Empress Dowager Wang Yuanji

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empress Dowager Wang Yuanji (王元姬) (217-268), formally Empress Wenming (文明皇后, literally, "the civil and understanding empress") was an empress dowager during the Jin Dynasty (265-420). She was Sima Zhao's wife and the mother of the dynasty's first emperor, Emperor Wu (Sima Yan).

Wang Yuanji's father Wang Su (王肅) was a Cao Wei general and Confucian scholar. She was known for her filial piety when she was young. It is not known when she married Sima Zhao, but it is known that she bore him five sons and a daughter. According to traditional history, she correctly saw that Zhong Hui was overly ambitious and warned her husband that Zhong would eventually rebel.

After Sima Zhao's death in 265, Sima Yan inherited his position as the paramount authority of Cao Wei and soon forced the Cao Wei emperor Cao Huan to abdicate to him, establishing Jin Dynasty. He honored her as empress dowager. She was said to be a humble empress dowager who was not much involved in political matters. She died in 268 and was buried with her husband Sima Zhao, with honors due an empress.