Royals › Empress / Consort
Empress Xiaoshengxian
Consort of the Yongzheng emperor and mother of Qianlong, who as Empress Dowager Chongqing went with her son on his southern tours and died at eighty-six
In a spring palace garden, a pavilion with round windows stands over a pond of goldfish; a peony-painted round fan, a zither and a lacquer box of pearl hairpins lie in the foreground, and one small figure in a long-sleeved gown stands at the far end of a covered walkway.
Also known as Niuhulu Shi · Empress Dowager Chongqing
- Roles
- Empress / Consort
Empress Xiaoshengxian, of the Niohuru clan, was the daughter of the minor official Lingzhu; born on the first day of 1693, she entered the household of Prince Yong, the future Yongzheng emperor, as a junior consort. There in 1711 she gave birth to Hongli, and after Yongzheng's accession she was made Consort Xi and later Noble Consort Xi. When Hongli became the Qianlong emperor in 1735 he honoured her as Empress Dowager Chongqing, took her four times on his southern tours to Jiangnan and also to Shandong and Mount Wutai, and staged lavish celebrations for her sixtieth, seventieth and eightieth birthdays. She died in March 1777 at the Old Summer Palace aged eighty-six by Chinese reckoning and was buried in the Tai East tomb. Qianlong had a gold stupa made to hold the hair from her combs, and it is now in the Palace Museum.
Life and times
Dates 1693 CE–1777 CE