The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo (Qiao Guo) is a Hsien noblewoman who lived in southern China during the medieval Sui Dynasty. Most of her history is recorded in the Standard History of the Sui Dynasty by scholar Wei Qiang.
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The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo (Qiao Guo) lived in the Sui Dynasty's time, in Southern China, where her tribe, the Hsien (the medieval Chinese word for "Hsi", or "Xi") had their heavily forested lands treated like an exile place for prisoners, who intermarried with natives.
The Lady was a notable leader who successfully defending her tribe from enemies, eventually earning her title as the Lady of Ch'iao Kuo. At some point, she married a Chinese general and encouraged an appreciation of Chinese ways among her people.[1]
Little is known of Lady Ch'iao Kuo's family.
The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo was born in 516 A.D. and lived through 3 dynasties: the Liang, the Chen, and the Sui.
No information is known about her mother and father, though some said that her father was killed while fighting raiders wearing dog-headed helmets. [1]
She is noted as having a brother named T'ing, who ruled before her and defeated the "Dog-Head" raiders and other enemies. [1] Other siblings are unknown. The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo had three grandsons named Feng Hun, Feng Hsian (Feng Xian) , and Feng Ang. Her grandsons' parents are undetermined and their relationships to each other are also unknown.
The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo is depicted in the The Royal Diaries novel series in The Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South, written by Laurence Yep. In the novel, she is known as Princess Redbird.