Queen Zhou the Elder

Zhou Ehuang
Queen Zhaohui of (Southern) Tang
Queen[1] consort of Southern Tang
Tenure961–964
PredecessorEmpress Zhong
SuccessorQueen Zhou the Younger
Born936 or early 937
likely modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu
Died8 December 964
modern Nanjing, Jiangsu
Burial14 February 965[2]
Yi Mausoleum (懿陵), suspected to be the site discovered in 2010 in modern Jiangning District, Nanjing, Jiangsu
SpouseLi Yu
Issue
Detail
Sons Li Zhongyu 李仲寓, 958-994, Li Zhongxuan 李仲宣, 961-964
Names
Surname: Zhōu ()
Given name: Éhuáng ()
Posthumous name
Queen Zhāohuì ()
FatherZhou Zong

Zhou Ehuang (周娥皇) (c. 936 – 8 December 964[3]), posthumously named Queen[1] Zhaohui (昭惠國后), was a queen consort of imperial China's short-lived Southern Tang state during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Her husband was Li Yu, Southern Tang's third and last ruler.

She is best known as Queen Zhou the Elder (大周后) to distinguish from her younger sister Queen Zhou the Younger whom Li Yu married after her death. A musical genius and pipa virtuoso, she is suspected to be the subject of many of Li Yu's enduring love poems.

  1. ^ a b Her title guohou (國后; literally "kingdom's consort") is frequently translated in English-language literature as "empress". This translation does not differentiate between her title and her mother-in-law Empress Zhong's title of huanghou (皇后; literally "empire's consort", or "empress"). In 959, in order to end invasions by the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Southern Tang ruler Li Jing (Zhou Ehuang's father-in-law) relinquished all imperial trappings, including his claim as an emperor. From that point, Southern Tang became a nominal vassal state of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Song Dynasty which succeeded Later Zhou in 960, and the terminologies used reflected this relationship.
  2. ^ Shiguo Chunqiu, ch. 17.
  3. ^ Shiguo Chunqiu, ch. 18.