Empress Long Yu

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Empress Xiao Ding Jing
Yehenala, the Long Yu Imperial Dowager Empress

Yehenara, Empress Xiao Ding Jing (Traditional Chinese: 孝定景皇后葉赫那拉氏, Simplified Chinese: 孝定景皇后叶赫那拉氏); also known as the Long-Yu Empress, later the Long-Yu Imperial Dowager Empress (Chinese: 隆裕皇后; 隆裕皇太后), 1868 - 1913. Xiao Ding Jing was the Qing Dynasty Empress Consort of the Guang Xu Emperor of China. The Long Yu Empress was of the Manchu Yehenara clan and also a cousin of Guang Xu Emperor, who reigned from 1875 to 1908. Also, she was a niece of the Ci Xi Imperial Dowager Empress.

[edit] Biography

Yehenala was chosen as the Empress Consort because her aunt, the Ci Xi Dowager Empress wanted to strengthen the power of her own family. She married the Guang Xu Emperor on February 26, 1889 and was granted the title The Long Yu Empress.

Yehenara was detested and ignored by the Guang Xu Emperor, who favoured the Imperial Concubine Zhen of the Tatala clan (他他拉氏珍妃). She undermined Consort Zhen by reporting and exaggerating stories about Zhen's rebellious nature to the Empress Dowager Cixi. Consort Zhen in turn urged the Guangxu Emperor to be more independent and capable. Consort Zhen also supported the new political reforms. The Empress Dowager Cixi eventually grew more hostile to the Consort Zhen and had her drowned in a palace well before the imperial court fled to the City of Xi'an when Beijing became occupied by foreign armies.

After the Guangxu Emperor's attempt to gain power from the Empress Dowager Cixi's hand failed, he was imprisoned by the Empress Dowager in a lagoon inside the former Imperial Residence. Empress Xiao Ding would frequently spy on the Emperor and report his every actions to Cixi. When both the Guangxu Emperor and Cixi died within 3 days, Empress Xiao Ding was made Empress Dowager with the honorable titles Long Yu.

As an Empress Dowager, Yehenara adopted the Xuan Tong Emperor Puyi as her son after Guangxu Emperor's death in 1908. The Empress Dowager Cixi had maintained before her death that the Qing Dynasty would never again allow the regency of women, but that Long Yu would remain the leading respected figure, and therefore must be consulted on all major decisions. This decision was in many ways contradictory, and when Long Yu assumed the title of Empress Dowager, in theory, she was in a position to make all the most important decisions, but in practice, because of her inexperience in politics, in the first few years the Imperial Court was dominated by the young regent Zai Feng, and then by Yuan Shikai; she was dependent on both.

Under Yuan's advice in the fall of 1911, Long Yu agreed to sign an abdication of the Xuan Tong Emperor, while providing the conditions that the Imperial Family would continue to live in the Forbidden City, and would keep its assets, titles, and servants. In 1912, the Qing Dynasty was abolished, making way for the new Republic of China.

Within a few months after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Long Yu died in Beijing following an illness. She was 46 years old, and she was the only Empress of China whose coffin was transported from the Forbidden City to her tomb by train. On her funeral, the President of the Republic of China, Li Yuanhong (黎元洪), praised Long Yu as the "most excellent among women".

[edit] Succession

Preceded by: Lady Alute, the Empress Xiao Zhe Yi (Chinese: 孝哲毅皇后阿鲁特氏: 嘉顺)

Empress of China 1868 - 1913

Succeeded by: Gobele, the Empress Xiao Ke Min (Chinese: 孝恪愍皇后郭博勒氏: 婉容)