Empress Yang Lihua

Who was Empress Yang Lihua?

Empress Yang Lihua was an empress of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Zhou, and later a princess of Sui Dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou, and her father was Emperor Wen of Sui.

Yang Lihua was born in 561, as the oldest child of Yang Jian, then the heir apparent to Yang Zhong the Duke of Sui, and Yang Jian's wife Dugu Qieluo. In 568, her grandfather Yang Zhong died, and her father Yang Jian inherited the title of Duke of Sui. In fall 573, Emperor Wu took her as the wife to Yuwen Yun, then his crown prince, and she thereafter carried the title of crown princess. He was 14 and she was 12. In summer 578, Emperor Wu died, and Yuwen Yun took the throne. He created her empress.

Emperor Xuan was excessive and erratic in his behavior, and less than a year after taking the throne, in spring 579, he formally passed the throne to his son Yuwen Chan, born of his concubine Consort Zhu Manyue. He took an atypical title for a retired emperor -- "Emperor Tianyuan". She thereafter took the title of "Empress Tianyuan". However, as part of his unusual behavior, he soon decided that he would create four empresses, so he created three of his concubines—Consort Zhu, Consort Chen Yueyi, and Consort Yuan Leshang—empress titles as well, but different from Empress Yang's to distinguish them. However, Empress Yang continued to be recognized as the most honored among his empresses. In spring 580, he added Da to the empresses' titles, and therefore Empress Yang's title was changed to Tianyuan Da Huanghou.