Consort Zhen

Also known as Tatala Shi · Imperial Noble Consort Keshun

Consort Zhen, of the Tatara clan in the Manchu Bordered Red Banner, was a daughter of Changxu, a vice minister of revenue, and was born in 1876. She entered the palace with her elder sister in 1889 as Concubine Zhen and was raised to consort in 1894, but in the tenth month of that year both sisters were reduced to the rank of noble lady on charges of meddling in appointments, being restored the following year. After the coup of 1898 she was kept confined in the palace. In August 1900, as the allied armies closed on Beijing, Cixi had eunuchs throw her into a well behind the Ningshou Palace before the court fled; she was twenty-five by Chinese reckoning. After the court returned she was posthumously made Noble Consort Zhen, and in 1915 she was reburied in the consorts' cemetery of the Guangxu emperor's tomb; the well in the Forbidden City is still known as Consort Zhen's Well.