Pingjun Xu

Background

Xu Pingjun was born in 89 B.C. into a family that had some minor privilege but had also suffered under the reign of Emperor Wu. She was a daughter of Xu Guanghan.

Career

When Xu Pingjun was fourteen or fifteen years old she was promised in marriage to the son of Ouhou, the Director of Palace Servants, but the young man died just before the wedding was to take place. Xu Pingjun’s mother then asked a fortune-teller to divine her daughter’s fate and was told that the girl would gain great distinction.

About this time, the Director of the Palace Discipline Service entertained Xu Pingjun’s father at a feast with the intention of proposing a marriage between Xu Pingjun and Liu Bingyi, the “imperial great-grandson”. However, Xu Pingjun's mother was very unhappy with this arrangement as Liu Bingyi was under a political cloud as he had been the sole survivor when his grandfather Liu Ju’s entire household died or was put to death during the witchcraft scare of 91 B.C.

Xu Guanghan accepted the marriage proposal on behalf of his daughter. The marriage was nevertheless made and a year later Xu Pingjun gave birth to a son, Liu Shi. Several months after that, the case against Liu Bingyi was resolved and he ascended the throne. Xu Pingjun was elevated to the rank of Lady of Handsome Fairness.

When it came time to create an empress, the officials largely wanted Emperor Xuan to marry Huo Guang's daughter Huo Chengjun and create her empress. Emperor Xuan did not explicitly reject this proposal but issued an order to seek out the sword that he owned as a commoner. Getting the hint, the officials recommended Consort Xu as empress, and she was created as such late in 74 B.C.

Huo Guang's wife, Lady Xian, would not be denied her wish of making her daughter an empress, however. In 71 B.C., Empress Xu was pregnant when Lady Xian came up with a plot. She bribed Empress Xu's female physician Chunyu Yan, under the guise of giving Empress Xu medicine after she gave birth, to poison her. Chunyu did so, and Empress Xu died shortly after she gave birth.

Empress Xu had been empress for only three years. She was buried in the South Duling Gardens tomb in Dunan (in the south of Shaoling yuan in present-day eastern Chang’an District) with the posthumous title Empress Gong’ai.

Personality

As empress, Empress Xu was known for her humility and thriftiness.

Connections

Xu Pingjun was the first wife of Emperor Xuan. She had a son Liu Shi.

Father:

Xu Guanghan

Xu Guanghan was an assistant to the Prince of Changyi when young and later became an imperial attendant.

husband:

Liu Bingyi

Liu Bingyi, also known as Emperor Xuan, was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 74 B.C. to 49 B.C.

Son:

Liu Shi

Liu Shi, also known as Emperor Yuan, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He reigned from 48 B.C. to 33 B.C.

References

• 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
• 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
• 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