Zhaolie Wu

Background

Wu Zhaolie was born in 190, in Henan province. Her mother died when she and her elder brother Wu Yi were young, and they accompanied their father when he joined his colleague Liu Yan in Shu, in the region of present-day Sichuan Province.

Career

Wu Zhaolie was married to Liu Mao and this marriage was arranged by her father, who was the colleague of Liu Mao's father (Liu Yan). However, Wu Zhaolie's husband died soon and she became part of Liu Bei’s life as Liu Bei was advised to take her, now a widow, as his wife. Initially, he hesitated, thinking he might be of the same lineage as her deceased husband, Liu Mao, since both men traced their ancestry to Emperor Jing of Western Han, which would have made her almost his sister-in-law. Such a marriage would have been unacceptable according to a strict interpretation of Chinese propriety. However, one of his advisers argued that it was permissible for him to marry her, citing a precedent of the Spring and Autumn period, so Liu Bei took her as his consort and appointed her to the rank of Lady.

When Liu Bei claimed for himself the title of the "King of Hanzhong" in 219, he made Wu Zhaolie his queen consort. The following year the Han emperor, Emperor Xian, abdicated in favor of Cao Pi, who immediately declared himself emperor (Emperor Wen, r. 220-226) of the Wei dynasty. Not prepared to swear fealty to Cao Pi’s Wei dynasty, Liu Bei claimed that Emperor Xian had been murdered and, basing the legitimacy of his own claim to the heavenly mandate on his imperial bloodline, he established the kingdom of Shu Han in early 221. He declared himself emperor and named the childless Lady Wu as his empress, to serve the ancestral temple and be mother over his empire.

Liu Bei had reigned for only two years before he died, in 223, and was succeeded by his son, Liu Shan, whose mother, Lady Gan (Gan, Empress of the Former Sovereign of Shu), had died two years earlier. As the principal consort and empress of the young emperor’s father, Lady Wu was named Empress Dowager Mu. She lived on into middle age and died in 245. She was buried in Huiling (in present-day Chengdu) alongside Liu Bei and his secondary consort Lady Gan.

Achievements

• Wu Zhaolie was known in Chinese history as the last wife and the only empress of Liu Bei.

Connections

Wu Zhaolie was married to Liu Mao. After Liu Mao's death, she did not remarry for some time. Later she became the wife of Liu Bei. She had no children.

Brother:

Wu Yi

Wu Yi was a general of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China.

late-husband:

Liu Mao

husband:

Bei Liu

Liu Bei was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler.

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
• 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