Overview
Empress Wang was a consort and Royal Family Member.
IdentityHistorical · Female
Life and dates
Attested activity
BC 49 to AD 5 元帝至平帝時
BC 48 初元元年三月丙午
Family
Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.
Works and attributed material
References in the histories
No matching passages.
Book of Han, Chapter 10Volume 9: Annals of Emperor Yuan · 1 passage
Book of Han, Chapter 93Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi · 11 passages
大將軍鳳以為太后與上及後宮可御船，令吏民上長安城以避水。
Wang Feng proposed putting the empress dowager, the emperor, and the harem aboard boats and ordering officials and townsfolk onto the ramparts of Chang'an to ride out the supposed flood.
先是，皇太后嘗詔問商女，欲以備後宮。
Earlier the empress dowager had formally inquired after Wang Shang's daughter with an eye to admitting her to the harem.
商不盡忠納善以輔至德，知聖主崇孝，遠別不親，後庭之事皆受命皇太后，太后前聞商有女，欲以備後宮，商言有固疾，後有耿定事，更詭道因李貴人家內女，執左道以亂政，誣罔悖大臣節，故應是而日蝕。
Wang Shang has not served with full loyalty or accepted good counsel to support your supreme virtue. Knowing that a sage ruler honors filial piety and that the empress dowager governs the inner palace, he refused when the empress dowager earlier asked for his daughter for the harem, pleading chronic illness. After the Geng Ding affair he tried again through the household of the newly favored Lady Li to smuggle a daughter inside. He practices heterodox ways that corrupt government and violates every standard of a chief minister—hence the eclipse.
鳳竟以法誅章，語在《元後傳》。
Wang Feng eventually had Wang Zhang executed on a legal pretext; the story is told in the biography of Empress Dowager Yuan.
是時，傅昭儀子定陶共王有材藝，子母俱愛幸，而太子頗有酒色之失，母王皇后無寵。
At that time Consort Fu's son, Prince Kang of Dingtao, was gifted and accomplished, and mother and son both enjoyed the emperor's affection, whereas the crown prince showed a weakness for wine and women and his mother, Empress Wang, had fallen out of favor.
竟寧元年，上寢疾，傅昭儀及定陶王常在左右，而皇后、太子希得進見。
In Jingning 1 the emperor was bedridden. Consort Fu and the Prince of Dingtao were constantly at his side, while the empress and crown prince were rarely admitted.
是時，太子長舅陽平侯王鳳爲衛尉、侍中，與皇后、太子皆憂，不知所出。
The crown prince's elder maternal uncle, Yangping Marquis Wang Feng, served as Commandant of the Guard and palace attendant; he, the empress, and the crown prince were all anxious and at a loss.
且皇后謹慎，先帝又愛太子，吾豈可違指！
Besides, the empress is prudent, and the late emperor loved the crown prince. How could I go against his intent!
又傅太后欲求稱尊號，與成帝母齊尊，喜與丞相孔光、大司空師丹共執正議。
When Grand Empress Dowager Fu demanded a title equal to Emperor Cheng's mother, Fu Xi stood with Chancellor Kong Guang and Grand Minister of Works Shi Dan on the side of precedent.
莽白太后下詔曰：「高武侯喜姿性端愨，論議忠直。
Wang Mang persuaded the empress dowager to issue an edict: "Marquis of Gaowu Fu Xi is sober, steady, and outspoken in loyalty.
及其歷房闥，入臥內，推至誠，犯顏色，動寤萬乘，轉移大謀，卒成太子，安母后之位。
When he crossed into the inner apartments, spoke with blunt sincerity, and risked the emperor's anger, he swayed a decision that touched the throne itself, secured the succession for the crown prince, and preserved the empress's station.