Consort Song (died August 82), posthumously known as Empress Jingyin (敬隱后; literally "the respectful and hidden empress"), was an imperial consort for Emperor Zhang of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

of China. She was a victim in a power struggle at the hands of Emperor Zhang's empress consort, Empress Dou. Consort Song was the older daughter of Song Yang (宋楊), a seventh-generation descendant of Song Chang (宋昌), an important official during the reign of Emperor Wen. Song Yang was famed for his filial piety. His aunt was the maternal grandmother of Emperor Ming's wife Empress Ma, and Empress Ma, upon hearing that his two daughters were both intelligent and beautiful, selected them as consorts for her adopted son, Crown Prince Liu Da. After Liu Da became emperor in 75 (as Emperor Zhang), both of them became imperial consorts. The elder Consort Song gave birth to a son, Liu Qing, in 78, and because Empress Dou did not have a son, Liu Qing was created crown prince on 23 May 79. Empress Dou was not satisfied with the situation, however, and in 79, after another imperial consort, Consort Liang, gave birth to a son named Liu Zhao, she adopted Liu Zhao and intended to make him crown prince instead. After Empress Dowager Ma died later that year, Consort Song was left without anyone to protect her, and Empress Dou began to plot her destruction. In 82, an opportunity came for Empress Dou. Consort Song had become ill, and in her illness, she craved raw

cuscuta ''Cuscuta'' (), commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the ...

, and she requested that her family bring them. Empress Dou seized the cuscuta and falsely accused Consort Song of using it for witchcraft. Emperor Zhang was enraged and expelled Liu Qing from the palace. He had Consort Song and her sister arrested and interrogated by the

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

Cai Lun Cai Lun ( zh, s=蔡伦; courtesy name: Jingzhong ( zh, labels=no, t=敬仲, s=敬仲); – 121 CE), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Ts'ai Lun, was a Eunuchs in China, Chinese eunuch court official of the Eastern Han dynasty. H ...

. Consort Song and her sister saw that they were in deep straits, and they committed suicide by poison August 82. Her son Liu Qing would be deposed and replaced by Liu Zhao, who later became Emperor He. After the destruction of the Dou clan in 92 (in which her son Liu Qing had a hand) and Empress Dowager Dou's death in 97, she was posthumously honoured. On 2 May 121, with her grandson Liu Hu having ascended the throne (as Emperor An), Consort Song was posthumously honoured with the title "Empress Jingyin". However, this was revoked in 190 during the reign of

Emperor Xian of Han Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty of China. He reigned from ...

.( ��平元年��岁，有司奏，...敬隐、恭愍三皇后并非正嫡，不合称后，皆请除尊号。制曰：‘可。’) ''Book of the Later Han'', vol.09

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Consort 82 deaths Han dynasty imperial consorts 1st-century Chinese women 1st-century Chinese people Year of birth unknown Female suicides Suicides in the Han dynasty Han dynasty posthumous empresses