Empress Dowager Wei

Biography

Family Background and Early Years Lady Wei was from Kaifeng and came from a humble family; details of her ancestry are unclear. As a young woman she entered the palace and served as a maid in the household of Empress Zheng. There she became sworn sisters with another palace maid, Lady Qiao, and the two promised that if one of them later attained wealth and status, she would not forget the other. Lady Qiao subsequently won Emperor Huizong's favor and became a noble consort. Remembering their promise, Noble Consort Qiao recommended Lady Wei to Huizong, and Lady Wei thereby received imperial favor. Around 1106, late in the Chongning era, she was granted the rank Lady of Pingchang Commandery. Early in the Daguan era, in 1107, she was promoted to Cairen. That same year she gave birth to Zhao Gou, the future Emperor Gaozong, and was promoted first to Jieyu and later to Wanrong. Despite bearing an imperial son, Lady Wei never held a particularly high position in Huizong's harem. Huizong had many consorts, and Lady Wei was neither especially distinguished in appearance nor in artistic accomplishments. She remained at the rank of Wanrong for a long period without further promotion. Her son Zhao Gou ranked ninth among Huizong's sons and likewise received no exceptional favor from his father. Lady Wei was personally frugal and interested in Buddhism and Daoism and lived quietly within the palace. ### Years in Northern Captivity In 1126, the first year of the Jingkang era, Jin forces advanced south and besieged Kaifeng. Emperor Huizong hastily abdicated in favor of Crown Prince Zhao Huan, who became Emperor Qinzong. The Jin demanded that Song send an imperial prince as a hostage, and Zhao Gou, Prince of Kang, volunteered. Huizong therefore promoted Lady Wei to Consort Xian of Longde Palace in recognition of her son's mission. On his journey north, Zhao Gou was persuaded by Zong Ze to stop and remained in Cizhou instead of entering the Jin camp. In 1127, the second year of the Jingkang era, Jin forces captured Kaifeng and took Emperors Huizong and Qinzong, imperial consorts, princes, clansmen, and more than three thousand officials and others north as captives in what became known as the Jingkang Incident. As one of Huizong's consorts, Lady Wei was among those taken and was transported north with the two emperors. During the removal, she and Huizong, Empress Zheng, and others were sent to the Jin Upper Capital, near present-day Harbin, Heilongjiang, and later moved to Wuguocheng, in present-day Yilan, Heilongjiang. While in Jin territory, Lady Wei was held together with Emperors Huizong and Qinzong. According to Xin Qiji's Nanjin Jiwen Lu, she was later taken by the Jin commander Wanyan Zongxian, known as Prince Gaitian, and became his wife. Lady Wei spent fifteen years in Jin territory and endured considerable hardship. ### Return South and Life as Empress Dowager In 1127, the first year of the Jianyan era, Zhao Gou ascended the throne at Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing, present-day Shangqiu, Henan, and established the Southern Song. He honored his mother in absentia as Empress Xuanhe. Southern Song authorities thereafter repeatedly negotiated with Jin for her return. In 1137, the seventh year of the Shaoxing era, news reached the Southern Song that Emperor Huizong and Empress Zheng had died in Jin territory. Emperor Gaozong became still more determined to recover his mother. In 1138, the eighth year of the Shaoxing era, he adopted "lowering himself to seek peace" as state policy and pressed for negotiations with Jin, with Lady Wei's return as one of the important conditions. In 1142, the twelfth year of the Shaoxing era, Song and Jin concluded the Treaty of Shaoxing. Jin agreed to return Lady Wei and the coffins of Emperor Huizong, Empress Zheng, and Empress Xing, Gaozong's wife who had died in Jin territory. Assistant Grand Councilor Wang Ciweng was appointed ceremonial envoy for the reception mission. Before Lady Wei departed, Emperor Qinzong reportedly came with disheveled hair, clutched the wheel of her carriage, and begged her to tell Gaozong that if he were allowed to return he would not contend for the throne and wished only to become "Master of the Taiyi Palace." Lady Wei tearfully swore, "If my eyes do not see you return, I would rather go blind." During the journey, Lady Wei borrowed three thousand taels of gold from Jin envoys to reward her attendants and speed the trip. At the border, the Jin envoys demanded repayment before allowing the mission to continue. Wang Ciweng, lacking instructions from Chancellor Qin Hui, did not dare decide on his own, and the dispute lasted three days. The deputy envoy Wang Huan ultimately supplied the money. After returning south, Lady Wei tearfully complained to Gaozong. The emperor became enraged and wished to execute Wang Ciweng, but Qin Hui defended him and he was spared. In the eighth month of the twelfth year of Shaoxing, Lady Wei reached Lin'an. Emperor Gaozong personally went to Linping to welcome her. She entered Cining Palace and was honored as empress dowager. After her return she reportedly summoned the general Han Shizhong and asked about the "general with one large and one small eye," a reference to Yue Fei. On learning that Yue Fei had already been executed by Gaozong on the charge of "mo xu you," she angrily rebuked the emperor and at one point threatened to become a Buddhist nun. Gaozong prostrated himself and apologized before she relented. In her later years, Empress Dowager Wei suffered from eye disease and became blind in both eyes. The Daoist Huangfu Tan restored the sight of one eye through acupuncture. When she asked him to treat the other, he refused, saying, "One eye is enough to see with; leave the other to fulfill your vow." This was regarded as the fulfillment of her earlier oath. She lived for another seventeen years after returning south and died in 1159, the twenty-ninth year of the Shaoxing era, at the age of eighty.

Lady Wei was a native of Kaifeng, granddaughter of Wei Zihua and daughter of Wei Anli, or by another account Wei Andao, and entered the palace early as an attendant. The Silu record has it that she was in fact of Kuaiji: in the Shaosheng years, when the chancellor Su Song retired to Danyang, an old maidservant of his named Wei became a nun, and her younger sister was the future empress. When this sister first waited on Su Song she wet the bed without cease, and Su Song, judging her to be of great destiny, had her sent to the capital and lodged in a Daoist temple. When Zhezong chose twenty young women to distribute among the princes, Lady Wei entered the household of the prince of Duan, Zhao Ji, through the good offices of the officer Li Congyue.

On Zhezong's death the prince of Duan took the throne as Emperor Huizong. Lady Wei became a servant in the apartments of the emperor's favourite, the lady Zheng, and she and a younger servant, the lady Qiao, swore sisterhood, promising that whichever of them first came to fortune would not forget the other. The lady Qiao was favoured first and recommended Lady Wei, who was thus summoned to the emperor's bed. In the second month of 1107 she was made a lady of talent, and in the fifth month bore a prince, Zhao Gou; she was not much favoured, and had no children but him. In the eleventh month of 1126, when the Jin demanded a son of Huizong as hostage, and the prince of Kang, Zhao Gou, offered to go, Huizong conferred on Lady Wei the title of worthy consort of the Longde palace.

In 1127 the Jin took Bianjing and the imperial house was all but wholly taken. In the third month more than two thousand two hundred men and three thousand four hundred women of the imperial clan and connection were carried north; setting out from the Qingcheng camp of the Jin minister they reached Yanshan on the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month, by which time only some nineteen hundred of the women remained. On the road Lady Wei found means to send a token to Zhao Gou and prayed for his smooth accession. Huizong and the others were then held at Yanjing while Lady Wei and her daughter-in-law, the lady Xing, and the other women went north ahead, reaching the Jin imperial camp on the twenty-third day of the fifth month; on the seventh day of the sixth month they were brought to the Qianyuan hall to see the Jin emperor Taizong, who ordered Lady Wei and seventeen others into the washing bureau. In the eighth month of 1128 Huizong, Qinzong and their empresses were brought to Huining, and Lady Wei, the lady Xing and other consorts and princesses were forced to bare their bodies in the ceremony of presenting captives, afterward being made palace slaves with three hundred other women in the washing bureau. In the second month of 1135 Lady Wei left the washing bureau.

Zhao Gou, being away from Kaifeng, escaped capture and took the throne as Emperor Gaozong. He honored Lady Wei from afar as empress Xuanhe and declared that he would bring his mother home, both to display his filial piety and to cover his submission to the Jin. In 1141 the peace between Song and Jin was concluded, and the next year the Jin agreed to send Lady Wei back. At parting the lady Qiao raised a cup to her and said that she was going home to see her son and be empress dowager, and should take good care of herself, while she herself would never return and would die there; Lady Wei wept and the consort wept with her. The consort added that when she came to the place of comfort she should not forget the discomfort of this place, and Lady Wei answered that she would not forget that day, drank off the cup at a draught and wept without ceasing, while the members of the imperial house about them could not keep back their tears. After four months on the road Lady Wei returned to Lin'an in the eighth month of 1142 and took up residence in the Cining palace, though she was not able to bring the lady Qiao back with her. After eighteen years of honour and comfort she died on the twentieth day of the ninth month of 1159 at eighty, and was buried in the imperial burial ground.

Of her life among the Jin there was also a story that she had been forced to marry the great prince Getian, Wanyan Zongxian, and had borne children. The Shenyin yu, written by Song captives, argued that such tales were filthy books concocted by the Jin to slander Empress Wei, Empress Xing and the princess Roufu, pointing out that Lady Wei was near fifty when taken and that the Jin had no reason to pass over young princesses for a woman of fifty. Modern scholars differ: some hold the story to be pure Jin slander, others that she was indeed forced to remarry and that Gaozong deliberately raised her age by ten years to hide the fact. Her life spans the last years of the Northern Song and the first of the Southern, bound up with the disaster of Jingkang and the peace with the Jin: from an ordinary consort of Huizong she became a captive carried north, then empress and empress dowager through her son's accession, and at last returned south after the peace.

Major Activities

Experience during the Jingkang Disaster In 1127, Lady Wei was taken north with Emperors Huizong and Qinzong and was one of the important members of the imperial house captured during the Jingkang Incident. She was transported north with Huizong and later held with Huizong, Empress Zheng, and others at Wuguocheng. During her time in Jin territory, she was taken by the Jin commander Wanyan Zongxian, Prince Gaitian. Xin Qiji's Nanjin Jiwen Lu records an awkward encounter between Huizong and Lady Wei in Jin territory, presenting it as evidence of the humiliations she experienced in captivity. ### Role in Promoting Song–Jin Peace After Lady Wei was taken north, Emperor Gaozong treated the recovery of his mother as an important political goal and repeatedly stated that his willingness to "lower himself to seek peace" was for this purpose. In 1138, the eighth year of the Shaoxing era, Gaozong told Jin envoys that although he possessed the empire he could not care for his parent; Huizong was beyond recovery, but the return of his empress dowager had to be stated clearly in any sworn peace agreement, otherwise he did not fear war. Lady Wei's captivity therefore became one of the motivations for Southern Song negotiations with Jin, and the Treaty of Shaoxing was directly connected with her return. ### The Princess Roufu Case In 1130, the fourth year of the Jianyan era, a woman arrived in the Southern Song claiming to be Princess Roufu, daughter of Emperor Huizong, who had escaped from Jin territory. Gaozong ordered elderly palace women and eunuchs to examine her. They found her appearance similar and she answered questions about the old palace correctly, so she was accepted as genuine and granted the title Grand Princess of Fuguo. After Empress Dowager Wei returned in 1142, she stated that the real Princess Roufu had died in Jin territory and that the woman in the Southern Song was a Kaifeng nun named Jingshan. Gaozong then ordered the claimant executed. Some Song miscellanies, including Sichao Wenjian Lu, Suiguo Suibi, and Nandu Qiefen Xulu, instead argued that the executed "Jingshan" was actually the true Princess Roufu. According to these accounts, Lady Wei and Roufu had shared the same husband in Jin territory, both being wives of Wanyan Zongxian, and Lady Wei had Roufu killed after returning to Song in order to protect her reputation. The History of Song: Biographies of Princesses, by contrast, records that Princess Roufu did indeed die at Wuguocheng and that Jingshan was an impostor. The case became one of the major unresolved controversies of the early Southern Song. ### Later Life and Gifts to Jin Envoys After returning south, Empress Dowager Wei repeatedly gave private gifts to Jin envoys, using gold, silver, and other valuables to cultivate relations with Jin officials. When she died in 1159, Emperor Gaozong cited her final wishes in sending the Jin large quantities of ivory, gold brocade, jade flutes, and 22,000 taels' worth of gold and silver vessels. She was nevertheless personally frugal. When officials presented a gold spittoon, she ordered that it be replaced with a gilt vessel. Palace grants to her were generally only a few thousand units, while much of the cloth and money supplied to her was accumulated in storage and later used to pay for her funeral.

Personal Relations

• Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou: biological son and founding emperor of the Southern Song
• Wei Andao: father, posthumously enfeoffed as a commandery prince after her return
• Wei Yuan: younger brother, enfeoffed as Prince of Anle after her return ### Palace Relations - Empress Zheng: originally Lady Wei's mistress; later, like Lady Wei, a consort of Huizong and a fellow captive in the north
• Noble Consort Qiao: sworn sister in the palace who recommended Lady Wei to Huizong
• Princess Roufu: daughter of Huizong and central figure in the disputed Princess Roufu case ### Ruler–Subject Relations - Qin Hui: Southern Song chancellor who presided over the Treaty of Shaoxing and helped secure Lady Wei's return
• Wang Ciweng: reception envoy who nearly faced execution for refusing to pay the Jin envoys' loan without authorization
• Han Shizhong: general whom Lady Wei reportedly summoned and rewarded after returning south
• Yue Fei: general whose execution reportedly angered Lady Wei after she learned of it ### Jin-Related Figures - Wanyan Zongxian, Prince Gaitian: Jin commander who took Lady Wei during her captivity
• Emperor Qinzong of Song, Zhao Huan: fellow captive who reportedly begged Lady Wei before her departure to carry a message to Gaozong

Historical Assessment

Song Dynasty / Contemporary - The History of Song describes Empress Dowager Wei as "intelligent and resourceful." During her return journey, fearing that Jin might reverse its decision, she reportedly waited until all laborers had assembled before moving the coffin and then pretended illness in order to delay departure until cooler weather, showing careful judgment.

• The History of Song also records her frugality, noting that when officials presented a gold spittoon she had it replaced with a gilt one; contemporaries treated this as evidence of virtue.
• Xin Qiji's Nanjin Jiwen Lu records that Lady Wei was taken by Wanyan Zongxian in Jin territory, reflecting the humiliations associated with her northern captivity. ### Song–Yuan Period - Song miscellanies such as Sichao Wenjian Lu and Suiguo Suibi claimed that Empress Dowager Wei caused the real Princess Roufu to be killed in order to conceal the humiliation of having shared a husband in Jin territory, and criticized her character accordingly.
• Nandu Qiefen Xulu explicitly accused Lady Wei of killing Princess Roufu to silence her and condemned her as capable of "killing a daughter."
• When Yuan historians compiled the History of Song, they treated aspects of Lady Wei's captivity with restraint but retained the positive description that she was "intelligent and resourceful." ### Ming–Qing Period - Wang Fuzhi, in Song Lun, criticized Emperor Gaozong for lowering himself to seek peace in the name of "filial piety" and treated Empress Dowager Wei's return as symbolic of Southern Song compromise with Jin.
• Zhao Yi, in Nian'ershi Zhaji, discussed the story of Emperor Qinzong holding Lady Wei's carriage and argued that she failed to secure his return, leaving his appeal unfulfilled.
• Qing literary works such as Qian Cai's Shuo Yue Quanzhuan portrayed Empress Dowager Wei as principled and deeply saddened by Yue Fei's death, broadly following this narrative tradition. ### Modern Period - Modern scholar Hu Chuanzhi, in Women in the Jingkang Disaster, gives a detailed account of Lady Wei's northern captivity and treats her as a representative case of the suffering endured by women during the Jingkang Incident.
• Zhang Minghua, in The Humiliation of Jingkang in the Northern Song, discusses the experiences of captured consorts and princesses and argues that Lady Wei's reluctance to speak of her captivity after returning formed part of the Southern Song court's broader avoidance of the humiliation of Jingkang.
• Scholars generally regard Empress Dowager Wei's return as an important result of the Treaty of Shaoxing and her personal fate as a vivid reflection of the changing relationship between Song and Jin.