Jiang Hou Zhou Xuan

Background

Jiang Hou was a daughter of the Duke of Qi. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.

Career

Queen Jiang assumed the blame for her husband’s improper behavior of coming late to court. King Xuan has a habit of going to bed early with his queen and rising late. Queen Jiang pointed out to him that the court could only gather from such behavior that he enjoyed her beauty and the satisfaction of his desires at the expense of virtue. This could only lead to disorder. The king accepted her criticism but not her admission of guilt, saying that he himself had given birth to these faults. It is not the crime of his wife. A rejuvenated man, King Xuan attended diligently to affairs of state from then on, retiring late and allowing his queen to depart his chambers at dawn.

Achievements

• Queen Jiang was known as one of the most outstanding characters of Chinese folklore. She is praised in The Book of Songs (Shi jing).

Personality

Jiang Hou was reportedly a wise and virtuous queen whose actions advanced the well-being of the nation.

Connections

Jiang Hou was the consort of King Xuan of Zhou and the mother of King You of Zhou.

husband:

Xuan Wang

King Xuan was the eleventh king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty from 827 B.C. to 782 B.C.

Son:

You Wang

King You was the twelfth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the last of Western Zhou Dynasty. He reigned from 781 B.C. to 771 B.C.

References

• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998
• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971