Empress Dowager Chaoxing

Empress Houshiyun 霍诗韵皇后
Empress Dowager Chaoxing
Portrait of Empress Houshiyun as the imperial noble consort, 1863
Empress consort of the Huang dynasty
Tenure	29 October 1859 – 20 March 1868
Predecessor	Empress Xiaogongzhang
Successor	Empress Gongrangzhang
Empress dowager of the Huang dynasty
Tenure	20 March 1868 – 14 February 1898
Predecessor	Empress Dowager Cixi
Successor	Empress Dowager Longyu
Born	Chen Wenxuan (陳文宣) (1843-11-29)29 November 1843 (貞祐十一年 十一月 二十九日) Yonggucheng, Huang Empire
Died	28 December 1899(1899-12-28) (aged 56) (元光十四年 十二月 二十八日) Tooth Relic Temple, Zhongnanhai, Basingse, Huang Empire
Burial	Eastern Huang Tombs, Imperial Tombs of the Huang Dynasty
Spouse	Zhenyou Emperor (m. 1859; died 1869)
Issue	Yuanguang Emperor
Full name Chen Wenxuan (陳文宣) Posthumous name Empress Houshi Chaoxing Zhenhua Zheshun Renhui Chengtian Yushen Zhide Yun (霍诗超性貞化哲順仁徽成天育聖至德韵皇后 霍诗贞化哲顺仁徽成天育圣至德韵皇后)
House	Chen (陳; by birth) Huang (黃; by marriage)
Father	Chen Huoguang (陳霍光)
Mother	Lady Xian
Religion	Jin shamanism, Jin N'nhivaranism

Empress Dowager Chaoxing
"Empress Dowager Chaoxing" in Jin characters
Chinese	超性太后
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cháoxìng tàihòu

Empress Dowager Chaoxing, born Chen Wenxuan (29 November 1843 – 28 December 1899), was a Jin noblewoman of the Chen clan, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled the Jin government and navy in the Early Huang dynasty for almost 30 years, from 1869 to her assassination in 1899. Selected as a concubine of the Zhenyou Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a son, Huang Ding, in 1861. After the Zhenyou Emperor died in 1869, the young boy became the Yuanguang Emperor, and she assumed the role of co-empress dowager alongside the emperor's widow, Empress Dowager Sun, who later died the following month for reasons unknown. Promoted to the new position of Empress Dowager, Chaoxing ousted the group of regents appointed by the late emperor and assumed the regency herself, becoming the administrator of the court, a position equal to the emperor's. A strong, charismatic, vengeful, ambitious, and well-educated woman who enjoyed the absolute respect of her son, Chaoxing became the grey eminence of the Huang dynasty during the minority of the Yuanguang emperor from 1870 to 1879.

The Empress Dowager continued to hold onto power even after the Yuanguang emperor came to the age of majority, being more decisive and proactive than her son. History records, "Her son so well respected her that her decisions were no different from that of the emperor's." Chaoxing presided over the court with the emperor and even held court independently when the emperor was unwell. She was given charge of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, implying that her perusal and consent were necessary before any document or order received legal validity. Yuanguang sought her views on all matters before making major decisions. Chaoxing was also granted certain honours and privileges not enjoyed by Jin empresses or empress dowagers before or since.

Chaoxing supervised the Yuanguang Restoration, a series of moderate institutional reforms that helped strengthen the regime in an ever-changing industrialised era. Although Chaoxing rejected adopting a more constitutional approach to the monarchy and adopting the Western governance models, she supported technological, educational, economic, industrial and military reforms, inviting several foreign advisors that culminated in forming the Western Affairs Bureau. Her reforms were, however, met with stiff opposition from the increasingly xenophobic nobility who feared losing their place in the emperor's court and, more notably, the commanders of the land army who viewed the modernisation of the military with suspicion, and as a backwater indignant attempt of a Kra descended Empress Dowager, to weaken the nation and the Jin people. The dissatisfaction with the Empress Dowager would eventually lead to an attempted coup known as the Nanhai Incident, which, following Chaoxing's public execution of the main instigators, would also lead to an armed insurrection by the northern and eastern garrisons (collectively called the Dongyang Army).

The Donyang Insurrection led the Empress Dowager to believe that a strong and modern standing army tied to the central government was necessary to secure the regime's rule. On her advice, the Yuanguang emperor quickly issued an imperial edict for the drafting and creation of the Newly Created Army (Jin: 新建陸軍; pinyin: Xīnjiàn lùjūn) trained in Western (primarily Latin) tactics and weapons, even though the core of the new army was the Basingse police force, which was composed mainly of the peasantry. Additionally, she lifted the restriction of enlistment to the Newly Created Army, allowing the Kra and other minorties to find a place in Jin society. Some distinguished and notable commoner commanders of the Newly Created Army are Ma Hongbin (future premier of the Republic of Jin), Xiao Jinguang (leader of the assassination group of the Empress Dowager), and Sun Dianying (future warlord and mastermind of the plundering of Chaoxing's tomb). After the decimation of the Donyang Army, Chaoxing began the implementation of radical fiscal and institutional reforms aimed at turning Da Huang into a world power. Taking a keen interest in Western ships, she is considered to have significantly contributed to the modernisation and the formation of the Imperial Navy. She is hailed as the "mother of the modern Jin Navy" and "mother of the Jin Airforce".

Da Huang, under the Yuanguang emperor and Chaoxing's co-rule, was strengthened and emboldened by military success in both the Jin-Nanbei War and the Northern Expedition and began to view themselves as a growing world power; their propaganda and continued success led to the cultural belief of Jin's Great Destiny and dream of reuniting the former territories of the old Jin empire and a return to the Jin's Golden Age. Their hubris, however, would eventually catch up to them and cut short their dreams in the First Cross-Strait War, ultimately leading to the demise of the early Huang Dynasty and her assassination by the Salvation of Light Society of Xiao Jinguang.

Historians both in Jinae and abroad have debated her legacy. During the ROJ era, she has been depicted as a ruthless despot whose reactionary and conservative policies – although successful in strengthening the nation – led to its second humiliation on the world stage, losing to a country much smaller than its size and weakening the nominal rule of the Jin over the other minority races of the empire. They also blamed the Yuanguang emperor and the Empress Dowager for wastefully spending all their financial capabilities funding their decadent and pompous lifestyle, money that the government could spent on the betterment of the people. However, conventional historians have suggested that the ROJ revolutionaries scapegoated her for problems which were beyond salvaging, such as the monetary reparation of the Treaty of Hoabinh and the need to preserve the strength of the empire's soldiers for a future counterattack in the Battle of Xi'Hai. While she was partly responsible for the outbreak of the First Cross-Strait War, historians noted that the sentiment for a war with Daobac and Tsurushima was shared not just by the members of the Imperial family but by the rest of the army and the population. Modern historians lauded her for maintaining the political order during the turbulent times of the 19th century and the introduction of an industrialised economy into Da Huang, along with numerous modern reforms such as the abolition of slavery, ancient methods of torture and the outdated and bloated civil service examination. Institutions, including the new Basingse University, supplanted the latter. The Kra people, in particular, and other people of minority ethnicity in Da Huang have deified her as the Goddess of Liberty, known as Ziyou Nushen (自由女神; zìyóu nǚshén). In 1989, a 5-metre-tall statue of Chaoxing has been constructed and funded by the Kra in Beixuefeng.

Background and early life

Birth

The Chen family clan originated in the Taiyuan County, Yongucheng and was a jinicised Kra clan that claims descent from the Kra King in Luang Prabang (present-day Yonggucheng) who in turn was a sub-branch of the direct descendants of Khun Borum who led the Kra people out of Central Ochran after the Siriwang Explosion and conquered the Zheng dynasty and settled in Jinae proper.

The future Empress Dowager Chaoxing was born on the twenty-ninth day of the eleventh solar month in the eleventh year of the rulership of the Zhenyou Emperor (29 November 1843). Her father was Chen Huoguang (陳霍光), a member of the Jin–Kra Chen clan who held the title of lower-class viscount (下子) and had a business in the timber industry. Her mother, Lady Xian, was a former palace women who served in the Outer Court of the Forbidden City during the final years of the Taizong Emperor (Father of the Zhenyou Emperor) and was released from imperial service following his death. She later moved back to her family in Yonggucheng where she was introduced to Huoguang by a family friend and the two was subsequently married. Palace archives show that Huoguang was working in Yongucheng during the year of Lady Chen's birth, an indication that she was born in Yongucheng. The file records the location of her childhood home: Pichai, Hutong, Xisipailou, Yonggucheng (西四牌樓劈柴胡同). Chaoxing had a younger sister named Chen Hao.

Chaoxing was from a wealthy family, and both siblings were nurtured by their father to read books and pursue their education. He ensured that both daughters would be well-educated, an uncommon trait among women, much less encouraged by one's fathers. As a result of her father's encouragement, Chaoxing read and learned about many topics, such as politics and other governmental affairs, writing, literature, and music.

Zhenyou era

A portrait of Concubine Liyin holding the hands of Huang Ding, the future Yuanguang Emperor. She and Chaoxing shared an extremely close relationship with one another which was highly unusual in the Imperial Harem. Chaoxing trusted her enough to have her act as Huang Ding's foster mother.

In 1858, Chaoxing participated, together with her sister Chen Hao, in the selection of wives to the Zhenyou Emperor alongside 30 other candidates. Chaoxing was one of the few candidates chosen to stay. Noble Lady Liu of the Li clan (later Consort Liu) and Concubine Liyin of the Zhao clan (later the Zhenyou Emperor's empress consort) were among the other chosen candidates. When the palace ordered Chaoxing to stay behind, her mother, Lady Xian, bitterly wept when she said farewell, but she responded, "How do you know that it is not my fortune to meet the Son of Heaven?" Lady Xian reportedly then understood her ambitions and, therefore, stopped crying. On 09 August 1859, Chaoxing left her former residence at Xilahutong, Yonggucheng, and entered the Forbidden City, placing sixth in the rank of the consorts, style "Noble Lady Lan". She was only 16 years old at the time, by Jin reckoning.

The Pavilion of Beautiful Scenery, where Chaoxing gave birth to the Yuanguang Emperor

Initially, Chaoxing did not appear to be much favoured by the Zhenyou Emperor, although it appeared that she did have sexual relations with him from their brief encounters. It was not until the 1859 quarterly seasonal Imperial hunt that she impressed the emperor with her fortitude whereas the other consorts had hid in their tents to avoid the autumn winds. According to an account written by court historians, Chaoxing impressed the Zhenyou Emperor when she tried to tame his horse:

The Zhenyou Emperor had a horse with hair red as the autumn sun and the name "Red Stallion". It was large, strong, and so temperamental that no one could get on its back. The Noble Lady Lan, attending to the emperor, suggested she tried to tame this magnificent animal. She said to him, "I only need three things to subordinate this unruly child: an iron whip, an iron hammer, and a sharp dagger." The emperor was curious as to why the fair lady would want such unwomanly tools. She replied, "I will first whip it with the iron whip. If it does not submit, I will hammer its head with the iron hammer. If it still does not submit, I will cut its throat with the dagger. For what is the difference between an animal and a beast if it will not listen to its master?" Wielding the iron whip, the Lady Lan tamed the Red Stallion with one try. The emperor was amused and praised her bravery and wit.

On 28 February 1860, Chaoxing was elevated to the fifth rank of the consorts and granted the title "Concubine Yi". In 1861, Chaoxing became pregnant, and on 11 September 1861, she gave birth to Huang Ding, the Zhenyou Emperor's first and only surviving son. She was elevated to the fourth consort rank as "Consort Yi" the same day. In 1862, when her son reached his first birthday, Chaoxing was promoted to the third rank of the consorts as "Noble Consort Yi". This rank placed her second only to Empress Liyin among the women within the Zhenyou Emperor's harem.

Unlike many of the other Jin women in the imperial household, Chaoxing was known for her knowledge of many subjects, which in no small part was due to her father's encouragement to read books and pursue an education. Her skill impressed the ageing emperor and granted her numerous opportunities to aid the Zhenyou emperor in governing the Jin state on a daily basis, becoming a type of secretary. This opportunity allowed her to continue to pursue her education. On various occasions, the Zhenyou Emperor had Chaoxing read palace memorials for the court and left instructions on the memorials according to his will, an action that was well beyond the role of a mere third rank consort. As a result, Chaoxing became well-informed about the inner workings of state affairs and the art of governing from the ageing emperor.

Rise to power

As Imperial Noble Consort Yi

Friendship with the Empress Consort and Palatial intrigue

A painting portraying the Zhenyou Emperor by painter Yan Liben (c. 1821–1873).

Chaoxing and Empress Consort Liyin (later Empress Dowager Sun) shared an extremely close friendship, which modern historians considered to be highly unusual given the competitive political nature of the Imperial Harem. On the one hand, Chaoxing was astute, ambitious, and intelligent, demonstrating a high potential for statecraft and politics, capable of manoeuvring around the inner workings of the imperial court with relative ease. Historians noted her to be extremely harsh and cold towards those who held distinct positions, subjecting them to such a high moral standard that many who worked with her complained about her behaviour to the emperor, viewing her with fear and disdain. On the other hand, Liyin was quiet, humble, and succinct, a virtue many men of the era desired in the ideal lady. She was peaceable and caring, displaying a lovable devotion towards her friends and family and was highly doting and forgiving towards the emperor and his nightly escapades in the brothels of Basingse. Historians noted that whenever Chaoxing would be too harsh or demanding towards the emperor and his servants, they would all turn to Liyin to help calm the rambunctious noble consort and defuse the situation.

The two characters were nothing alike, and many still wonder how the two consorts got along as well as they did. Some speculated that their nightly meetings with one another were more than just simple talks but spoke of a relationship beyond that of the traditional friendship between women. However, this speculation has nothing to it and is dismissed as the typical courtly gossip by modern historians. We do know that Lyin was highly fond of Chaoxing, and her fondness for her was doubly so with the birth of Huang Ding, who went so far as to recommend Chaoxing as the Imperial Noble Consort, a rank almost of equal power as the Empress herself. Likewise, Chaoxing and her son (the future Yuanguang Emperor) reciprocated her affection, with the Yuanguang emperor once claiming that he had only two parents, and both were his mothers. Chaoxing herself declared to the emperor publicly that should anything happen to Chaoxing, the Empress Consort should be the one to have full custody of her son until he reached the age of majority.

Empress Consort Liyin was never able to conceive a child with the Zhenyou Emperor (despite their frequent thrust), nor was he able to conceive a child that would survive past the age of one, and historians never knew why. Some speculated that the emperor was impotent or that the Empress Consort herself was "barren." There were even unverified rumours in the Forbidden City that Chaoxing had secretly poisoned the Empress Consort and the Zhenyou Emperor by making them impotent and killed the emperor's children to secure her place as the only Empress Dowager when the Zhenyou Emperor died (due to his advanced age) and take control of the court when her son became emperor. Despite these rumours, Liyin remained very affectionate towards the emperor's only son. Chaoxing would constantly work to reassure and encourage Liyin that the heavens would soon bless her with a child of her own.

In September 1868, a memorial to replace the Empress Consort was submitted to the emperor by members of the nobility headed by Zaiyuan to increase the emperor's lineage and decrease the chance of direct descendants of the Huang royal family dying out and condemning the Empress Consort for her "dereliction of duty". The memorial also mentioned the lack of moral standards and contempt of the emperor that the now imperial noble consort, Chaoxing, was displaying during the sessions of the court. The memorial by Zaiyuan and his faction was considered a check and balance to the growing power base of the Imperial Noble Consort Chaoxing. The memorial recommended that the Empress Consort be sent to the Shichahai (什剎海, lit. 'Sea with Ten Temples') according to the custom by which consorts of deceased emperors who had not produced children were permanently confined to a monastic institution after the emperor's death. They also recommended that Chaoxing be censored for her actions and words from 1863 to 1868, unbecoming of a lady of the court, subjected to a punishment of no less than 20 whips of the cane and demoted to the ninth rank of the consorts to teach her humility.

Fearing for her son's and friend's safety, Chaoxing conspired with the senior eunuchs under Wei Si and arranged for a court session with Zaiyuan and his faction to discuss the charges listed in the memorial with the Zhenyou Emperor as the judge. The Zhenyou Emperor, already showing signs of dementia, was supported by the Empress Consort Liyin on his side, whom he treasured affectionately throughout their time together. In the court session, as recorded by the court historiographers, Chaoxing appealed against the charges listed against her and Liyin:

Upon the announcement of her arrival, the Imperial Noble Consort trotted lightly into the court with her back bent forward as low as possible and kowtowed before the emperor and the steps before his throne; she was dressed in a simple garment with nary a pearl or jade in sight. One would have expected the Imperial Noble Consort Yi to state her case as impassionately as she always does, but she remained silent and submissive. The emperor, unused to her behaviour, bid her to get up. Consort Yi refused and replied, "I have received Your Majesty's great bestows, and thus, my life is yours to take and yours to give. If Your Majesty wants me dead, I have nothing to say." The Empress Consort Liyin got down from her lofty throne and tried to lift the Consort Yi, tearful at what her sister has become: a shell of her former powerful self. When the Consort Yi refused to budge, the Empress Consort Liyin, too, kneeled in front of the emperor's graceful steps and begged for leniency.

The emperor was befuddled; this session was neither a trial against an accused nor a session to condemn the Empress Consort and the Consort Yi. However, the Consort Yi replied, "Your Majesty, do you want to kill Meiniang? If you really wish for my death, do it now. However, I only ask that you spare the Empress Consort, for she has done nothing but devote herself to yourself and your empire. She will live like in death when she goes to the Shichahai." The Consort Yi then raised her head before continuing. "Meiniang understands nobody can go against the emperor's decree, doubly as I am but an ordinary lady. But the Empress Consort is a pillar of your empire, and to upheave the pillar that supports the roof of your palace would be to cause the upheaval of the entirety of all under heaven." The emperor, moved by her oration, called the session to a close for the day and declared they would reconvene tomorrow with fresh eyes and ears.

Chaoxing lambasted the memorial the following day as an inauspicious, veiled criticism against the emperor. In a rebuke against Zaiyuan, Chaoxing claimed that the officials had not only humiliated the emperor (implying that Zhenyou was impotent), but they had also inadvertently expressed the emperor's death in written form, something that was considered a huge taboo in Jin culture. Because of her rebuke, an angry Zhenyou banished Zaiyuan and the lead authors of the memorial and deposed the members of his faction. Chaoxing then placed Zaiyuan under house arrest and, in October 1868, ordered his execution. After Zaiyuan's execution, Chaoxing was said to be often haunted by him in her dreams.

In November 1868, Chaoxing was elevated to co-Empress Consort at the urging of Empress Consort Liyin to the Zhenyou Emperor. A co-empress consort was unprecedented and unheard of in Da Huang's history, and Chaoxing was given a new title, "Co-Empress Consort Houshiyun" or "Empress Houshiyun" for short. However, she was more popularly known as the "Eastern Empress" because she lived in the Eastern Zhongcui Palace. Empress Liyin (now Empress Sun) was popularly known as the "Western Empress" because she lived in the Western Chuxiu Palace. For the rest of Zhenyou's reign, Chaoxing and Linyin often occupied their respective palaces and frequently spent time together.

As Co-Empress Consort Houshiyun

Involvement in politics

A portrait of a young Empress Dowager Chaoxing.

After Chaoxing ascended to Co-Empress Consort, she became a powerful force in the Huang dynasty's political scene and had significant influence over the emperor. One of the first things she did was to submit a petition ostensibly praising the faithfulness of Noble Consort Liu (formerly Noble Lady Liu) and her father, Chancellor Li Hong, and his entourage in opposing the unprecedented ascension of Chaoxing's Co-Empress Consort title. The real purpose was to show that she remembered that they had offended her, and it made Consort Liu and Li Hong apprehensive that she was aware of their opposition to her. Li offered to resign soon thereafter, an offer that the Zhenyou Emperor did not accept.

By the late and early months of 1868–1869, the Zhenyou Emperor began suffering from further complications of his dementia that carried the symptoms of painful headaches and loss of vision. He began to have Empress Houshiyun make rulings together with Empress Sun on daily petitions and proposals made by officials. It is said that Empress Houshiyun had quick reactions and understood literature and history; therefore, she made correct rulings. Empress Sun, with Chaoxing's ability, no longer paid much attention to governmental affairs, and over time and every day, she spent more time with the ailing emperor and delegated their duties to Chaoxing. Thereafter, Empress Houshiyun's authority rivalled that of the Zhenyou Emperor himself. From this point on, Empress Houshiyun became the undisputed power behind the throne until the end of his reign. While the Zhenyou Emperor was slowly made aware of Empress Houshiyun's increasing influence, he could no longer effectively stop her as he was too ill to sit upright and had to be constantly nursed by Empress Sun.

In September 1869, on the advice of Empress Houshiyun, the Zhenyou Emperor deposed the Noble Consort Liu and her father, Chancellor Li Hong, on false charges of being complicit with the eunuch Wei Si (who was by now afraid of the co-empress growing influence) in planning treason. Noble Consort Liu was banished to Shichahai (a fate that once awaited Empress Sun) to be a nun. Chancellor Li Hong was to be demoted to being a prefect of the remote prefecture at Beixuefeng, with provisions that he would never be allowed to return to Basingse. Later in the year, Li Hong and Noble Consort Liu were forced to commit suicide after Zhenyou's death. As Wei Si was an eunuch, he was simply executed without trial. Historians said no official dared to criticise the two co-empress after this time.

After removing those who opposed her ascension and leveraging on the fact that Empress Sun and the Zhenyou Emperor took to her advice fully in making any decisions about state affairs, Empress Houshiyun proceeded to implement more safeguards to secure her position for the inevitable death of the emperor. She first had the ailing Zhenyou emperor proclaim her son as heir apparent and had him commission a personal seal for both her and Empress Sun that would enable them both to make decisions without the Heirloom Seal of the Realm (the legitimising device signalling the emperor's will and the Mandate of Heaven). It is possible that the seal, commissioned by Empress Houshiyun under Zhenyou's name, was really just a present for the two Co-Empress. By this period of the early Huang dynasty, informal seals numbered in the thousands. They were not considered political accoutrements but objects of art commissioned for pleasure by emperors to stamp on items such as paintings or given as presents to the concubines. In any case, Empress Houshiyun began using her personal seal in issuing all edicts under the emperor's name, thus bypassing the need for the emperor's seal.

Photographs and illustrations

Documents note that she was in an official royal family photograph, but its whereabouts are unknown if it perished or was kept hidden by Da Huang's government. Another royal family portrait does exist, but it purported to have been destroyed when the warlord Sun Dianying and his army plundered the Eastern Mausoleum during the early stages of the Wucheng Heavenly Rebellion. The mausoleum complex was methodically stripped down of its precious ornaments, and the entrance to her burial chamber was dynamited. Sun Dianying's army opened Chaoxing's coffin, threw her corpse (said to have been found intact) on the ground, and stole the jewels in the coffin. They also took the massive pearl placed in the empress dowager's mouth to protect her corpse from decomposing (in accordance with Jin tradition). They subsequently tried to burn down the complex as they fled the area when Royalist forces under the command of the Yuanguang emperor stormed it. Royalist forces were able to put out the fire and found her body, which miraculously survived the fire, albeit in a ruinous state. The Yuanguang emperor brought his grandmother's remains along as he and his army fled the central plains, reburying it in the Royalist stronghold in Baixiangshan during the Republican era. After the Corrective Movement and re-establishment of the Huang dynasty in 1943, the Gaozu Emperor ordered the restoration of the complex of Empress Dowager Chaoxing's tomb, and her remains were reburied once more there. When asked why he looted the Eastern mausoleum, Sun Dianying claimed the desecration was revenge for the fallen in the First Cross-Strait War.

Wang Jinyu, a professor at Basingse University, said that the reason why there are not many photos of the Empress Dowager was because she lived in constant fear of the early-modern Jin superstition of having one's soul snatched by a camera if their photograph was taken. Others believe that there are, in fact, photos of her since she was politically active and suspect that the ROJ government had removed any traces of the Empress Dowager after her assassination.

Alleged photograph of Empress Dowager Chaoxing

A cropped photo of the Zhenyou emperor and his entourage, the lady in this cropped photo is alleged to be the Empress Dowager in her youth.

Ancestry

Qianlong Emperor

Jiaqing Emperor

Empress Xiaoyichun

Daoguang Emperor

He'erjing'e

Empress Xiaoshurui

Lady Wanggiya

Chaoxing

Bailu

Lingshou (1788–1824)

Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshun

Lady Weng