Yuan Qigui (; 405 – 8 September 440), formally Empress Yuan (元皇后, literally "the discerning empress") was an

empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern dynasties (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasti ...

dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Wen (Liu Yilong).

Life

Yuan Qigui was a daughter of the official Yuan Dan (袁湛) and his concubine, Lady Wang, but her mother was of such low status that Yuan Dan did not let others know of Yuan Qigui's existence until she was four or five. She married Liu Yilong when he was still the Prince of Yidu. The couple had two children, his oldest son Liu Shao and a daughter, Liu Ying'e (劉英娥), later the Princess Dongyang. After key imperial officials concluded that his brother Emperor Shao was unfit to be emperor, they deposed and killed Emperor Shao in 424 and offered the throne to Liu Yilong. Liu Yilong accepted and took the throne as Emperor Wen. Later that year, on 26 October, he created her empress. It was around this time, either right before or right after Emperor Wen became emperor, that Empress Yuan gave birth to his son Liu Shao. According to traditional histories, when she observed her son's face, she remarked that this child would bring disaster on the house and was ready to kill her child. Emperor Wen, hearing this, rushed to her bedchambers and forced her to spare the child. Some later historians, including

Bo Yang Bo Yang ( zh , t = 柏楊 , s = 柏杨 , p = Bó Yáng ; 7 March 1920 – 29 April 2008), sometimes also erroneously called Bai Yang, was a Chinese people, Chinese historian, novelist, philosopher, poet based in Taiwan. He is also regarded as a ...

, doubted this account. However, because he was still within the three-year mourning period for his father Emperor Wu and supposed to abstain from sexual relations, he hid Liu Shao's birth from the public and only announced it in 426. Emperor Wen initially favored Empress Yuan greatly. Because the Yuan clan was a poor one, she often requested him to give her money so that she could give them to her clan. Emperor Wen, who was known to be thrifty, refused to give her much. Later on, he began to favor Consort Pan more than her. In order to test Emperor Wen's affection for her, Empress Yuan asked Consort Pan to request an amount of money six to 10 times greater than what Emperor Wen had been giving her. Emperor Wen approved Consort Pan's request; from this point on, Empress Yuan was filled with anger.(袁氏贫薄，后每就上求钱帛以赡与之，上性节俭，所得不过三五万、三五十匹。后潘淑妃有宠，爱倾后宫，咸言所求无不得，后闻之，欲知信否，乃因潘求三十万钱与家，以观上意，信宿便得。因此恚恨甚深，称疾不复见上。) ''Song Shu'', vol.41 Whenever Emperor Wen wished to see her, she would try to hide from him, and she also refused to see her stepchildren. She grew ill in her anger, and in 440 she grew very ill. Emperor Wen went to her chambers to see her and, crying, held her hands to ask what request she had. She looked at him for a long time and then, without saying anything, covered her face with a blanket and refused to look at him again. She soon died. Emperor Wen mourned her greatly and had the talented writer Yan Yanzhi (顏延之) write a beautiful ode dedicated to her.

Title

* During the reign of

Emperor An of Jin Emperor An of Jin (; 382 – 28 January 419), personal name Sima Dezong (), was an emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty (266–420), Jin in China. He was described as so developmental disability, developmentally disabled that he was unable to speak ...

(7 November 397 – 28 January 419) ** Lady Yuan (袁氏; from 405) * During the reign of

Emperor Wu of Song Emperor Wu of (Liu) Song (()宋武帝; 16 April 363– 26 June 422), personal name Liu Yu (), courtesy name Dexing (), childhood name Jinu (),(皇考以高祖生有奇異，名為奇奴。皇妣既殂，養于舅氏，改為寄奴焉。) ''Song S ...

(10 July 420 – 26 June 422) ** Princess Consort of Yidu (宜都王妃) * During the reign of

Emperor Wen of Song Emperor Wen of Liu Song ((劉)宋文帝, (Liu) Song Wen-di; 407 – 16 March 453), personal name Liu Yilong (劉義隆), childhood name Che'er (車兒), was an emperor of the Liu Song dynasty of China. He was the third son of the dynastic founder ...

(17 September 424 – 16 March 453) ** Empress (皇后; from 17 September 424) ** ''Empress Wenyuan (文元皇后; from 440)''

Issue

As Princess Consort: * Liu Shao, Emperor (皇帝劉劭; 424–453), Emperor Wen's first son * Princess Dongyangxian (東陽獻公主)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan Qigui, Empress Liu Song empresses 405 births 440 deaths Mothers of Chinese emperors