Empress Wang (Chenghua)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (October 2011) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:孝贞纯皇后]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|孝贞纯皇后}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Empress Xiaozhenchun 孝貞純皇后
Grand empress dowager of the Ming dynasty
Tenure	1505–1518
Predecessor	Empress Xiaosu
Successor	Grand Empress Dowager Xiaohui
Empress dowager of the Ming dynasty
Tenure	1487–1505
Predecessor	Empress Dowager Ciyi Empress Dowager Shengci
Successor	Empress Dowager Zhaosheng Empress Dowager Zhangsheng
Empress consort of the Ming dynasty
Tenure	1464–1487
Predecessor	Empress Wu
Successor	Empress Xiaochengjing
Born	1440/1450 Shangyuan County, Zhili (present-day Nanjing)
Died	1518 (over age 60)
Spouse	Chenghua Emperor
Posthumous name Empress Xiaozhen Zhuangyi Gongjing Renci Yintian Fusheng Chun (孝貞莊懿恭靖仁慈欽天輔聖純皇后)
Clan	Wang (王)
Father	Wang Zhen (王鎮)

Empress Xiaozhenchun (1440/1450 –1518), of the Wang clan, was a Chinese empress consort of the Ming dynasty, married to the Chenghua Emperor.

Empress Wang was chosen by the emperor to the position of empress after her predecessor had been deposed due to a conflict with the emperor's favorite concubine, Consort Wan. Aware of the mistake of her predecessor, Wang was very anxious to avoid any conflict with the emperor's favorite. Consort Wan had no son with the emperor after her first son died in infancy, and feared the competition if any other of the emperor's consorts or concubines gave birth to a son. It was said that Empress Wang deliberately stayed childless to avoid such a conflict with Consort Wan. The efforts to avoid all conflicts with Consort Wan and to show herself submissive to her, did secure the position of Empress Wang at court.

In 1487, the Chenghua Emperor died, and Empress Wang was given the title Empress dowager. In 1510, she was further raised in rank by the then-reigning emperor, the Zhengde Emperor, who was the eldest son of the Hongzhi Emperor and the grandson of the Chenghua Emperor.