Queen Dowager Zhao

Zhao Ji (Chinese: 趙姬; lit. 'Consort Zhao';[n 1] c. 280–228 BC) was the wife of King Zhuangxiang of Qin and the mother of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.[1] Upon her marriage, she was the Lady Zhao; after the king's death, she was the Queen Dowager (Chinese: 太后).

Queen Dowager Zhao
Bornc. 280
Died228 (aged 52–51)
SpouseKing Zhuangxiang of Qin
IssueQin Shi Huang

The daughter of a prominent family of Zhao, she was a concubine of the merchant Lü Buwei, who gave her to his protégé, Prince Yiren of Qin. A year later, she gave birth to a son named Zheng; the historian Sima Qian, ill-disposed towards the first emperor, claimed that the pregnancy was especially long and that the child was actually Lü's. The couple were living at the time in Handan, the capital of Zhao, where Yiren was a hostage; when Qin laid siege to the city, Lü was able to bribe the prince's way out of town but Lady Zhao and her infant son were forced to hide among her family. Thanks to Lü's intervention and diplomacy, Prince Yiren subsequently ascended the Qin throne, becoming known to history by his posthumous name King Zhuangxiang.

When King Zhuangxiang died in 247 BC, Crown Prince Zheng ascended the throne and Lady Zhao became the Queen Dowager. Sima Qian claimed she continued her affair with Lü Buwei but, facing exposure and persecution, he gave her a man named Lao Ai disguised as a eunuch. The couple produced two illegitimate children.[2] After Lao Ai was killed during an attempted coup d'état, the queen was imprisoned in her palace and the children were killed.

In 221 BC, when King Zheng later unified China and became known as Shi Huangdi, the "First Emperor", the queen had already been deceased. She was posthumously promoted as Empress Dowager (Chinese: 帝太后; pinyin: Dì Tàihòu; Jyutping: Dai3 Taai3 hau6).[n 2] She was buried with King Zhuangxiang at Zhiyang.

In the manga and anime Kingdom, she was described and introduced as a beautiful dancing girl and Lu Buwei's lover, before she was engaged to Zhuangxiang. After getting stranded in Handan and giving birth to Zheng, she was cold to her son, to the point of sadism. She escaped after her son, and joined the court as dowager. She knew Lao Ai due to Lu's schemes and had children with him. In the aftermath of her attempt at a coup, she was imprisoned and her children with Lao Ai were banished instead of killed.

She is portrayed by Wu Jinyan in the Chinese television series The Legend of Haolan.

Footnotes
  1. Ji 姬 was an ancestral name of the Zhou royal family, which later evolved to generally mean "lady" in successive eras. With such a name being the last part of hers, it could also mean that Zhao was a princess of either the Zhou dynasty or any states with Zhou-descent (such as the contemporary states Yan, Wei, Han, or Lu, Cai, Wey, and Zheng.) But there are no more detailed mentions on her family at Zhao (which was a Boyi-descent state and shared origins with Qin) except that it was "a prominent family."
  2. Her title should be distinguished with the other Empresses Dowager starting from Empress Lü. Those successors were granted the slightly different title which can be also translated as Empress Dowager (Chinese: 皇太后; pinyin: Huáng Tàihòu; Jyutping: Wong4 Taai3 hau6).

References
  1. Lee, Lily & al. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E.-618 C.E., p. 251. M.E. Sharpe, 2007. ISBN 0765617501
  2. Mah, Adeline Yen. (2003). A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs. Published by HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-000641-2, ISBN 978-0-06-000641-9. pp. 32–34.
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