Background
Ding Jiang was a woman of the Jiang clan and an Elder Female of Wei.
Ding Jiang was a woman of the Jiang clan and an Elder Female of Wei.
Ding Jiang was capable of advising her husband to agree when the powerful minister Sun Linfu wanted to return to Wei from exile in Jin. She remained a powerful presence in Wei after her husband’s death.
The next ruler was the son of one of her husband’s concubines. Ding Jiang was able to have him exiled because of his violent behavior and to set up his younger brother as ruler. After Wei had successfully deflected an invasion by the state of Zheng in 563 B.C.E., Sun Linfu, the minister she had advised her husband to allow to return to Wei, consulted her about the proper interpretation of divination results regarding military strategy. He followed her advice and secured a victory.
Ding Jiang was intelligent and politically aware.
Ding Jiang was the wife of Ding (r. 588-577 B.C.E.), the ruler of Wei and had a son who died very soon after the marriage and her daughter-in-law remained childless.