Empress Zhang Yan – The eleven-year-old who was forced by her grandmother to marry her uncle

Empress Zhang Yan’s story is truly tragic because she could not control the events in her life. She was a political pawn used by her own grandmother and was often in her shadow. Through her grandmother’s political machinations, she was forced to marry her own uncle at the young age of eleven. After she married him, her grandmother, Empress Lu Zhi, constantly ordered her to bear him a son, but she remained childless. She was even an empress dowager at the age of fourteen, but she was politically eclipsed by her grandmother. At the end of her life, she died lonely and forgotten.

Empress Zhang Yan was born in 202 B.C.E. Her parents were Zhang Ao, Prince of Zhao, and Princess Luyuan, the eldest daughter of Empress Lu Zhi and Emperor Gaozu.^[1] Prince Zhang Ao was known to be a respected son-in-law.^[2] However, two of Emperor Gaozu’s counsellors asked him to be a part of their conspiracy to kill the emperor.^[3]  Prince Zhang Ao refused. When the plot was revealed, he was arrested.^[4] When Emperor Gaozu learned that he played no part in the assassination attempt, he pardoned him and demoted him as Marquis of Xuanping.^[5]

Three years later, Emperor Gaozu’s son, Liu Ying, ascended the throne as Emperor Hui. He had no interest in state affairs and often lived a life of indulgence.^[6] Thus, Empress Dowager Lu Zhi was the true ruler. Empress Dowager Lu Zhi decided to strengthen her power and secure her son’s reign by choosing one of her kinswomen to marry her son.^[7] The person whom she chose was her granddaughter, Zhang Yan.

In 191 B.C.E., the eleven-year-old Zhang Yan was forced by her grandmother to marry her twenty-one-year-old uncle.^[8] Thus, Zhang Yan became empress. Even though it was considered incest in the Han dynasty, Empress Dowager Lu Zhi was so powerful that no one objected to the marriage.^[9] Empress Zhang Yan’s marriage would last three years.^[10] During her short marriage, Empress Zhang Yan tried every means to get pregnant, but she remained childless.^[11] She eventually adopted seven of her husband’s sons.^[12] Some accounts said that Empress Dowager Lu Zhi ordered her to kill her sons’ birth mothers, but modern-day historians believe this was a false fact.^[13]

When her husband died in 188 B.C.E., one of Empress Zhang Yan’s adopted sons ascended the throne as Emperor Qianshao.^[14] She was made Empress Dowager at the age of fourteen, but she wielded very little political influence.^[15] The true ruler was her mother-in-law and grandmother, Empress Dowager Lu Zhi.^[16] When Emperor Qianshao learned that Empress Dowager Zhang Yan was not his real birth mother, he was angry and wanted to get revenge on her for lying to him.^[17] However, Empress Dowager Lu Zhi prevented him from acting on his thoughts of revenge by secretly assassinating him.^[18] She quickly installed another of Empress Zhang Yan’s adopted sons to the throne.^[19] He was Emperor Houshao.

When Empress Dowager Lu died in 180 B.C.E., the imperial Liu family wanted to eliminate her Lu kin.^[20] Empress Dowager Zhang Yan was afraid they would kill her for being related to Empress Dowager Lu Zhi.^[21] However, the Liu family did not execute her. Instead, she was sent to the North Palace (a residence for deposed empresses).^[22] She lived there until she died in 163 B.C.E. Thus, Empress Zhang Yan was a political victim that suffered under the hands of her powerful grandmother. One can only imagine the horrors and trauma this overshadowed empress experienced.

Sources:

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

San, T.K. (2014). Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia: The Other Press.

Zang, J. (2015). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. – 618 C.E. (L. X. H. Lee, Ed.; A. D. Stefanowska, Ed.; S. Wiles, Ed., C. Tam, Trans.). NY: Routledge.