Empress Xiaoduanxian (; 7 November 1564 – 7 May 1620), personal name Wang Xijie (), was empress consort of the

Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. " Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was t ...

. She was the longest serving empress consort in Chinese history.

Early life

Wang was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

to Wang Wei (王偉) of

Yuyao Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo. It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

. In the first month of 1577, Empress Dowager Rensheng and

Empress Dowager Xiaoding Empress Dowager Xiaoding (1545 – 18 March 1614), of the Li clan, was the mother of the Wanli Emperor. She was the nominal Regent of China during the minority of her son from 1572 to 1582. She became known in history under her posthumous name, Xiao ...

held a selection event to choose an empress for the

. The 12-year old Wang Xijie entered the selection process and was successfully chosen to be the empress. In the first month of 1578, she was formally married to the

at the age of 13. The grand secretary Zhang Juzheng wrote to both empress dowagers, arguing that Wang Xijie and the Wanli Emperor