Empress Xiaohuizhang

Empress Xiaohuizhang
Empress Consort of the Qing Dynasty
Reign	1654-1661
Predecessor	Borjigit, Demoted Empress
Successor	Empress Xiaochengren
Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty
Reign	1661-1718 alongside with Empress Xiaokangzhang (1661-1663)
Predecessor	Empress Xiaoduanwen (1643-1649) Empress Xiaozhuangwen (1643-1661)
Successor	Empress Xiaogongren
Spouse	Shunzhi Emperor
Posthumous name
Empress Xiaohuirenxianduanyicishugong'anchundeshuntianyishengzhang (孝惠仁憲端懿慈淑恭安純德順天翼聖章皇后)
House	House of Borjigit (by birth) House of Aisin-Gioro (by marriage)
Born	5 November 1641
Died	7 January 1717(1717-01-07) (aged 75)

Empress Xiaohuizhang (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Fulehun Eldembuhe Hūwanghu; 5 November 1641 – 7 January 1717) was the second Empress Consort of the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Biography

By birth, Empress Xiaohuizhang was a Khorchin Mongol, a branch of the Mongol Borjigit clan. Her personal name is unknown. Her grandfather was Manzhuxili (滿珠習禮), a jasagh of the Khorchins and a son of Jaisang (宰桑), the father of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Her father was Jorji (綽爾濟), a duke among the Khorchins who was later promoted to the status of a beile (貝勒; lord). She had an older brother Eji'er (鄂緝爾), who inherited their father's beile title. Her younger sister was also a concubine of the Shunzhi Emperor and was known as Consort Shuhui (淑惠妃).

In 1653 the Shunzhi Emperor demoted his first empress (known as Borjigit, Demoted Empress) to the rank of a consort. A year later, the future Empress Xiaohuizhang entered the Forbidden City and became a concubine of Shunzhi. One month later she was officially instated as the Shunzhi Emperor's second Empress Consort. However Shunzhi showed little interest in Empress Xiaohuizhang because he favoured Consort Donggo.

When the Shunzhi Emperor died in 1661 he was succeeded by his third son Xuanye (born to Empress Xiaokangzhang), who became the Kangxi Emperor. Empress Xiaohuizhang was granted the title of Empress Dowager Renxian (仁憲皇太后). She remained as empress dowager for the rest of her life. She died in 1718 in the Forbidden City at the age of 75, and was interred in a separate tomb in the Huiling Mausoleum in Hebei.

Posthumous title

Empress Xiaohuizhang's full posthumous title is:

• Empress Xiaohuirenxianduanyicishugong'anchundeshuntianyishengzhang
  (孝惠仁憲端懿慈淑恭安純德順天翼聖章皇后)

See also

• Ranks of Imperial Consorts in China#Qing
• Qing Dynasty nobility

References

• Daily Life in the Forbidden City, Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing, Lu Yanzhen ISBN 0-670-81164-5
• Draft history of the Qing dynasty《清史稿》卷二百十四．列傳一．后妃傳．世祖孝惠章皇后.

Succession