Taihou Bian

Background

Bian Taihou was born in 159 in Bai Village, in present-day Shandong. She was a daughter of Bian Yuan. It is known that she was born to a poor family.

Career

When Bian Taihou was 20, Cao Cao took her as a concubine. Lady Bian frequently accompanied Cao Cao as he moved about the countryside on his military adventures and she is said to have always shown great concern for the elderly. In 189, when Cao Cao fled from Dong Zhuo at Luoyang, Yuan Shu spread rumors that Cao Cao had died. Lady Bian refused to believe them and persuaded Cao Cao's followers not to desert him. When Cao Cao returned, he was impressed at her conduct.

After the death of Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, Cao Cao's wife Lady Ding (who was not Cao Ang's biological mother but adopted him as her own) left him, never coming back. He then made Lady Bian his principal wife. In 216 Cao Cao had been made the King of Wei and three years later Emperor Xian of Han made Lady Bian the Queen of Wei.

In 220, Cao Cao died and Cao Pi inherited his title as the King of Wei, and later that year forced Emperor Xian to abdicate in his favor, ending the Han dynasty and establishing the state of Cao Wei. Queen Dowager Bian became empress dowager. She was not much involved in her son's administration or in his campaigns. Empress Dowager Bian had led a simple life. She did not wear dresses of silk and all her utensils were made of black (clay). When the national treasury did not have sufficient funds, she offered to cut her food budget and set aside the gold and silver utensils.

After Empress Dowager Bian's son, Cao Pi, died in 226, his son Cao Rui became emperor, and he honored his grandmother as grand empress dowager. She died in 230 at the age of seventy-one and was buried alongside Cao Cao in present-day Hebei Province with the posthumous title Empress Wuxuan (Wuxuan Huanghou).

Achievements

• Bian Taihou was known in Chinese history as an empress who lived during the Three Kingdoms period of China. She was also known for her wisdom and modesty.

Personality

Bian Taihou was known for her piety, wisdom, and humility.

Connections

Bian Taihou was the wife of Cao Cao. She bore him four sons and two daughters.

Father:

Bian Yuan

husband:

Cao Cao

Cao Cao was a Chinese warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty.

Son:

Cao Pi

Cao Pi was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Son:

Cao Zhang

Cao Zhang was a prince of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Son:

Cao Zhi

Cao Zhi was a prince of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and an accomplished poet in his time.

Son:

Cao Xiong

Cao Xiong was a son of Cao Cao, a warlord who rose to power towards the end of the Han dynasty and laid the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Daughter:

Jie Cao

Cao Jie was an empress of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.

Daughter:

Cao Hua

Brother:

Bian Bing

References

• Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States With Pei Songzhi's Commentary By Chen Shou. Translated by Robert Joe Cutter and William Gordon Crowell.
  1999
• 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