Empress Wang Xijie

Who was Empress Wang Xijie?

Empress Xiaoduanxian, personal name Wang Xijie, a native of Yuyao, was an empress of the Chinese dynasty Ming Dynasty. She was the wife of the Wanli Emperor. Her only daughter was Princess Rongchang.

She was born in a commoner's family, and was married to the young Wanli Emperor when she was barely 13 years old, in early 1578, after her father was hastily given an army commission to improve the family rank. The historian Ray Huang comments: "She was, from her wedding day, permanently encased in palatial pomp and comfort; yet, by cruel exigency of tradition, her marriage was only a state necessity, reducing her to an accessory to an institution, entitled to all kind of meaningless honors but to little satisfaction as a wife. She bore the emperor a daughter and lived almost as long as he did. But at no time did she in any way affect the course of his life. As the principal daughter-in-law to jen-sheng, the emperor's principal mother, she had both the privilege and the obligation of attending her in public, such as helping her from her sedan chair, a task Hsiao-tuan performed exactly as required, thus earning for herself a reputation for filial piety. Inside the palace, however, she was better remembered as a ruthless mistress who frequently ordered her chambermaids beaten, sometimes to death."