Empress Wu

Life

At fourteen, Wu Shi was selected for service in the palace. At that time, Zhao Gou was still Prince Kang. She was well versed in books and histories and skilled in calligraphy, and her favor steadily increased. After Gaozong ascended the throne, she accompanied him to Siming; when guards plotted a disturbance and entered to ask where the emperor was, she misled them and thereby saved him.

She was soon made Lady of Heyi Commandery, returned to Yue, and was successively advanced as Caizi (also written Cairen), Wanyi, and Guifei. In the thirteenth year of Shaoxing (1143), she was invested as empress from the rank of Guifei. She was also classified as an outer-ranked noblewoman.

After Gaozong abdicated in the thirty-second year of Shaoxing (1162), an imperial edict styled her Taishang Huanghou, Empress of the Retired Emperor. After Xiaozong's accession, she first received the honorific Shousheng, later expanded to Shousheng Qiming Guangci Beide. During Guangzong's reign she was called Shousheng Huangtaihou; after Xiaozong's death she was formally given the title Grand Empress Dowager. When Guangzong claimed illness and did not appear, she accepted Privy Councillor Zhao Ruyu's advice, presided from behind a curtain before Xiaozong's coffin, announced Guangzong's abdication, and installed Prince Jia, Zhao Kuo, as emperor; he became Ningzong.

Family

She was the daughter of Wu Jin; her younger brothers were Wu Yi (1124–1171) and Wu Gai (1125–1166). Her two younger sisters were the wives of Han Cheng and Zhang Shuo, respectively, making Zhang Shuo a brother-in-law. Her nephew was Han Tuozhou; her nephews included Wu Huan and Wu Ting, and she also had an adopted son, Zhao Qu, who was not an heir.

Poetry and death

Two of her poems are now recorded. She was also associated with buildings that Yang Wanli eulogized, described in commemorative prose, or named. She died in the third year of Qingyuan (1197), aged eighty-three; her posthumous title was Xiansheng Cilie, also found in the shorter form Xiansheng.