Ming Yan

Background

Yan Ming was born in 110 in Hebei, China. There is no exact information about her parents.

Career

Yan Ming became a concubine of Liu Yi, who was a grandson of Emperor Zhang. At one time the Regent Empress Dowager Deng had considered Liu Yi for the imperial succession. However, after the death of Empress Dowager Deng in 121 he was reduced to a petty marquis and sent back to live in seclusion in Hejian.

In 132 Yan Ming bore a son named Liu Zhi. When Liu Yi died in 140 Liu Zhi, as the oldest son of the marquess, inherited the title of the Marquess of Liwu. After the young Emperor Zhi was poisoned by the powerful official Liang Ji in 146, the 13-year-old Marquess Zhi was selected by Empress Dowager Liang to succeed to the throne. Yan Ming was likewise appointed as Worthy Lady of Boling and she was also appointed as guardian for the emperor’s younger brother, Liu Shi.

When Empress Dowager Liang died in 150, Emperor Huan, now eighteen years old, was able to arrange for his mother to be brought to the capital. One of the highest ministers of state was sent with authority to grant Worthy Lady Yan an imperial seal and ribbon, and she was escorted to her new residence in the Northern Palace at Luoyang.

Her apartments were known as the Palace of Perpetual Joy. She also received a pension from the tax revenues of nine counties of Julu Commandery (in the southern part of present-day Hebei). This was the first time in Eastern Han that the mother of an emperor had not been the wife or concubine of a previous ruler, and the honors paid her were based upon those recorded from Western Han. However, Worthy Lady Yan played no part in the politics of the court.

Achievements

• Yan Ming was known in Chinese history as a woman who became empress dowager because her son Liu Zhi became emperor, but not because she was married to an emperor.

Connections

Yan Ming became a concubine of Liu Yi the Marquess of Liwu. She bore him a son Liu Zhi.

husband:

Liu Yi

Liu Yi was the Marquis of Liwu and a grandson of Emperor Zhang.

Son:

Liu Zhi

Liu Zhi, also known as Emperor Huan, was the 27th emperor of the Han Dynasty after he was enthroned by the Empress Dowager and her brother Liang Ji on 1 August 146.

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