Empress Fu Xunying

Who was Empress Fu Xunying?

Empress Fu Xunying was an empress of the Chinese/Xianbei state Later Yan. Her husband was Murong Xi.

Fu Xunying was a daughter of Fu Mo, a member of Former Qin's imperial house before he surrendered to Later Yan under military pressure. As of 397, he was the mayor of Later Yan's capital Zhongshan when the Later Yan emperor Murong Bao abandoned Zhongshan in face of Northern Wei military attacks, and he was subsequently killed by Murong Bao's nephew Murong Xiang the Duke of Kaifeng, who wanted to be emperor himself. His family was slaughtered.

Somehow, however, Fu Xunying and her older sister Fu Song'e were not killed—perhaps they escaped the slaughter, or perhaps they were no longer in Zhongshan at that point. After Murong Xi became emperor in 401 after succeeding his nephew Murong Sheng, he took Fu Song'e and Fu Xunying as imperial consorts in 402 and greatly favored them. This caused him to neglect Murong Sheng's mother Empress Dowager Ding, with whom he had an affair and whose support was instrumental in his becoming emperor. Empress Dowager Ding, in anger, plotted to overthrow him and replace him with Murong Bao's son Murong Yuan, but her plot was discovered, and she was forced to commit suicide.