Consort Ling

Also known as Weijia Shi · Empress Xiaoyichun

Lady Ling, later known as Empress Xiaoyichun, was born in 1727 into the Wei family, bondservants of the Imperial Household in the Plain Yellow Banner; her father Qingtai was a household steward, and the family was later raised in status under the name Weigiya. She entered the Qianlong emperor's harem as a lady of the noble rank, was made Concubine Ling in 1745, then Consort Ling and Noble Consort Ling, and in 1765 imperial noble consort. She bore four sons and two daughters, among them the fifteenth prince Yongyan, born in 1760, who became the Jiaqing emperor. She died in February 1775 in her forty-ninth year and was buried in Qianlong's Yu Mausoleum as Imperial Noble Consort Lingyi. When Yongyan was named heir in 1795 she was posthumously raised to empress; during the 1928 looting of the Eastern Qing Tombs her body was reportedly found undecayed.