Empress Song of the Eastern Han Dynasty – The slandered deposed Empress

Empress Song was one of the most tragic Empresses of China. She was the first Empress of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. She originally had Emperor Ling’s favour.^[1] However, she lost Emperor Ling’s favour because she did not have a son and jealous imperial concubines frequently slandered her.^[2] Yet, Empress Song was framed for witchcraft, which led her to lose both the Empress position and her life.^[3] Empress Song’s life is a story of injustice.^[4]

The birthdate of Empress Song is unknown. We do not know her personal name. She came from a prominent family.^[5] Her father was Song Feng. She was distantly related to Consort Song (the posthumous Empress Jingyin), who bore Emperor Zhang a son named Liu Qing and was later murdered by Empress Dowager Dou.^[6] In 170 C.E., Lady Song entered Emperor Ling’s harem and was given the title of Honoured Lady.^[7]

In 171 C.E., Lady Song was invested as Empress of China because of her noble background.^[8] Her father, Song Feng, was made Bearer of the Mace.^[9] He and her brothers were made Marquises.^[10] Emperor Ling was initially attracted to Empress Song.^[11] Therefore, she originally had Emperor Ling’s favour.^[12] However, she did not produce any children, which made Emperor Ling begin to lose interest in her.^[13] It did not help that other imperial concubines were envious of her Empress position and often slandered her.^[14] Thus, Empress Song ultimately lost Emperor Ling’s favour.^[15]

In 172 C.E., Liu Kui (the Prince of Bohai) was falsely accused of treason by Wang Fu, who was a powerful palace eunuch.^[16] Empress Song’s aunt was a Consort of Prince Liu Kui.^[17]  Prince Liu Kui committed suicide. Her aunt died in prison.^[18] Wang Fu became concerned that Empress Song would seek revenge against him for her aunt’s death.^[19] Therefore, Wang Fu decided to eliminate her.^[20]

Wang Fu falsely accused Empress Song of using witchcraft to kill Emperor Ling.^[21] However, it took six years for Emperor Ling to finally believe Wang Fu.^[22] Historians believe this was because other palace eunuchs were sympathetic to her situation and often spoke in her favour.^[23] In 178 C.E., Empress Song was found guilty of witchcraft and was deposed.^[24] She was sent to the harem prison, where she “died of worry.”^[25] Historians believed that she was assassinated.^[26] Her father, Song Feng, and her brothers were all executed.^[27] The palace eunuchs that sympathised with her buried her in a simple grave.^[28]

At the end of his reign, Emperor Ling dreamed of the late Emperor Huan reprimanding him for failing as an Emperor and wronging Empress Song.^[29] Emperor Ling was very terrified of the dream.^[30] He called in his personal staff and told him about his dream.^[31] One of them was Xu Yong. He reproached Emperor Ling by saying:

“Empress Song personally officiated with Your Majesty at the shrines to the imperial ancestors, and she maternally watched over the myriad states. She did this for many years and all within the seas was transformed [by her benevolent influence]: no one ever heard of her making a mistake or doing an evil deed. But you listened to the words of flattery and jealousy, and thus the innocent were punished: she suffered the extreme penalty and disaster overtook her family. Your vassals—male and female—across the empire are all angry and upset about this.”^[32]

Xu Yong then told Emperor Ling to rebury her “to rest her wrongful soul.”^[33] Before Emperor Ling could rebury her, he died on 13 March 189 C.E.^[34] Empress Song was Empress for seven years, yet she suffered and had a tragic end.^[35] It was slander that caused her to be deposed and killed.^[36] Even though she was not favoured by the Emperor, she did manage to win the sympathy and admiration of her people.^[37] She was a virtuous Empress, but the Emperor did not appreciate her.^[38] Instead, he chose to believe the false accusations that were said about her.^[39] Empress Song has continued to move people’s hearts for generations because of the wrongs that were done to her.^[40]

Sources:

De Crespigny, R. (2006). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Netherlands: Brill.

McMahon, K. (2013). Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao. NY: Rowman and Littlefield.

Milburn, O. (2021). The Empress in the Pepper Chamber: Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction. Seattle: University of Washington Press.