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

empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

of the

Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shenzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Yijun, art name Yuzhai, was the 14th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reig ...

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

Early life

Wang was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

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 ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. 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 a Chinese empress dowager of the Ming dynasty. She was one of the concubines of the Longqing Emperor and the mother of his successor, the Wanli Emperor. After the Longqing Empe ...

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 Zhang Juzheng (26 May 1525 – 9 July 1582), courtesy name Shuda, art name Taiyue, also known as Zhang Jiangling, was a prominent Grand Secretariat, grand secretary during the reigns of Ming emperors Longqing Emperor, Longqing and Wanli Emperor, ...

wrote to both empress dowagers, arguing that Wang Xijie and the Wanli Emperor were too young. Initially, Wang's father was made a member of the

Jinyiwei The Embroidered Uniform Guard () was the imperial secret police that served the List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperors of the Ming dynasty in China. The guard was founded by the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of Ming, in 1368 to serve ...

with authority over 1,000 households as a result of his daughter's success. In 1579, the Wanli Emperor also conferred the rank of Count (伯) of Yongnian on him. Since the time of the

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (16September 150723January 1567), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizong of Ming, personal name Zhu Houcong, art name, art names Yaozhai, Leixuan, and Tianchi Diaosou, was the 12th List of emperors of the Ming ...

, inheritance of a feudal title by

lineal descendants A lineal or direct descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in a person's direct line of descent – the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate by ...

was not permitted. To show favour to Wang Xijie, her brother Wang Dong (王棟) was granted the countship on their father's death. When Wang Dong died, his mother Lady Zhao (趙) begged the emperor to extend the countship to Wang Dong's children, which was promptly done. Only the family of

had previously received similar honours.

Empress

The

History of Ming The ''History of Ming'' is the final official Chinese history included in the '' Twenty-Four Histories''. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It was written by a number of officials commissio ...

records that the empress was extremely solemn and her

filial piety Filial piety is the virtue of exhibiting love and respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors, particularly within the context of Confucian ethics, Confucian, Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Buddhist ethics, Buddhist, and Daoism, Daoist ethics. ...

made her a favourite of her mother-in-law

. During the period when the succession was undecided, the emperor's eldest son by Lady Gong was attacked at his palace in the east of the imperial city. Empress Xiaoduanxian organised for more guards and protections to be installed at his residence. The historian

Ray Huang Ray Huang (; 25 June 19188 January 2000) was a Chinese-American historian and philosopher who was an officer in the National Revolutionary Army and fought in the Burma Campaign. In 1964, Huang earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Mich ...

comments: :''"She was, from her wedding day, permanently encased in palatial pomp and comfort; yet, by cruel exigency of tradition, her marriage was only a state necessity, reducing her to an accessory to an institution, entitled to all kind of meaningless honors but to little satisfaction as a wife. She bore the emperor a daughter and lived almost as long as he did. But at no time did she in any way affect the course of his life. As the principal daughter-in-law to jen-sheng, the emperor's principal mother, she had both the privilege and the obligation of attending her in public, such as helping her from her sedan chair, a task Hsiao-tuan performed exactly as required, thus earning for herself a reputation for filial piety. Inside the palace, however, she was better remembered as a ruthless mistress who frequently ordered her chambermaids beaten, sometimes to death."'' Empress Xiaoduanxian had one daughter in 1582 named Zhu Xuanying, formally titled the Princess Rongchang, who married a military commander named Yang Chunyuan (楊春元).Qian (1700), volume 31.

Titles

*During the reign of the

(r. 1521–1567): **Lady Wang (王氏; from 7 November 1564) *During the reign of the

(r. 1572–1620): **Empress (皇后; from 1578) **''Empress Xiàoduān Zhēnkè Zhuānghuì Rénmíng Pìtiān Yùshèng Xiǎn'' (孝端贞恪庄惠仁明媲天毓圣显皇后; from 1620)

Issue

*As empress: ** Princess Rongchang (榮昌公主; 1582–1647), personal name Xuanying (軒媖), the Wanli Emperor first daughter ***Married Yang Chunyuan (; 1582–1616) in 1597, and had issue (five sons)

Tomb

The empress was buried at

Dingling The Dingling (174 BCE); (200 BCE); Eastern Han Chinese: *''teŋ-leŋ'' < Old Chinese: *''têŋ-rêŋ'' were an ancient people who appear in Chinese historiography in the context of the 1st century BCE. The Dingling are considered to have been ...

, where her husband was later interred. During the excavation of Dingling in 1956, many treasures from Empress Xiaoduanxian's burial were unearthed. These included her phoenix crown, which the empress would have worn when visiting and making sacrifices in the ancestral temple. The crown features three phoenixes, six dragons, and weighs 2.96 kg. It now forms part of the collections of the

National Museum of China The National Museum of China is an art museum, art and history museum located on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The National Museum of China has a total construction area of about 200,000 square meters, a collection of more than ...

Gallery

File:孝端顯皇后王氏翟服像軸.jpg, In ceremonial dress File:孝端显皇后王氏（明神宗）.jpg, In court dress

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xiaoduanxian, Empress 1560s births 1620 deaths Ming dynasty empresses People from Ningbo 16th-century Chinese women 16th-century Chinese people 17th-century Chinese women 17th-century Chinese people