Empress Zhang (Jiajing Emperor)

Biography

Family Background and Early Life Empress Zhang's family had long lived at Tangma, southwest of Xinxiang County in Weihui Prefecture, Henan. According to an inscription erected by a clan relative, Zhang Yong, her grandfather Zhang Duo married Lady Li and had a son, Zhang Ji. As a young man Zhang Ji studied at the local school but did not realize his ambitions. He later married Lady Xue, who gave birth to a daughter named Qijie, the future empress. Zhang Ji was reputed for good character and received increasing praise as he grew older. In 1522, the first year of Jiajing, when the court selected women for the emperor, Lady Zhang was chosen together with Lady Chen, later Empress Xiaojie Su, and Lady Wen. On the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the emperor sent Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, and Zhang Wei, Earl of Huian, as principal envoys, with Grand Secretaries Yang Tinghe and Jiang Mian as deputy envoys. Lady Wen was invested as Consort Gong and Lady Zhang as Consort Shun. At first Consort Shun did not hold the highest rank among the consorts, and Consort Gong Wen preceded her in formal order. According to Huang Zuo's “Rhapsody on the Palace of Heavenly Purity,” written in 1521, six residential palaces stood on the sides of the Qianqing and Kunning palaces, and Consorts Wen and Zhang occupied two of them. On the second day of the fifth lunar month in 1524, at the request of Wen Rong, father of Consort Gong, and Zhang Ji, father of Consort Shun, the Jiajing Emperor promoted both men to salaried Assistant Commanders in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. On the seventh day of the ninth lunar month, Wen Rong received thirty-seven qing of estate land in areas including Huo County and Changping Prefecture, while Zhang Ji received thirty-nine qing in areas including Nangong and Xinhe. On the eleventh day of the same month, Zhang Ji asked for an additional grant at Bonan estate in Fengrun County. The Ministry of Revenue reported that no such land existed in its registers and regarded the request as excessive; the emperor refused it. ### Investiture as Empress and Years in the Central Palace On the second day of the tenth lunar month in 1528, the seventh year of Jiajing, Empress Chen died. Accounts in the *Supplementary Record of the Inner History of the Victorious Dynasty* and *Mingshan Cang* state that in the tenth lunar month of that year, while Consorts Zhang and Wen were serving tea, the Jiajing Emperor looked repeatedly at their hands. The pregnant Empress Chen became angry, threw down her cup, and rose to leave; the emperor also became enraged. Empress Chen then miscarried from the shock and died soon afterward. On the thirtieth day of the intercalary tenth lunar month, the emperor discussed the selection of a successor empress with Grand Secretary Zhang Cong. Zhang Cong argued that the Son of Heaven required an empress to share responsibility for ancestral sacrifices and that the position should not remain vacant for long. The emperor replied that his virtue was inadequate, his principal wife had died early, and he still had no heir, matters that caused him great anxiety. He also feared that installing another empress might bring misfortune. He recalled women in the palace whom he considered morally improper and complained that they had behaved arbitrarily early in the marriage and constantly made representations to Empress Dowager Jiang, who had failed to perceive their ulterior motives. If such women were again to participate in choosing a successor empress, he said, it might be better not to appoint one at all. He finally instructed Zhang Cong and the others to copy the empress dowager's teaching and his own instructions and discuss them secretly with their colleagues. On the ninth day of the eleventh lunar month, Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing and others memorialized the emperor, urging him to follow precedents from the reigns of Emperor Xuanzong and Emperor Xianzong of Ming and select a virtuous woman from among the consorts as empress. Gui E, Minister of Personnel, and the censor Qiu Daolong of the thirteen circuits made separate requests. The emperor replied that he fully understood their loyal concern and had already obeyed his mother's instruction, accepted their request, and issued separate orders to the Ministry of Rites. The following day, he instructed the ministry that Consort Shun Zhang had originally been personally selected by the “Sacred Mother,” had observed ritual propriety since attending him, possessed a cautious and upright disposition, and demonstrated harmonious virtue; she could therefore be made empress to assist in ancestral sacrifices and join in serving the two empress dowagers. On the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh lunar month, Consort Shun was formally installed as empress. Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, carried the credentials, Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing bore the patent, and Zhang Cong carried the seal. Empress Zhang was described as gentle and yielding and at first suited the emperor's wishes. During annual sacrifices she shared responsibility for ancestral rites. Each spring she led the consorts in the imperial sericulture ceremony and daily organized instruction in Empress Dowager Jiang's *Instructions for Women*. She also recited the Hanlin academicians' *New Poems on the Inner Rules* and had palace women sing them. In 1530, the ninth year of Jiajing, the emperor revived ancient ritual and ordered the empress to lead the consorts in personally feeding silkworms in the northern suburbs. He also ordered study of the *Instructions for Women* to begin within the palace, and Empress Zhang led the women of the six palaces in attending instruction before Empress Dowager Zhangsheng. ### Deposition and Seclusion On January 19, 1534, the sixth day of the first lunar month in the thirteenth year of Jiajing, the emperor deposed Empress Zhang. In an edict to the Ministry of Rites, he stated that yin should support yang as earth supports Heaven, and that the essential principle for a wife was reverence and obedience. After the death of his first empress he had installed Zhang because sacrifices required assistance and the inner palace required a head, granting her exceptional favor and ceremonial treatment. Recently, however, she had repeatedly failed to be obedient, respectful, or deferential. Although he had continued to treat her with favor, she had again behaved insolently without reform. He therefore judged her incapable of fulfilling the empress's role, ordered her retired to another residence, withdrew the empress's patent and seal, and instructed officials throughout the realm to cease presenting congratulatory memorials concerning her. The exact cause of Empress Zhang's deposition is not stated in the contemporary official record. Ming writer Shen Defu noted in *Unofficial Gleanings from the Wanli Era* that Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Cong had just been recalled but did not strongly remonstrate, that the highly favored Minister of Rites Xia Yan remained silent, and that no censorial official submitted a protest. The emperor did not announce a specific offense to the ancestral temples or the realm, merely accusing Zhang of disrespect, lack of deference, and persistent insolence. Wang Shizhen, normally extremely detailed on Ming court affairs, gave little explanation of the case, while contemporaries such as Zheng Duanjian and Lei Fengcheng, both capable historians who were already at court, likewise failed to record a concrete reason. According to Shen Defu, Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang and younger brother of Empress Dowager Zhaosheng, had committed a capital offense. The empress dowager appealed to Empress Zhang for mercy on his behalf. During New Year service to the emperor, Zhang lightly mentioned the matter at a banquet. The emperor became furious, immediately ordered her crown and robes removed, had her beaten, and deposed her on the sixth day of the first lunar month. Two days later he ordered that Consort De Fang be made empress, suggesting that he had already intended to replace Zhang. Shen regarded the explanation involving Zhang Yanling as relatively credible. Zhu Guozhen, author of *Yongchuang Xiaopin*, recorded a similar story that he had heard in childhood from an old scholar. According to this account, the emperor deeply resented Empress Dowager Zhaosheng because she had earlier constrained his biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhangsheng. Zhang Yanling had made many enemies and was denounced and imprisoned. Empress Dowager Zhaosheng hoped to use the birth of an imperial son as an occasion to congratulate the emperor and seek clemency, but the emperor avoided her requests. She therefore asked the favored Empress Zhang to intercede. During a night banquet, Zhang conveyed the empress dowager's wishes, while the empress dowager also sent a message saying that “the Yanling matter is close to being settled.” The emperor, already dissatisfied, became enraged, ordered Empress Zhang stripped of her crown and robes and beaten with the staff, and issued the deposition edict the next day. Zhang Yanling was later executed. Korean diplomatic reports preserved further palace rumors. On the first day of the second lunar month in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, envoy Kim Gwangcheol returned from Beijing and reported stories he had heard from student Zhang Yunni and Wei Chaopin. These accounts claimed that the emperor had favored Empress Zhang and, at a banquet, ordered Empress Chen to offer wine. Seeing displeasure on Chen's face, he became angry; he refused the cup three times and finally threw it away, ordered Chen to kneel, and withdrew with Zhang to another room until late at night. Chen supposedly fell ill from emotional exhaustion and died soon after. The same reports claimed that Empress Zhang later showed displeasure at the birth of Crown Prince Aichong, and after the prince died she was accused by slanderers of having cursed him. The emperor allegedly deposed and confined her for this reason. These rumors also portrayed Zhang as gentle and submissive, fasting and praying day and night for the emperor when she heard he was ill and offering to suffer his sickness herself, causing him to regret the deposition and consider restoring her. Such stories circulated among lower-ranking servants and their reliability is doubtful. On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth lunar month in the thirteenth year of Jiajing, Korean congratulatory envoy So Se-yang asked court attendant Xia Lin about the case. He heard that the emperor had suffered a cold or wind illness since the first lunar month and had suspended court for three months, though he had recovered. Servants circulated stories that excessive indulgence with palace women had caused the illness. When asked why the empress had been deposed, Xia replied only that he had heard she was removed because of disrespect, lack of deference, and misconduct; palace affairs were tightly guarded and difficult to know in detail. So later questioned servants at the guest residence, who claimed that the empress had become jealous, attempted to hang herself before the emperor, and committed other disrespectful acts, leading to her confinement in another palace. So himself considered such reports unreliable because lower servants spoke recklessly about matters touching the emperor and had not included these rumors in earlier correspondence with interpreters. ### Death and Posthumous Status On the third day of the intercalary twelfth lunar month in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, “the deposed Empress Zhang” died. The emperor ordered that her funeral follow the precedent of the deposed Empress Wu of Emperor Xianzong, referring to an edict issued by Emperor Wuzong after Wu's death in 1509: the funeral rites were to follow the precedent for Consort Hui of Emperor Yingzong, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was to request instructions concerning offerings, simple seasonal foods were to be used, and separate sacrifices were to be made at the tomb. Lady Zhang was subsequently buried at Jinshan. The *History of Ming* states that her funeral was conducted according to the precedent of the deposed Empress Hu of Emperor Xuanzong. In 1539, the eighteenth year of Jiajing, official usage restored Zhang's designation as empress and styled her the “successor empress.” The *Veritable Records of the Jiajing Emperor* notes on the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month of that year that sacrificial and burial honors were granted according to precedent to Lady Xue, wife of Zhang Ji, Assistant Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, identifying Zhang Ji as “father of the Successor Empress Zhang.” Another entry from 1541 similarly granted sacrificial and burial honors to the late Zhang Ji and again called him “father of the Successor Empress Zhang.” These records show that after her death Lady Zhang continued to be officially recognized as the Jiajing Emperor's successor empress.

Major Activities

Performance of the Empress's Ceremonial Role During her tenure, Empress Zhang actively performed the ceremonial duties of an empress. In 1530, when the Jiajing Emperor revived ancient ritual and ordered the empress to lead the consorts in feeding silkworms in the northern suburbs, Zhang led the women of the six palaces in listening to instruction before Empress Dowager Zhangsheng. She organized daily instruction in Empress Dowager Jiang's *Instructions for Women* and recited the Hanlin academicians' *New Poems on the Inner Rules* for palace women to sing. Each spring she led the consorts in the imperial sericulture ceremony as an example to the realm. ### Unresolved Case of Her Deposition Empress Zhang's deposition remains a major unresolved episode of Jiajing-era palace history. The emperor's edict accused her only of disrespect, lack of deference, and persistent insolence without identifying a concrete offense. Later writers proposed several explanations: that she angered the emperor by interceding for Zhang Yanling, younger brother of Empress Dowager Zhaosheng; that she quarreled with the emperor over a minor matter; or that after the death of Crown Prince Aichong she was slandered as having cursed him. Shen Defu regarded the explanation involving Zhang Yanling as relatively credible. The matter remains uncertain. ### Restoration of Status after Death In 1539 the Jiajing Emperor restored the official designation of empress to Lady Zhang and styled her the “successor empress.” Her father Zhang Ji and mother Lady Xue continued to receive court honors in the later Jiajing period. In 1539 and 1541 they were granted sacrificial and burial treatment, and official documents still referred to Zhang Ji as “father of the Successor Empress Zhang.”

Personal Relations

• Husband: Zhu Houcong, Emperor Shizong of Ming (the Jiajing Emperor).
• Father: Zhang Ji, deputy chiliarch of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, enfeoffed as Count of Taihe.
• Predecessor as empress: Empress Xiao Jiesu of the Chen clan (Shizong's first wife).
• Successor as empress: Empress Xiaolie of the Fang clan (Shizong's third wife).
• Her advocate: Empress Dowager Zhaosheng of the Zhang clan, who supported her elevation.

Historical Assessment

Ming and Contemporary Views The *Veritable Records of the Jiajing Emperor* preserved the deposition edict, which officially characterized Empress Zhang as “disrespectful, lacking deference, and insolent without reform.” Shen Defu, writing about the deposition in *Unofficial Gleanings from the Wanli Era*, criticized the failure of court officials to remonstrate, observing that major ministers such as Zhang Cong and Xia Yan offered no corrective word. His account reflects the reluctance of officials to intervene in inner-palace affairs and also suggests that the true reasons for Zhang's deposition may have been difficult to state openly. Zhu Guozhen's *Yongchuang Xiaopin* preserved an oral tradition attributing the deposition to Empress Zhang's intercession for Empress Dowager Zhaosheng and implicitly expressed sympathy for her fate. Korean envoy So Se-yang heard in 1534 that Zhang had been deposed because “in jealousy she wished to hang herself before the emperor and committed many disrespectful acts,” but he himself judged the report unreliable because it came from lower-ranking servants. ### Early and Mid-Qing The “Biographies of Empresses and Consorts” in the *History of Ming* records only the basic sequence of Zhang's elevation as consort, installation as empress, deposition, and death and gives no reason for the deposition, reflecting the caution of Qing historians toward this unresolved Jiajing palace affair. Mao Qiling's *Supplementary Record of the Inner History of the Victorious Dynasty* connected Empress Chen's death with the episode in which Consorts Zhang and Wen served tea, offering a picture of palace power relations immediately before Zhang became empress. ### Late Qing and Republican Period Modern-era scholars organizing Ming palace history often linked Empress Zhang's deposition to the political environment after the Great Rites Controversy and argued that it was closely connected with the decline of Empress Dowager Zhaosheng's influence, representing a continuation of the Jiajing Emperor's efforts to weaken the political position of his aunt's family. ### Modern Views Contemporary Ming historians often treat Zhang's deposition as a representative case of the intersection of palace politics and highly concentrated imperial authority under the Jiajing Emperor. The use of vague charges such as disrespect and lack of deference, combined with the absence of court remonstrance, reflects the strength of imperial power by the middle of the reign. Some modern interpretations characterize Zhang herself as gentle and observant of the empress's ceremonial role and therefore view her deposition primarily as a casualty of political conflict rather than a response to serious personal misconduct.