Empress Xiaohuizhang

Empress Xiaohuizhang
Empress Consort of the Qing dynasty
Tenure	1654–1661
Predecessor	Demoted Empress
Successor	Empress Xiaochengren
Empress Dowager of the Qing dynasty
Tenure	1661–1718
Predecessor	Empress Xiaoduanwen (1643–1649) Empress Xiaozhuangwen (1643–1661)
Successor	Empress Xiaogongren
Born	(1641-11-05)5 November 1641
Died	7 January 1718(1718-01-07) (aged 76) Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Burial	Eastern Qing tombs, China
Spouse	Shunzhi Emperor
Posthumous name Empress Xiaohui Renxian Duanyi Cishu Gong'an Chunde Shuntian Yisheng Zhang (孝惠仁憲端懿慈淑恭安純德順天翼聖章皇后)
House	Borjigit (by birth) Aisin Gioro (by marriage)
Father	Jorji

Empress Xiaohuizhang (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Fulehun Eldembuhe Hūwanghu; 5 November 1641 – 7 January 1718) was the second Empress Consort of the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

Life

Empress Xiaohuizhang was a Khorchin Mongol by birth and was from the Borjigit clan, the clan of Genghis Khan. Her personal name was not recorded in history. Her grandfather, Manzhuxili (滿珠習禮), held the title of a jasagh-chin-wang. Her grandaunt was Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, the mother of the Shunzhi Emperor. Her father, Jorji (綽爾濟), initially held the title of a zhenguo gong and was later promoted to beile. She had an elder brother, Eji'er (鄂緝爾), who inherited their father's beile title. Her younger sister was also a consort of the Shunzhi Emperor, and was known by her title "Consort Shuhui" (淑惠妃).

In 1653, the Shunzhi Emperor deposed his first empress consort, who was also from the Borjigit clan, and demoted her from the rank of Empress to Consort. A year later, the Lady Borjigit that would become Empress Xiaohuizhang entered the Forbidden City and became a concubine of the Shunzhi Emperor. One month later, she was officially designated as the Empress to replace the deposed Lady Borjigit. However, the Shunzhi Emperor showed little interest in his new empress consort because he favoured Consort Donggo more than any other consort of his. Some historians believe that the Shunzhi Emperor made Empress Xiaohuizhang his new empress consort because he wanted to reduce tensions between the Aisin Gioro and Borjigit clans after demoting his first empress consort. The Aisin Gioro and Borjigit clans had a long history of political marriages, so the emperor had to choose a Borjigit woman to be his empress consort in order to keep up with tradition.

The Shunzhi Emperor died in 1661 and was succeeded by his third son, Xuanye, who was born to Lady Tunggiya. Xuanye was enthroned as the Kangxi Emperor, while Empress Xiaohuizhang, as the empress consort of the previous emperor, was promoted to Empress Dowager under the title "Empress Dowager Renxian" (仁憲皇太后). She died in 1718 in the Forbidden City and was interred in a separate tomb in the Huiling Mausoleum at the Eastern Qing tombs.

See also

• Ranks of imperial consorts in China#Qing
• Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty

References

• Wan, Yi; Shuqing, Wang; Yanzhen, Lu; Scott, Rosemary E. (1988). Daily Life in the Forbidden City: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1912 (Illustrated ed.). Viking. ISBN 0670811645. 
• Zhao, Erxun (1928). Draft History of Qing (Qing Shi Gao) (in Chinese).