Empress Li

Who is Empress Li?

Empress Li was one of the two wives of Liu Shouguang, the only emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Yan.

Very little is known about Empress Li, and it is not known whether she bore any of Liu Shouguang's children. When Yan's capital You Prefecture fell in late 913 under siege by Li Cunxu the Prince of Jin, she, Liu Shouguang, Empress Zhu, and Liu Shouguang's three sons Liu Jixun, Liu Jifang, and Liu Jizuo fled You Prefecture, but were eventually captured at Yanle and delivered to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu took them on a victory tour through the lands of his allies Wang Chuzhi the military governor of Yiwu Circuit and Wang Rong the Prince of Zhao, but eventually took them back to his capital Taiyuan and executed them there. As they were to be executed, Liu Shouguang was begging for his life, and Empresses Li and Zhu rebuked him for not acting bravely like an emperor should, while they accepted their own executions.