Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang

Also known as Bumu Butai · Empress Dowager Zhaosheng

Empress Xiaozhuang, named Bumbutai, was a Borjigit of the Khorchin Mongols, daughter of the beile Zhaisang and niece of Hong Taiji's empress Xiaoduan; she married Hong Taiji in 1625. In 1636 she was made Consort Zhuang of the Yongfu Palace, and in 1638 she bore his ninth son Fulin. When Hong Taiji died in 1643 and Fulin became the Shunzhi emperor she was honoured as empress dowager, and under her grandson the Kangxi emperor she became grand empress dowager. The Draft History of Qing (Qingshi gao) says she did not meddle in government, though Kangxi consulted her before promoting or dismissing officials; during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories she gave palace silver and silk to reward the troops and sent funds to relieve famine. She died in January 1688 at seventy-five by Chinese reckoning and asked to be buried near her son's tomb rather than beside Hong Taiji, and the Zhaoxi tomb was built for her under Yongzheng.