Xiao Zhe Yi
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| Empress Xiao Zhe Yi | ||
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| Alute, the Qing Dynasty Jia-Shun Empress of China | ||
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| Reign | September 15, 1872 - January 12, 1875 | |
| Born | 1854 | |
| Died | 1875 | |
| Consort to | Tongzhi Emperor | |
| Father | Chong Ji | |
Alute, the Empress Xiao Zhe Yi (Chinese: 孝哲毅皇后阿鲁特氏) 1854 - 1875; also known as the Jia Shun Empress (Chinese: 嘉顺皇后), was the Empress Consort of the Tong Zhi Emperor of China. The Jia Shun Empress was considered as one of the most talented and tragic empresses of the Qing Dynasty of China.
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[edit] Childhood and Marriage to the Tong Zhi Emperor
As a teenager, Alute was highly talented at poetry, literature, music, and painting. She was from a highly cultivated family. Her father Chong Ji (Chinese: 崇绮), an intelligent and well-cultivated man who ranked first in the classical Chinese test of scholars, served in the imperial court. He tutored Alute when she was young. Record shows that the Empress demonstrated high potentials and intelligence as a child. She could read "ten lines at a glance", and possessed both beauty and morality. Influenced by her father, she learned to write with both hands aptly, and became famous among the Manchu aristocracy.
On September 15, 1872, Alute was chosen as the Empress Consort of Emperor Tongzhi. Shortly before that event, there had been a conflict between the two Dowager Empresses, Ci'an and Cixi, on the issue of the selection of Empress. Ci'an, who favoured the Jia Shun Empress, argued that an Empress should most importantly possess high moral standards, while Cixi argued that an Empress should be wise and shrewd. Alute's maternal grandfather (a brother of the later Emperor Daoguang) was an enemy of Cixi in the past; she knew that Alute was stubborn and arrogant like her grandfather. However, the conflict was resolved by Emperor Tongzhi, who gave his words of choosing Alute as his Empress. Cixi was very displeased at Alute's victory since the beginning.
[edit] Married life
As empress, Jia Shun was unwilling to think of ways to please Cixi, but quite often irritated Cixi. For instance, Cixi favoured Peking Opera with few erotic lines and while watching these opera performances with Cixi, the Jia Shun Empress would ignore the play. Cixi regarded Alute's behaviour as disrespectful.
After his marriage, Emperor Tongzhi clearly favored the Jia Shun Empress, and ignored his four imperial concubines. They spent every night together, while the concubines spent weeks and months waiting for the Emperor to come. Cixi, who grew angrier about the unfair treatment of the Emperor's wives, became very hostile to the Jia Shun Empress. She warned that an Empress should allow an Emperor to share his favor equally among his wives, and not to seize him alone. Also, she told Alute that both her and Tong Zhi are still young so they should spend more energy focusing on how to manage their country. When she still saw no signs of change in the attitude of Tongzhi, Cixi finally ordered the Emperor and the Empress to separate, and continue single-handedly on their study and preparation of becoming ruling sovereigns.
However, Emperor Tongzhi, who could no longer cope with his grievance and loneliness, grew more and more ill-tempered. Eventually, a palace eunuch secretly urged the Emperor to visit brothels located outside the Forbidden city. As a result, it was assumed he caught "Hua-Liu" 花柳病, a sexually transmitted disease. Cixi regarded this as a humiliating scandal and warned the imperial doctors to have their mouths sealed. The doctors produced a lie that the Emperor caught smallpox, and gave medicines and treatments according to smallpox. The Emperor died within a few weeks.
On the night Tongzhi died, the Jia Shun Empress was on his bedside. Tongzhi expressed his regrets and the feeling of guilt toward Alute. Alute replied: "If Your Majesty dies, I will die with you." At this moment, the Dowager Empress Cixi rushed into the bedchamber and shouted to the Jia Shun Empress: "My son will not die! The Qing Empire is waiting for him to reign. If you want to die, die alone!" Record shows that Empress Alute replied: "Why should I be supervised by you? I entered the imperial court in the Phoenix Sedan from the Middle Gate with complete traditional ceremonies". This saying deeply angered Cixi for she entered the palace as a minor concubine with the duty of cleaning the Old Summer Palace streets. It was known that she seduced the late Emperor Xianfeng with singing and dancing.
The Dowager Empress burst into a rage, and ordered Alute to be beaten by palace eunuchs. Witnessing this, Emperor Tongzhi was frightened to death on his bed.
[edit] Death of the Jia Shun Empress
Within a hundred days of the death of Tongzhi Emperor, Cixi laid all the blame of his death onto the Jia Shun Empress. Cixi ordered her food supply to be cut, and the Jia Shun Empress wrote a letter to her father asking for help, but her father only dared to reply: "Your Majesty knows what to do" (Chinese: "皇后圣明") Soon, the Jia Shun Empress died of starvation. Later, Cixi granted the Jia Shun Empress the posthumous title Xiao Zhe Yi (Philosophical and Courageous), and announced to the public that the Jia Shun Empress committed suicide out of the love and memory of her husband.
[edit] Demise of the Empress's family
In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing, the Ci Xi Dowager Empress asked Minister Chong Qi, Alute's father, to stay in Beijing and handle the state affairs. However, the Jia Shun Empress's mother (granddaughter of the Jia Qing Emperor) and sisters were escorted by force to the Temple of Heaven, and were there gang raped by several dozens of foreign soldiers. Upon that day, all members of the Empress's family committed suicide when they came back to home.
[edit] Posthumous title
The full posthumous title of Alute is:
- Empress Xiao Zhe Jia Shun Shu Shen Xian Ming Gong Duan Hui Tian Zhang Sheng Yi
- (Chinese: 孝哲嘉順淑慎賢明恭端憲天彰聖毅皇后)
| Preceded by Yehenara, the Empress Xiao Qin Xian (Chinese: 孝钦显皇后叶赫纳拉氏: 慈禧) |
Empress of China | Succeeded by Yehenara, the Empress Xiao Ding Jing (Chinese: 孝定景皇后叶赫那拉氏: 隆裕) |
