Xi Hui

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Xi Hui came from the prominent Xi clan of Gaoping, which had risen to prominence around the transition from Western to Eastern Jin. Her distant ancestor Xi Jian was a celebrated Eastern Jin statesman who rose to Grand Commandant and was known for integrity and frugality; Xi Yin, Xi Chao, and others were also prominent Eastern Jin figures. By the Liu Song period, the Xi family remained a high-ranking aristocratic clan. Xi Hui's grandfather Xi Shao served Liu Song as Chancellor of the Imperial University and concurrently as Tutor to the Prince of Donghai. Her father Xi Ye was a Palace Gentleman to the Crown Prince and died young. Her mother, Lady Liu, was a daughter of Emperor Wen of Liu Song, Liu Yilong, and held the title Princess Xunyang.

The Book of Liang records supernatural signs at Xi Hui's birth. While pregnant, Princess Xunyang dreamed that she would bear a distinguished child. When Xi Hui was born, a red light was said to illuminate the room and its objects. A shaman claimed that the girl's radiance was extraordinary but potentially harmful, and a purification rite was therefore performed beside water. Such accounts belong to the supernatural genealogical narratives surrounding imperial families, but they also reflect the importance attached to Xi Hui by her family from childhood.

Xi Hui was described as intelligent from an early age, skilled in clerical script, fond of reading histories and biographies, and accomplished in women's handicrafts. Her abilities were considered exceptional among aristocratic women of her time. By her early teens, her reputation for beauty had spread. Liu Yu, the Deposed Emperor of Liu Song, heard of her and wished to take her as empress. Knowing his reputation as a violent ruler, the Xi family declined on the grounds that she was ill. In the early Southern Qi period, Xiao Mian, Prince of Anlu, also wished to marry Xi Hui as his princess consort, and the family again declined for the same stated reason. The two refusals reflected both the family's high status and its caution in arranging her marriage.

Marriage to Xiao Yan

Near the end of the Jianyuan era of Emperor Gao of Southern Qi, around 482, Xi Hui married Xiao Yan. At the time, Xiao Yan was a relatively distant member of the Southern Qi imperial clan but was known from childhood for intelligence, broad learning, strategic ability, and both civil and military talent. After marriage, Xi Hui bore three daughters: Xiao Yuyao, later Princess Yongxing; Xiao Yuwan, later Princess Yongshi; and Xiao Yuhuan, later Princess Yongkang.

Although Xi Hui came from a prominent family and was praised for talent and beauty, historical sources explicitly describe her as extremely jealous. After Xiao Yan took Ding Lingguang as a concubine, Xi Hui treated Ding harshly and ordered her to pound five hu of rice each day. Ding Lingguang was repeatedly able to complete the task and, despite the treatment, is said to have served Xi Hui with even greater caution and respect. This account in the History of the Southern Dynasties became one of the principal foundations for Xi Hui's later reputation for jealousy and also reflects tensions within aristocratic households between principal wives and concubines.

Accompanying Xiao Yan to Office and Death

In 498, the fifth year of the Jianwu era under Emperor Ming of Southern Qi, Xiao Yan became governor of Yongzhou and was stationed at Xiangyang. Xi Hui accompanied him and lived at the official residence. Yongzhou was then a frontier facing Northern Wei military pressure, and Xiao Yan recruited forces and accumulated resources there for his later political rise. Xi Hui, however, did not live to see him establish a dynasty.

In the eighth lunar month of 499, the first year of the Yongyuan era, Xi Hui died at the official residence in Xiangyang at only thirty-two. Historical sources do not record the cause of death. Her remains were returned for burial at Dongchengli Mountain in Wujin County, Southern Donghai Commandery, Southern Xuzhou. Xiao Yan was still the Southern Qi governor of Yongzhou, so she was buried with the rites appropriate to a governor's wife.

Posthumous Elevation

In 501, Xiao Yan raised troops against Xiao Baojuan, the Marquess of Donghun, entered Jiankang, and took control of the government. In the third lunar month of 502, Emperor He of Southern Qi appointed Xiao Yan Chancellor of State and enfeoffed him as Duke of Liang with ten commanderies as his fief. Xiao Yan then posthumously honored Xi Hui as Duchess Consort of Liang. In the fourth lunar month of the same year, he accepted the throne and founded the Liang dynasty, posthumously titling Xi Hui Empress De and naming her tomb Xiuling.

Xiao Yan continued to remember Xi Hui and never installed another empress for the remainder of his life. This was highly unusual during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Ding Lingguang bore Xiao Yan the future crown prince Xiao Gang and held a highly honored place in the palace, but she was never made empress and remained a high-ranking consort. Xiao Yan's decision is presented both as a remembrance of his first wife and as evidence of Xi Hui's importance to him.

Major Activities

Refusing Imperial Marriage Proposals

As a young woman, Xi Hui was twice the object of royal marriage proposals. Liu Yu, the Deposed Emperor of Liu Song, first wished to take her as empress. Because the Xi family regarded him as a violent and dissolute ruler, it declined by claiming that Xi Hui was ill. In the early Southern Qi period, Xiao Mian, Prince of Anlu, wished to marry her as his princess consort, and the Xi family again declined on the same grounds. Later traditions praised the family's foresight after Liu Yu was assassinated and Xiao Mian died relatively young.

Married Life and Anecdotes of Jealousy

After Xi Hui married Xiao Yan, their relationship was generally described as stable, but historical works especially emphasized her jealousy. The History of the Southern Dynasties states that she was intensely jealous and records her harsh treatment of Ding Lingguang, including the daily order to pound five hu of rice. This anecdote became central to later portrayals of Xi Hui's character.

Legend of Transformation after Death

After Xi Hui's death, supernatural stories circulated both at court and among the public. The History of the Southern Dynasties records a legend that she transformed into a dragon, entered a well in the inner palace, and appeared to Xiao Yan in dreams. At times the dragon was said to appear visibly and radiate light; whenever Xiao Yan fell ill, the dragon would stir the water. Xiao Yan therefore built a structure over the open well, placed clothing there, and regularly used a silver pulley and golden vessel to make offerings of many kinds of food.

Another tradition claimed that Xi Hui became a giant serpent or “earth dragon” after death and that Xiao Yan summoned eminent monks to compile the Compassionate Ritual of the Bodhimanda Repentance—later known as the Emperor Liang Repentance—to release her from that form. This account is common in Buddhist literature rather than the standard histories, but it became one of the best-known legendary elements of the story of Emperor Wu of Liang and Xi Hui.

Posthumous Empress and the Vacant Position

In 502, Xiao Yan founded the Liang dynasty and posthumously titled Xi Hui Empress De. During his forty-eight-year reign he never installed another empress, an extremely unusual circumstance not only in the Northern and Southern Dynasties but across the imperial era more broadly. Xiao Yan's later devotion to Buddhism and repeated self-dedications at Tongtai Temple may have been another factor alongside his remembrance of Xi Hui. In any case, Xi Hui's status as the Liang dynasty's only empress with a formal posthumous title was thereby established.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Xi Shao, Chancellor of the Imperial University under Liu Song and Tutor to the Prince of Donghai
• Father: Xi Ye, Palace Gentleman to the Crown Prince; died young and was later posthumously promoted
• Mother: Lady Liu, daughter of Emperor Wen of Liu Song, Liu Yilong; Princess Xunyang, later reduced to Lady of Songzi County in the early Southern Qi period
• Brother: Xi Fan, who rose to a secretarial military post under the Prince of Linchuan
• Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang and founding emperor of the Liang dynasty
• Eldest daughter: Xiao Yuyao, Princess Yongxing
• Second daughter: Xiao Yuwan, Princess Yongshi
• Youngest daughter: Xiao Yuhuan, Princess Yongkang
• Ding Lingguang, a concubine of Xiao Yan later ranked as a high consort: Xi Hui treated her harshly and ordered her to pound five hu of rice each day

Historical Assessment

Northern and Southern Dynasties

• Yao Silian, author of the Book of Liang, praised Xi Hui's intelligence, clerical-script calligraphy, reading of histories and biographies, and skill in women's handicrafts.
• Li Yanshou, author of the History of the Southern Dynasties, recorded that she was extremely jealous and described her treatment of Ding Lingguang, leaving a lasting negative image of jealousy.
• Xiao Yan's lifelong refusal to install another empress after Xi Hui's death was taken as evidence of deep attachment between the spouses.

Sui and Tang Periods

• Tang historian Li Yanshou, in the History of the Southern Dynasties, combined earlier accounts of Xi Hui's intelligence and learning with those describing her jealousy, resulting in a relatively balanced portrayal.
• Tang Buddhist literature began to circulate the story that Xi Hui became a serpent after death and that Emperor Wu of Liang composed the Emperor Liang Repentance for her release, gradually linking her image with Buddhist narratives of karmic retribution.

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods

• Song Buddhist historical works such as Longxing Chronological General Discussion and Brief Record of the Buddhist Tradition included the story of Xi Hui's transformation into a dragon or serpent and treated it as one cause of Emperor Wu of Liang's Buddhist devotion.
• The Yuan monk Shuzhong Wuyun referred to the Xi Hui story in his recorded sayings to illustrate Buddhist repentance.
• The Ming monk Hanshan Deqing also recounted the story, helping preserve its circulation among Buddhist believers.

Modern and Contemporary

• Modern scholars often approach Xi Hui from the perspectives of social and women's history, treating her as a case study of an aristocratic woman in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and examining her learning, marriage, and family status.
• Modern studies tend to analyze records of Xi Hui's “jealousy” in relation to aristocratic marriage institutions and principal-wife/concubine relations rather than relying solely on moral judgment.
• The legend of Xi Hui's transformation into a dragon is also used as material for studying Emperor Wu of Liang's religious policy and the Sinicization of Buddhism.