Kua Xu

Background

Empress Xu was the daughter of Xu Jia, the Marquess of Ping'en. She was born in Shandong but there is no information about the date of her birth.

Career

Xu Kua was chosen by Emperor Yuan for his son Liu Ao as some recompense to the Xu family for his mother’s poisoning and had been delighted to hear that Liu Ao was fond of the girl. When Liu Ao became an Emperor, in 32 B.C., Xu Kua became an Empress.

However, Liu Ao's mother Empress Dowager Wang and his uncles were concerned at the lack of an heir, an unfortunate circumstance compounded by frequent natural calamities and unexpected incidents. Several high officials began to blame these calamities on the empress, so Emperor Cheng ordered that Empress Xu’s palace expenses be cut. The empress submitted a memorial protesting the cuts but it was rejected.

However, a decade later, Empress Xu would meet her downfall. Circa 19 B.C., when Emperor Cheng was visiting Princess Yang'a, he became enamored with her dancing girl Zhao Feiyan and her sister Zhao Hede and made them his concubines, and they were favored over Empress Xu.

Zhao Feiyan accused Empress Xu and Ban Jieyu (Concubine of Emperor Cheng) of engaging in illicit activities. The empress’s sister Xu Ye was charged with practicing sorcery with the intention of bringing harm to Wang Feng and to Beauty Wang, who was then carrying the emperor’s child. Empress Dowager Wang flew into a rage when this was brought to her attention and ordered an investigation. Empress Xu was implicated and deposed and sent to Zhaotai Palace, while her relatives were sent back to Shanyang. Her sister Xu Ye was among those sentenced to death.

Some years later, in 10 B.C. Emperor Cheng relented and proclaimed that the Marquis of Ping’en and the deposed empress’s relatives in Shanyang could return to the capital. Another of the deposed empress’s sisters, Xu Mi, a widow, was among those who returned, and she soon embarked on an affair with Chunyu Chang, a nephew of Empress Dowager Wang. Empress Xu asked her sister to ask Chunyu to intercede on her behalf, and she gave Chunyu many gifts. Her intent was to regain her freedom and again become an imperial consort.

Chunyu, in order to continue to get gifts from her, deceived her and told her that he would try to have her made "left empress". The deposed empress Xu therefore offered him a bribe and they exchanged letters. It was then revealed that Chunyu Chang had been disrespectful in one of his letters, and the deposed empress was again implicated. Emperor Cheng dispatched an official to order her to take her own life by drinking poison. She did so and was buried in Yanling, southwest of Xianyang city in present-day Shaanxi Province.

Achievements

• Empress Xu was known in Chinese history as the second woman carrying that title to die by poison as a direct consequence of court politics.

Personality

Empress Xu was intelligent, acted with propriety, and was well versed in literature and history.

Connections

Xu Kua was the wife of Emperor Cheng and had two children, but both of them died as infants.

Father:

Xu Jia

Xu Jia was the Marquess of Ping'en and the brother of Emperor Xuan's first wife Empress Xu Pingjun.

husband:

Liu Ao

Liu Ao, also known as Emperor Cheng was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty ruling from 33 until 7 B.C.

Sister:

Xu Ye

Sister:

Xu Mi

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
• Crisis and Conflict in Han China This volume illustrates the growth of two attitudes towards government in China during the first century B.C., the one progressive, realist and forward-looking, the other conservative, idealist and harking back to the past. It demonstrates the close relationship that existed between political decisions, intellectual policy and the choice of religious observances of state, whilst showing how personal ambitions and the intrigues of the palace were intimately involved with the interplay of these two basis attitudes.
  1974
• Courtier and Commoner in Ancient China: Selections from the History of the Former Han by Pan Ku First edition by Gu Ban, Ku Pan Hardcover. Translated by Burton Watson.
  1977