Empress Chen of Wu (孝武陳皇后) was empress of the Han dynasty and the first wife of Emperor Wu of Han (Liu Che). She was also known as Chen Jiao () or as her milk name Chen A'Jiao (陈阿娇). She was born to Chen Wu (father) and Princess Guantao (mother), also making her Liu Che's older cousin. Her given name Jiao (嬌 / 娇) means talented and beautiful and features in various Chinese poems and idioms.
Princess Guantao Liu Piao once held a young Liu Che in her arms and asked him whether he wanted to marry her daughter Chen Jiao. The young prince boasted that he would "build a golden house for her" if they were married. Thus, there was an arranged marriage between Liu Che and Chen Jiao, and Chen Jiao became the first empress of China during Liu Che's reign. Empress Chen's story inspired the Chinese idiom "Putting Jiao in a golden house" (), recorded in Ban Gu's Hanwu Stories (汉武故事).汉·班固《汉武故事》Ban Gu, Story of Han Wudi (汉武故事)
The poet Sima Xiangru wrote a song The Ode of Long Gate (長門賦 Changmenfu) describing the love between Empress Chen Jiao and Emperor Liu Che.
Life
Early life and marriage Empress Chen was the daughter of Chen Wu (陳午), the Marquess of Tangyi (堂邑侯), and Liu Piao (劉嫖), the Grand Princess Guantao (館陶長公主, the older sister of Emperor Jing of Han). Empress Chen also had two brothers, Chen Xu (陳須) and Chen Jiao (陳蟜 different hanzi). There were no authentic historical records of her real name, and the well-known name "A'Jiao" came from Hanwu Stories (漢武故事 / 汉武故事 also called Stories of Han Wudi) attributed to Ban Gu, but thought to be written during the Wei-Jin period.
Princess Guantao initially proposed to marry her teenage daughter to Liu Rong (劉榮), Emperor Jing's eldest son and crown prince at the time, as well as son of his favourite concubine, Lady Li (栗姬). However, Lady Li rudely rejected the proposal as she was upset that Princess Guantao often procured new concubines for Emperor Jing (therefore gaining his favour at the expense of Lady Li). A greatly humiliated and frustrated Princess Guantao then approached Consort Wang Zhi, another concubine favoured by Emperor Jing, and offered to marry her daughter to Consort Wang's 5-year-old son Liu Che, Emperor Jing's tenth (and arguably favourite) son and then the Prince of Jiaodong (膠東王). Consort Wang, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, saw her opportunity and welcomed the proposal immediately. This political marriage secured an alliance between them. They then plotted together to ensure that Emperor Jing became increasingly annoyed at Lady Li. Coupled with Lady Li's own foolishness, it eventually resulted in the deposition of Liu Rong, who was demoted from crown prince to the Prince of Linjiang (臨江王) in 150 BC and exiled out of the capital Chang'an. Lady Li died soon after, and Liu Rong was arrested two years later for illegally seizing imperial shrine lands and committed suicide in custody.“立荣为太子。长公主嫖有女，欲予为妃。” But Emperor Jing initially did not approve of the union between Liu Che and Chen Jiao due to their age difference (Chen was at least 8–9 years older than Liu Che).
However, according to the Wei-Jin era Hanwu Stories (漢武故事 / 汉武故事), during a royal gathering, Princess Guantao held the young prince in her arms and asked him whether he wanted to marry a girl. After rejecting the choice of dozens of palace maids, Princess Guantao eventually showed her daughter Chen Jiao to Liu Che, who bragged that he would "build a golden house for her" if they were married.數歲，長公主嫖抱置膝上，問曰："兒欲得婦不？"膠東王曰："欲得婦。"長主指左右長御百餘人，皆雲不用。末指其女問曰："阿嬌好不？"於是乃笑對曰："好！若得阿嬌作婦，當作金屋貯之也。"長主大悅，乃苦要上，遂成婚焉。 This inspired the Chinese idiom "Putting Jiao in a golden house" (), first recorded in Ban Gu's Hanwu Stories. Princess Guantao then used the tale as proof that the marriage was destined to happen to convince Emperor Jing, who finally agreed to the arranged marriage.
Liu Che was later created crown prince at the age of 7, and formally married Chen as the empress-designate some years later. When Emperor Jing died in early 141 BC, the 16-year-old heir apparent Liu Che ascended to the throne as Emperor Wu, and formally made his newly-wed wife Empress not long after.Shiji《史记 淮南衡山列传第五十八》及建元二年，淮南王入朝。素善武安侯，武安侯时为太尉，乃逆王霸上，与王语曰：“方今上无太子，大王亲高皇帝孙，行仁义，天下莫不闻。即宫车一日晏驾，非大王当谁立者！”建元二年春，青姊子夫得入宫幸上。Book of Han《汉书 卷九十七》原文：后数年，废-{后}-乃薨，葬霸陵郎官亭东。这里的霸陵指霸陵县。霸陵县郎官亭在长安东南三十里，霸陵则位于汉长安城未央宫前殿遗址东南57公里处。周鹏飞、施丁编著《汉书新注 卷九十七 外戚传》:葬霸陵郎官亭东：《水经注》云，在长安东南三十里。张永禄 编辑.《汉代长安词典》陕西人民出版社.1993年12月.. ：词条目录十三 交通 2馆驿传亭：郎官亭：汉代霸陵县亭舍。位于汉长安城东南三十里。汉武帝陈皇后葬此亭这东。Book of Han《汉书·百官公卿表》则谓十里一亭。设亭长一职。
As empress The Han dynasty up to this point was run according to a Taoist wu wei (無為而治) ideology, championing economic freedom and government decentralization. Foreign policy-wise, periodic heqin was used to maintain a de jure "peace" with the nomadic Xiongnu confederacy to the north. These policies were important in stimulating economic recovery following the post-Qin dynasty civil war, but not without drawbacks. The non-interventionist policies resulted in loss of monetary regulation and political control by the central government, allowing the feudal vassal states to become dominant and unruly, culminating in the Rebellion of the Seven States during Emperor Jing's reign. Nepotism among the ruling classes also stagnated social mobility, as well as encouraged rampant disregard of laws by nobles, which led to the rise of local despots who bullied and oppressed other civilians. The heqin policy also failed to protect the Han borders against Xiongnu raids, with the nomadic cavalries invading as close as 300 li from the capital during Emperor Wen's reign. Prominent politicians like Jia Yi (賈誼) and Chao Cuo (晁錯) had both previously advised on the necessity to important policy reforms, but neither Emperor Wen nor Emperor Jing was willing to implement such changes.
Unlike the emperors before him, the young Emperor Wu was unwilling to put up with the status quo. Less than a year after his ascension, based on advice from Confucian scholars, Emperor Wu launched an ambitious reform, known in history as the Jianyuan Reforms (建元新政). However, his reforms threatened the interests of existing noble classes, and was swiftly defeated by his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Dou, who held real political power in the Han court. His two noble supporters, Dou Ying (竇嬰) and Tian Fen (田蚡), both had their positions stripped; and his two mentors, Wang Zang (王臧) and Zhao Wan (趙綰), were impeached, arrested and forced to commit suicide in prison. Emperor Wu, who was now deprived of any allies, was subjected to conspiracies to have him removed from the throne.
At this point, Empress Chen had already married Emperor Wu for years but did not achieve any pregnancies. In an attempt to remain the centre of his attention, she also prohibited him from keeping other concubines. The fact that the young and energetic Emperor Wu was still childless had been used by his political enemies as an excuse to consider deposing him (the inability to propagate the royal bloodline was a serious matter) and replace him with his distant uncle Liu An (劉安), the king of Huainan (淮南王), who was a renowned figure of Taoist ideology. Emperor Wu's political survival now relied heavily on the lobbying of his aunt/mother-in-law Princess Guantao, who served as a mediator for the Emperor's reconciliation with her mother, Grand Empress Dowager Dou. Princess Guantao wasted no opportunities to exploit this leverage, and constantly made excessive demands from her son-in-law and even beyond that, she used her influence on her mother to pressure him if he did not accept her demands.
As the daughter of the Grand Empress Dowager Dou, and both the emperor aunt and mother-in-law and also as one who had helped establish and maintain the emperor in power, Princess Guantao received the unprecedented title of Grand Princess Dou (窦太主, Dòu tài zhǔ); This position uniquely gave her far greater imperial privileges at court. Emperor Wu, already unhappy with Empress Chen's infertility and poor behavior, was further enraged by her mother's greed, but had to tolerate such abuse under the advice by his mother Empress Dowager Wang to stay put and wait for his chance. He then spent the next few years pretending to be docile, hedonistic and having given up all political ambitions, but in reality was secretly recruiting supporters.
While attending an annual spring ceremonial ritual at Bashang (灞上) in 139 BC, during the second year of his reign, Emperor Wu decided to pay a casual visit to his older sister's household on the way back. His sister, Princess Pingyang (平陽公主), who had long intended to imitate her aunt Princess Guantao and establish herself some political leverage, had prepared a collection of young women to offer for her brother's concubinage. However, her plan did not work out, as none of her candidates managed to impress Emperor Wu. Realizing her brother was disappointed and bored, she called in her in-house dancers for entertainment. This time, Emperor Wu set his eyes on a beautiful young singer called Wei Zifu (衛子夫) and had immediately fallen in love with her. Following a romantic encounter with Wei Zifu, Emperor Wu immediately conferred a thousand pieces of gold to his sister as a reward, who in turn offered the new girl to him as a gift. However, after returning to Chang'an, Emperor Wu was forced to abandon Wei Zifu as an insignificant palace maid and neglected her for over a year under pressure from Empress Chen. They did not meet again until Wei Zifu attempted to leave the palace by blending into a queue of maids due to be expelled. With the old love renewed, Wei Zifu soon fell pregnant, effectively clearing Emperor Wu of any speculation of infertility. This ensured her becoming his favourite concubine.
The sudden rise of a love rival enraged Empress Chen, but she could do little as Wei Zifu was now under the Emperor Wu's direct protection. Princess Guantao then tried to seek vengeance for her daughter, and after finding out that Wei Zifu had a half-brother named Wei Qing (衛青) serving as a horseman in Jianzhang Camp (建章營, Emperor Wu's Royal Guards), she sent men to kidnap and murder Wei Qing. However, Wei Qing was rescued by his friends, a group of palace guards led by Gongsun Ao (公孫敖), who also reported the whole incident to Emperor Wu. As a sign of annoyance towards Empress Chen and her mother, Emperor Wu publicly made Wei Zifu a consort (夫人, a concubine lower only to the empress), appointed Wei Qing to the Chief of Jianzhang Camp (建章監), Chief of Staff (侍中) and Chief Councillor (太中大夫), promoted several other members of the Wei family, and rewarded everyone who contributed to Wei Qing's rescue. Consort Wei Zifu then went on to monopolize Emperor Wu's love for over a decade and bore him three daughters.
Empress Chen, now having openly fallen out with Emperor Wu, was largely neglected. Frustrated and jealous, she tried in vain to regain her husband's attention by threatening suicide multiple times, which only made Emperor Wu more angry at her. Helpless and despairing, she again turned to her mother to vent her anger. Her mother then confronted and accused Princess Pingyang of sabotaging her daughter's marriage, but was simply brushed off with the statement that Empress Chen lost favour purely because of her own infertility. Baffled by the argument, Empress Chen then spent over 90 million coins seeking treatment, to no avail. However, because Emperor Wu no longer visited her palace since the Wei Qing incident, it was already impossible for her to achieve a pregnancy.
Witchcraft