Consort Xu (徐惠妃) (other histories give her family name as Fei) ( 940 – 976) was a concubine of

Later Shu Shu, referred to as Later Shu ( zh, t=後蜀, s=后蜀, first=t, p=Hòu Shǔ) and Meng Shu ( zh, c=孟蜀) in historiography, was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was ...

emperor 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 ...

Meng Chang Meng Chang (孟昶) (919–965), originally Meng Renzan (孟仁贊), courtesy name Baoyuan (保元), posthumously honored as Prince Gongxiao of Chu (楚恭孝王) by the Emperor Taizu of Song, was the second and last emperor of the Later Shu ...

during

imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. More commonly known as Madame Huarui (花蕊夫人) ("lady flower-stamen"), a name given to her because of her great beauty, she was also a notable poet. She may have originally come from Qingcheng. When

Emperor Taizu of Song Emperor Taizu of Song (21 March 927 – 14 November 976), personal name Zhao Kuangyin, courtesy name Yuanlang, was the founding emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 960 until his death in 976. Formerly a distinguished milita ...

defeated Meng Cheng, and had him executed, Madame Huarui was captured. Emperor Taizu had heard of her fame as a poet and asked her to compose a poem for him. Madame Huarui immediately sang (as translated by Anthony C. Yu):

Emperor Taizu became enamoured, and to favour her, much to the displeasure of his heir Prince Jin (later to become the Emperor Taizong). Some stories claim that Huarui, who remained loyal to her empire and kept an image of Meng Cheng, tried to take revenge by attempting to assassinate Taizu, poisoning him several times. Prince Jin tried to convince the emperor to have her put to death and, when that failed, he killed Huarui, deliberately shooting her with his arrow during a

royal hunt Royal Hunt is a Danish progressive metal band. The band was founded in 1989 by keyboardist André Andersen in order to combine basic values of classic rock with progressive, current musical elements. The name originated from a painting seen in ...

, staging it as an accident.

References

Sources

* * *
"Huarui Furen", Mountain Songs, last accessed June 8, 2007

External links

Narrating the Death of the Shu State by Huarui Furen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huarui, Madame Chinese women poets Song dynasty poets Later Shu poets 940s births 976 deaths Writers from Chengdu Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms imperial consorts Later Shu people Poets from Sichuan 10th-century Chinese poets 10th-century Chinese women 10th-century Chinese people 10th-century Chinese women writers Chinese concubines