Lady Pucha

Biography

Family and early years

Lady Pucha came from the Pucha clan of Shangjing. Her great-grandfather Pucha Taishen was a founding meritorious minister of the Jin, rising to Grand Master of the Palace and being posthumously granted the titles Minister of Works and Duke of Ying. Her grandfather Pucha Ahu Die served in office as a scion of an established house, rising to Specially Advanced and being posthumously granted the titles Minister over the Masses and Duke of Qiao. Her father Pucha Dingshou married the Princess of Zheng of Emperor Xizong of Jin, was granted the title Commandant of the Imperial Son-in-Law, rose to General of the Imperial Insignia Guards, and was posthumously granted the titles Grand Commandant and Duke of Yue.

Lady Pucha was raised from childhood by her aunt, the Princess of Ji, and grew up quiet and gentle, serving her aunt with the same filial devotion as her own mother.

Marriage and early death

In 1183 (the twenty-third year of Dading) Emperor Shizong chose Lady Pucha as the bride of his eldest legitimate grandson, Wanyan Jing, Prince of the Jin Source Commandery, whose Jurchen name was Madage. The emperor sent the commissioner of the Palace Service, Dandan Huaizhong, with a betrothal gift of a hundred taels of gold, a thousand taels of silver, six fine horses and thirty bolts of heavy patterned silk. As Lady Pucha bowed in acknowledgement to the envoy, five-coloured auspicious clouds appeared beside the sun, and those present marvelled at the omen. In the eleventh month of that year she married Wanyan Jing; Emperor Shizong specially ordered officials of the third rank and above, with their wives, to attend the ceremony, and enfeoffed her as Lady of the Jin Source Commandery.

In 1186 Lady Pucha bore her eldest son Hongyu. On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month of the same year Wanyan Jing was made Imperial Grandson, and Lady Pucha became his consort. In the tenth month of 1188 the two-year-old Hongyu died; grieving over her son's early death, Lady Pucha fell into lingering illness and soon died after him.

Posthumous honours

On the second day of the first month of 1189 Emperor Shizong died, and the Imperial Grandson Wanyan Jing ascended the throne as Emperor Zhangzong. He posthumously honoured Lady Pucha as Empress Qinhuai, proclaimed it throughout the realm, and installed his wife's spirit tablet in the Kunning Palace for sacrifice in all four seasons. In 1192 he posthumously enfeoffed his eldest son Hongyu as Prince of Jiang and extended honours to the empress's family, granting posthumous titles to her father, grandfather and great-grandfather. After Emperor Zhangzong's death he was buried at the Dao Mausoleum, and Empress Qinhuai was moved there to be buried with her husband.

Lady Pucha's elder brother Cibusi married in succession the three princesses of Ding, Jing and Dao, and the Pucha family enjoyed the greatest imperial favour of any consort clan of the time, yet never used their wealth and rank to give themselves airs, remaining notably unassuming.

Major Activities

The empress's title and its posthumous conferral

In life Lady Pucha was Lady of the Jin Source Commandery and consort of the Imperial Grandson; she never took her place as empress in the palace. Her imperial title came after death: on his accession Emperor Zhangzong posthumously honoured her as Empress Qinhuai, installed her spirit tablet in the Kunning Palace for seasonal sacrifice, and had her reburied at the Dao Mausoleum.

Honours for her clan

In 1192 Emperor Zhangzong posthumously enfeoffed his eldest son Hongyu as Prince of Jiang and granted posthumous titles to the empress's father Pucha Dingshou as Grand Commandant and Duke of Yue, her grandfather Pucha Ahu Die as Minister over the Masses and Duke of Qiao, and her great-grandfather Pucha Taishen as Minister of Works and Duke of Ying. The Pucha clan thus became the most favoured consort family of Zhangzong's reign.

Personal Relations

• Wanyan Jing (Emperor Zhangzong of Jin): Lady Pucha was his principal wife while he was Prince of the Jin Source Commandery; after his accession he posthumously honoured her as Empress Qinhuai

• Wanyan Hongyu: eldest son, born 1186, died 1188, posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Jiang in 1192

• Pucha Dingshou (father): married the Princess of Zheng of Emperor Xizong of Jin, rose to General of the Imperial Insignia Guards

• Pucha Ahu Die (grandfather): rose to Specially Advanced

• Pucha Taishen (great-grandfather): founding meritorious minister of the Jin

• Princess of Ji (aunt): raised Lady Pucha in her household

• Cibusi (elder brother): married in succession the princesses of Ding, Jing and Dao

Historical Assessment

The History of Jin, in its "Biographies of Empresses and Consorts," describes her as "of gentle and bright nature, of refined and reverent bearing, and knowing how to read and write." She never took her place as empress in life, her imperial title coming only from Emperor Zhangzong's posthumous conferral; the early death of her son and her own death soon after belong to the court history of the years before Zhangzong's accession. The Pucha clan was noted as the most favoured consort family of Zhangzong's reign, while Lady Pucha herself is remembered for her gentle learning and her unassuming conduct.