Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan

Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan
Empress consort of Han dynasty
Tenure24 April 83 BC[1] – 74 BC
PredecessorEmpress Wei
SuccessorEmpress Xu
Born88 BC
Died2 October 37 BC (aged 52)
SpouseEmperor Zhao of Han
Posthumous name
Empress Xiao Zhao 孝昭皇后
FatherShangguan An 上官安[2]
MotherLady Huo[3]

Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan (上官太皇太后) (personal name unknown) (88 BC[4] – 2 October 37 BC[5]), also known as Empress Shangguan (上官皇后), Empress Xiaozhao (孝昭皇后) and Empress Dowager Shangguan (上官太后), was an Empress, Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager during the Han dynasty and wife of Emperor Zhao.[6] She served as de facto regent during the interim period between the deposition of Marquis of Haihun until the succession of Emperor Xuan of Han in 74 BC.[7]

Her father was Shangguan An (上官安), a son of Shangguan Jie (上官桀). Her mother was a daughter of Huo Guang.[8][9] She was a key figure in a number of political incidents during the middle Han dynasty, and she spent her entire adult life as a Grand Empress Dowager and a widow without family. Both sides of her family were wiped out in two separate mass executions as punishment for being relatives of individuals accused of seeking to usurp the throne.[10] She remains the youngest person in Chinese history to assume the titles of both Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager.

  1. ^ jia'yin day of the 3rd month of the 4th year of the Shi'yuan era, per vol.23 of Zizhi Tongjian
  2. ^ Son of Shangguan Jie 上官桀
  3. ^ eldest daughter of Huo Guang
  4. ^ Lady Shangguan's biography in Book of Han indicated that she was 6 (by East Asian reckoning) when she was made empress.
  5. ^ dingyou day of the leap month of the 2nd year of the Jian'zhao era, per vol. 29 of Zizhi Tongjian
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Ho, Clara Wing-chung (2012). Overt and Covert Treasures: Essays on the Sources for Chinese Women's History. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. ISBN 978-962-996-429-0.
  8. ^ Dreyer, Edward L. (2008). "Zhao Chongguo: A Professional Soldier of China's Former Han Dynasty". The Journal of Military History. 72 (3): 665–725. doi:10.1353/jmh.0.0028. ISSN 1543-7795. S2CID 159687819.
  9. ^ Jinlong, Zhang (2014). "Changes in the title systems for generals in ancient China". In Filipiak, Kai (ed.). Civil-Military Relations in Chinese History. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315738345. ISBN 978-1-315-73834-5.
  10. ^ Lu, Zongli (2021). Rumor in Early Chinese Empires. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-47926-4.