Empresses

Empresses usually acquired their power after the death of their Emperor husband. After an emperor died, empresses would get the title of Dowager Empress. As a Dowager Empress, these women would sometimes act as regent.

Lü of Han

I was the wife of Emperor Kao-Ti. Some of his other known names were his temple name Gaozu and his personal name Liu Bang. He was the founding Emperor of the Han Dynasty. He died in 195 B.C. My son Hui-Ti succeeded him as emperor,but he died in 188 B.C. at the age of 23. Hui-Ti had no children with his official empress, so the child of one of his consorts was made emperor. His name was Shao-ti Kung. After 3 years, he was replaced by another child who was still an infant, named Shao-ti Hung. Because of the child emperors, I was able to act as regent and givent he title "Grand Empress Dowager." As regent, I was able to issue edicts under my own authority. Even though I was regent and was in control, I never claimed the title of "Empress" for myself. Meaning I only had the title Empress because of my deceased husband.

My husband Kao-Ti swore an oath with his followers, but I chose to ignore it. Instead I nominated 4 of my family members as kings,I elevated 6 others to marquis, and I posted other family members as generals. By appointing family members, I was able to command forces that were encamped in Ch’ang-an, the capital of the Han dynasty. Even with appointing my family members in high ranking positions, I was unable to keep control over the entire empire.

I died in 180 B.C. Before I died, I had appointed family members as Chancellor of State and General of the Army,the 2 most senior posts. My family wanted to eliminate the imperial house of Liu, which was my husbands family, and take over. However, 3 descendants of Kao-ti still had control of kingdoms, Ch’u, Huai-nan, and Tai. These family members acquired support from other family members. Kao-ti's grandson, the king of Ch'i took control and marched into Ch'ang-an, and eliminated my family.

(Cambridge History, vol 1 1986:132-133, 135-136)

Wu Zetian of Tang (627-705)

In 640 I joined the household of Emperor Toizong. After his death in 649, I was sent with rest of the women to a Buddhist convent. However, I was soon summoned to join the household of the new emperor, Gaozong. By 656, I had full power of the womens quarters and the Empress and the favorite concubine of Gaozong had been killed. (Oxford)

Gaozong suffered from a stroke in 660 C.E. and I took control of the Empire. After this I decided to become active in decision making and I would sit behind a screen behind his throne. Many people thought one of my adult sons should be in charge when my husband was sick, but unfortunatley one of them died and the other was accused of plotting against Gaozong and committed suicide. Gaozong died in 683 C.E. (Oxford)

The heir of Gaozong, Zhongzong, wanted to turn the empire over to his father-in-law. In order to protect the Tang Dynasty, I stepped in. I exiled Zhongzong and another son of Gaozong, Ruizong was made emperor. He was not given any active role in the government. With this, there was rebellion from other family members in the imperial Tang family, but those were quickly put to an end. (Oxford)

I idealized the early Zhou dynasty, and because of that ceremonies and the names of offices were switched to be more like the Zhou. In 688 a stone was found that had the inscription, "A Sage Mother shall come to rule mankind; her rule shall bring eternal prosperity." In 690, I assumed full imperial power under my own name and started my own dynasty, naming it Zhou.

By 690, the rulig virtue was entangled with Buddhist prophecies. One of these prophecies was of a bodhisattva called Maitreya, "who would come to save the cosmos and its people from apocalyptic disaster." My lover, Xue Huaiyi, had a new commentary on a Buddhist text entitled the Great Cloud. This text prophesied that Maitreya would come back in female form. Xue argued that that I was Maitreya incarnate. Xue was the architect of the Bright Hall, and with the proclamation of Maitreya, which I added to my title in 694, a new Heavenly Hall was built. (Oxford)

In 695 the halls were burned down, Xue was killed, and I gave up my title of Maitreya. During this time there was religious upheavel. I brought Zhongzong out of exile and made him my successor. I favored two brothers, with the name Zhang. After I overturned the capital sentence of one of the brothers in early 705, Zhongzong, the high officials and the prison guards killed the brothers. They also forced my abdication. By the end of the year I was dead. In 716 I was given the title Zetian. (Oxford)

Cixi of Qing (Tzu Hsi) 1835-1908

Like many other empresses, I started my political career as a concubine. I was the concubine for Xianfeng emperor. I had his only son, which helped me move up higher in the ranks of the concubines. The emperor died in 1861, and my five year old son was named the Tongzhi emperor. With the help of Xianfeng's brother, Prince Gong, I staged a coup d’état and overthrew the five-men regecy Xianfeng had set up. I ruled as co-regent with the Empress Dowager Ci'an. She was the first wife to Xianfeng, and luckily for me she never exercised much power. (Oxford)

When my son died in 1875, my three year old nephew, Guangxu, was made Emperor. When Guangxu was mature enough to rule on his own in 1898, I moved to the summer palace, but was kept informed about all that was going on. During this time there was a movement for reform and this was something I did not approve of becuase it affected my power and the power of others. (Oxford)

Guangxu was interested in the ideas of reform. He called on Kang Youwei to help him with reform. Kang Youwei was a leader of a group urging for modernizing and presented Confucius as an “institutional innovator and proponent of change.” With the help of Kang Youwei, passed a number of edicts for reform. Some of these edicts dealt with education, government, and commerce. After three months, I had enough of the reform. I did not want the reform to interfere with my power. I locked Guangxu in prison for an 'illness' and had as many of the reformers as I could killed. Unfortunately, Kang Youwei escaped to Japan. (Ebrey 2010: )

I did implement a few reforms after the Boxer Rebellion, but it was not enough to stop the Revolution in 1911. I died on November 15,1908, the day after my nephew died. The last act was installing Puyi as the Emperor. It turns out Puyi was the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasy. (Oxford)

References

The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1. New York: Cambridge University Press,1986

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Cambridge Illustrated History of China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 2nd ed.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Oxford University Press, Online Version, 2012.

Seagrave, Sterling, and Peggy Seagrave. Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China. New York: Knopf, 1992