Liu Zuan, son of Liu Hong, Prince Xiao of Bohai and a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang, to a residence in Luoyang. On the sixth day of the first lunar month in 145, Emperor Chong died at three. Liang Na and Liang Ji decided in the palace to enthrone the eight-year-old Liu Zuan as Emperor Zhi, while Liang Na continued directing the government.

At the beginning of her regency, Liang Na appointed Grand Commandant Li Gu as a principal adviser and accepted many of his proposals for strengthening the state. Li Gu requested that Yellow Gate eunuchs be expelled and Liang Na approved, raising hopes among the scholar-officials. At the time, major bandit groups disturbed Yangzhou and Xuzhou; Western Qiang, Xianbei, and groups from Rinan attacked cities and plundered; frequent levies exhausted officials and common people. The histories praise Liang Na for working day and night, trusting capable officials, appointing Li Gu and others, promoting loyal men, encouraging frugality, and punishing corrupt officials. Forces were sent against the various enemies, leading the histories to say that “all within the seas became orderly and the ancestral temples were secure.”

Liang Ji’s Domination and the Death of Li Gu

During Liang Na’s regency, her elder brother General-in-Chief Liang Ji gradually monopolized political power. Li Gu had more than one hundred improperly appointed officials removed. Those men resented him, ingratiated themselves with Liang Ji, and jointly fabricated accusations that Li Gu used public office for private ends, elevated his followers, expelled close attendants, and acted arbitrarily. Liang Ji forwarded their memorial to Liang Na and asked that Li Gu be investigated, but she refused and Li Gu initially escaped punishment.

In 146, the first year of Benchu, Liang Na summoned Liu Zhi, Marquis of Liwu, to Luoyang, intending to marry her younger sister Liang Nüying to him. In the intercalary sixth lunar month, Liang Ji poisoned Emperor Zhi. In the debate over succession, Li Gu and Grand Herald Du Qiao supported the older and respected Prince Liu Suan of Qinghe, while Liang Ji wanted Liu Zhi in order to preserve the family’s influence. Most officials yielded to Liang Ji, but Li Gu and Du Qiao continued to oppose him. Li Gu wrote directly to Liang Ji urging him to reconsider. Liang Ji became furious and persuaded Liang Na to dismiss Li Gu. Liu Zhi was then installed as Emperor Huan, with Liang Na continuing as regent.

In the eleventh lunar month of 147, Liang Ji used the case of Liu Wen of Qinghe and Liu Wei of Nanjun, who had plotted to enthrone Liu Suan, to accuse Li Gu and Du Qiao of collusion and asked the empress dowager to arrest them. Liang Na knew Du Qiao to be loyal and refused. Liang Ji nevertheless had Li Gu imprisoned. Li Gu’s student Wang Diao and others submitted petitions while in chains, and Liang Na ordered Li Gu pardoned. When he left prison, the people of Luoyang reportedly shouted “long live.” Alarmed by his reputation, Liang Ji revived the charge and had him imprisoned again, where Li Gu died. Du Qiao was also imprisoned and killed after refusing to submit. Their bodies were exposed at a crossroads outside the city and mourning was forbidden. Li Gu’s students Guo Liang and Dong Ban nevertheless mourned him, while Du Qiao’s former subordinate Yang Kuang guarded the bodies for twelve days. Liang Na later pardoned them and allowed the two ministers to be buried.

Later Years and Death

In the third lunar month of 148, Liang Na visited General-in-Chief Liang Ji’s residence with Emperor Huan. Thereafter, the source states that she granted increasing favors and titles to palace eunuchs, causing disappointment among scholar-officials.

On the twentieth day of the second lunar month in 150, the first year of Heping, Liang Na returned government to Emperor Huan. Already seriously ill, she traveled by carriage to Xuande Hall, summoned palace and court officials together with members of the Liang clan, and issued a final statement explaining that she had long suffered from an internal illness and had recently developed swelling that affected eating and left her exhausted. She regretted that she could not live long enough to guide the young emperor to maturity and entrusted both the emperor and her general-brothers to the ministers. She died two days later at the age of thirty-five. Her posthumous title was Empress Shunlie. In the third lunar month she was buried with Emperor Shun at Xianling.

Major Activities

Regency and Political Measures

Liang Na was the fourth Eastern Han empress dowager to rule from court. After Emperor Shun died in 144, she successively installed Emperors Chong, Zhi, and Huan and governed during three successions. Early in her regency she entrusted Grand Commandant Li Gu, adopted many of his corrective policies, and expelled Yellow Gate eunuchs, briefly raising hopes among officials. She promoted frugality, punished corruption, and selected loyal officials, and the court showed signs of recovery. Militarily, her government sent forces against Western Qiang, Xianbei, groups from Rinan, and major bandits in Yangzhou and Xuzhou, after which the histories praised the realm as orderly.

Education

During Liang Na’s regency, the National University in Luoyang expanded to more than thirty thousand students, which the source describes as the highest enrollment of the Han period. This had an important influence on scholarship and the growth of the scholar-official community in the middle and late Eastern Han.

Foreign Contacts and Transregional Exchange

Liang Na’s regency overlapped with the period when An Shigao, described as a prince of the Parthian Empire, came to China to transmit Buddhism. He is generally placed in Luoyang during the Jianhe era of Emperor Huan, 147–149, overlapping with Liang Na’s regency. The source explicitly states, however, that surviving materials do not record Liang Na personally “receiving” An Shigao and that any direct relationship between them is uncertain.

Relationship with Liang Ji and Imperial-Relative Politics

During Liang Na’s regency, her elder brother Liang Ji assisted government as General-in-Chief. She depended heavily on him, although she twice resisted attempts to kill Li Gu—first refusing an investigation and later issuing a pardon. On the succession question, however, she ultimately accepted Liang Ji’s position, dismissed Li Gu, and installed Liu Zhi as emperor. Liang Ji’s power then expanded beyond her ability to restrain him. Liang Na’s 148 visit to his residence with Emperor Huan symbolized the height of Liang family power.

Return of Government and Final Instructions

In the second lunar month of 150, Liang Na, seriously ill, voluntarily returned government to Emperor Huan and summoned officials and Liang relatives to Xuande Hall to entrust the state and family to them. She died two days later. The source treats the voluntary return of authority as unusual among Eastern Han empress dowagers who had governed from court.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: Liang Shang, General-in-Chief and Marquis of Chengshi
• Grandfather: Liang Yong, Marquis of Chengshi and younger brother of Empress Gonghuai
• Elder brother: Liang Ji, General-in-Chief and dominant imperial relative
• Elder brother: Liang Buyi, younger brother of Liang Ji
• Younger sister: Liang Nüying, empress of Emperor Huan
• Husband: Emperor Shun of Han, Liu Bao
• Aunt: Name unknown; entered the women’s quarters at the same time as Liang Na

Rulers and Ministers

• Emperor Chong Liu Bing: Installed by Liang Na at age two and died within months
• Emperor Zhi Liu Zuan: Installed by Liang Na at age eight and poisoned by Liang Ji
• Emperor Huan Liu Zhi: Installed by Liang Na, who later returned government to him
• Li Gu: Grand Commandant and a leading adviser early in Liang Na’s regency; later killed after Liang Ji’s accusations
• Du Qiao: Grand Herald who, with Li Gu, was persecuted and killed by Liang Ji

Conflicts

• Liang Ji: Liang Na’s elder brother; she permitted much of his growth in power, although she resisted him twice in the Li Gu affair and ultimately failed to protect Li Gu
• Palace eunuchs: Liang Na expelled them early in her regency but later granted many of them titles and favors

Historical Assessment

Eastern Han and Contemporary Assessments

• The Book of the Later Han, “Annals of Empresses,” praises the early regency for Liang Na’s tireless work, reliance on capable officials such as Li Gu, appointment of loyal men, and frugality, saying that “all within the seas became orderly and the ancestral temples were secure.”
• The same work criticizes her for failing to restrain her relatives, allowing Liang Ji to become violent and autocratic, and for later favoring eunuchs, which caused disappointment across the realm.
• Li Gu’s students and the wider scholar-official community initially placed strong hopes in Liang Na’s government. When Li Gu was pardoned and released, people in the streets of the capital reportedly shouted “long live,” reflecting those expectations.

Wei-Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties Periods

• Fan Ye’s Book of the Later Han acknowledges Liang Na’s early capable policies while blaming her failure to restrain Liang Ji and linking the disaster of the Liang clan to her inability to suppress her relatives.
• Yuan Hong’s Eastern Jin Hou Han Ji praises her early use of Li Gu and expulsion of eunuchs and portrays her as initially seeking political renewal.
• Historians of the Southern Dynasties often compared Liang Na with Empress Dowager Deng Sui, judging her less capable than Deng and more culpable for allowing relatives to dominate.

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods

• Sima Guang’s Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records her regency in detail, expresses sympathy for Li Gu, condemns Liang Ji, and treats Liang Na relatively neutrally while implying that she bore responsibility for failing to prevent Li Gu’s death.
• Song scholar Hu Yin, in Dushi Guanjian, criticized her for recognizing Li Gu’s value but failing to support him to the end and for recognizing Liang Ji’s wrongdoing but failing to remove him, calling her “virtuous but not wise.”
• Ming-Qing thinkers such as Wang Fuzhi argued that Liang Na’s early government was orderly but that excessive family sentiment prevented decisive action against Liang Ji and ultimately damaged the state.

Modern Assessments

• Lü Simian’s History of the Qin and Han describes Liang Na’s early regency as an unusually clear period within Eastern Han imperial-relative politics and attributes her failure to her inability to escape family constraints.
• Zhuang Xiaofang, in a 2006 study of Eastern Han ruling empress dowagers, argues that Liang Na attempted reform but was constrained by the dual pressures of imperial relatives and eunuchs, causing the reforms to fail.
• Scholars dispute the traditional accusation that Liang Na “indulged eunuchs”; some suggest that the narrative in the Book of the Later Han may reflect later scholar-official perspectives shaped by the Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions and that her actual relationship with eunuchs may have been more complex.