100 Famous Women in China

21. 荀灌娘 Xun Guanniang (a kungfu girl)
Xun Guanniang (303—360 AD) was the first girl in the history of China, who had kungfu and could fight on horseback. She was born a hundred years earlier than Hua Mulan (412—502 AD). She was the great great granddaughter of Xun Yu (163—212 AD), who was a famous adviser of the warlord Cao Cao.
        It was in the second warring period (265—589 AD), and in the third moon of 317 AD, when Xun Guanniang was only thirteen. Her father, Xun Song (263—329 AD) was a general guarding Wan town. Du Zeng, a magistrate, wanted to betray the emperor and took Wan town as his base. He commanded his two thousand soldiers and came to surround the town. There were only one thousand men for the defense. The attack lasted for several days and Du Zeng could not take the town yet. But casualties on both sides increased. Besides, the provisions were less and less in the town since it was surrounded by the enemy. The situation was so serious that someone must volunteer to break enemy's surrounding line to get reinforcement from other cities. For a couple of days, no one volunteered. General Xun Song wanted to go himself. But as he was the commander, people could not defend the town without his leadership. At that critical moment, the girl of thirteen stood forth for the difficult task. Others were doubtful whether a girl of such age could succeed. She analyzed that the enemy's soldiers were all exhausted. They looked okay in the daytime, but in the night they must fall in sound sleep. She added that if she could have a few bravest fighters with her, they could steal through enemy's line under the cover of night. No one could disagree, or they would all die, if not in combat, but of starvation.
        Thus they broke through the line with little fighting. When they reached the nearest city, the magistrate there agreed to help. So when the reinforcement came to attack the enemies from the back, the defenders in the town went out to attack from front. Du Zeng was defeated and the town was safe. The girl was praised by all the townsfolk that she could finish such a difficult job at so young age.

22， 劉蘭芝 Liu Lanzhi (a woman of tragic death)
Liu Lanzhi (?--?) was the wife of a petty official, Jiao Chongqing (?--?), living in Lujiang town of present Anhui province, towards the end of East Han dynasty (25—220 AD). She was a nice girl from a well-to-do family. She could weave at thirteen, could make dress at fourteen, could play harp at fifteen, and could read classics at sixteen. She married her husband at seventeen.
        Jiao family consisted of the old widow, his mother, her mother-in-law, and his young sister. At first the couple lived a harmonious life. But his mother was very picky and fastidious. She did not like her daughter-in-law for no reason at all. Perhaps, like other old widows, she depended on her son as her life company after the death of her husband. Now the daughter-in-law came and it seemed as if she took away her life company and left her alone. Therefore, she hated the wife of her son and tried to drive her away.
        She often complained to her son that his wife was not nice to her and disobeyed her. In fact, the daughter-in-law was very nice and filial to her. She listened to her mother-in-law for whatever she said. Anyway, the mother decided to get rid of his wife. In old China, there were seven rules for a wife to be driven back to where she came from, i.e., the house of her parents. The seven rules were that she disobeyed her mother- or father-in-law; that she did not bear a son (a daughter did not count); that she was lewd; that she jealous if her husband had concubines; that she had severe diseases; that she liked to gossip; and that she stole from her husband's house for the family of her parents. She did not bear any children for her son yet.
        Jiao Chongqing was a filial son and under the pressure of his mother, who often threatened her son with suicide if he did not send his wife away. He had one day to harden up his heart and bid farewell to his wife. He promised her to get her back some day when he persuaded his mother to accept her. But Liu Lanzhi had no confidence about it. She went back to the home of her parents, to whom it was a disgrace that their daughter was sent back. So they had to marry their daughter to another man. The daughter could not disobey her parents and agreed to marry again. But in her mind, she determined to end her life to the rule that a woman should never remarry. The night before her wedding day to another man, she went out and threw herself in a pond near her home. When Jiao Chongqing heard of the death of his ex-wife, he hanged himself on the branch of a tree in the courtyard of his home. They were buried together at the foot of Huagai Mountain. Local people grew pine trees and cypresses around their grave. An anonymous poet wrote a long poem about their sad story.
        A legend developed that there were a pair of mandarin ducks flying about the trees, crying bitterly. Young couples in the subsequent dynasties came to visit their tomb in hopes that the deceased couple would bless them to have a happy result for their love.

23. 貂蟬 Diao Chan (the third beauty of the four beauties)
Diao Chan (?--?) was the third beauties of the four beauties in the history of China. (As for the fourth beauty Imperial Concubine Yang, please read my book Love Tales of Ancient China.) Her surname was Ren and her given name was also unknown. Her own parents were unknown, too. Being beautiful and clever, she was selected at the age of fifteen to enter the palace and appointed to be a handler of headwear for the empress and concubines. Her job title was Diaochan. Hence, historians called her Diaochan.
        Then there was a riot in the palace, and Diaochan escaped from the palace. She was then  adopted by Wang Yong (137—192 AD) as his daughter. Wang Yong was an official of high rank towards the end of East Han dynasty. At that time, Dong Zhuo was in power as head of courtiers. He was a corrupt man. Wang Yong and other courtiers wanted to kill him. Once Cao Cao, a petty officer then, went to assassinate him, but failed and escaped. The event was that Cao Cao had a good dagger and knew that Dong Zhuo liked good weapons. Therefore, carrying the dagger, he went to see Dong Zhuo, who was then napping. When Cao Cao was about to draw out  the dagger to stab Dong, suddenly Dong opened his eyes and asked Cao what he was doing. Cao said that he got a good dagger and came to offer it to Dong. As Dong took it, Cao bade farewell and fled out of the capital secretly.
        So Wang Yong had no chance to kill Dong. When he adopted the girl, a wonderful idea struck him. Dong was a lewd man and liked beautiful girls. Therefore, Wang Yong made up a scheme called 「Beauty Entrapment.」 Dong Zhuo had an adopted son by name of Luu Bu (?--199 AD), who was known as the bravest and more skillful knight at the time. Luu was young and still single.
        The trick was carried out like this. First Wang Yong invited Luu for dinner at home. When dinner went on midway, Wang let Diaochan come out to toast Luu. At the first sight of the girl, Luu fell in love with her right off as she was such a beauty. Wang thereby promised to marry the girl, declared as his daughter, to Luu. Luu was glad and grateful.
        Next day, Wang Yong invited Dong Zhuo for dinner at his home. When Dong came, Wang let Diaochan come out to toast Dong. The girl was declared to be a singsong girl to entertain guests. As she was so beautiful, Dong liked her at once. When dinner was over, Dong took the girl with him even without asking for the permission of Wang. If the girl was declared as Wang's daughter, Dong could not take her away so freely. But a singsong girl had no status in society, Dong could do anything with her as he liked. Because Dong was so powerful, Wang could not say NO to him. If the girl was declared to be his daughter, Wang could say NO. That was the point of the trick. So far so good for the ruse.
        A few days later, Luu Bu came to ask when the wedding could take place. Wang was silent. Luu inquired again, and again no answer. At last, Luu forced Wang for an immediate reply. Want sighed and said with tears in his eyes, 「A few days ago, I invited your (adoptive) father for dinner. When he saw my daughter, he just took her away without even asking my permission.」 Hearing this, Luu began to hate Dong for robbing him of his wife. But he did not go to see Dong to demand an explanation. He was a bit afraid of his adoptive father.
        One day, Luu came to Dong's residence and met Dong in the Fengyi Arbor in the garden. Chinese people liked to give names to their arbors and pavilions so that when they mentioned the names they knew where they would meet. When they were talking in the arbor, Diaochan intentionally came bringing cups of tea. She looked at Luu with teary eyes as if saying that she really loved Luu, but was unwillingly taken by Dong. Luu met with Diaochan's eyes, but he could say nothing before Dong. Dong detected the love eye contact between the girl and Luu. He flared up and wanted to kill Luu, but Luu ran away. When Dong told it to one of his advisers, he said that Dong should not offend such a brave general for a girl and that Dong should give the girl to Luu so Luu would be thankful to him and even willing to die for him. Dong considered it over and over and made his final decision to follow the advice. When he talked to the girl, she started to cry bitterly, saying that she did not like Luu, and that if she was forced to leave Dong, she would rather kill herself. Finally Dong let her stay with him. The trick went on smoothly.
        At last all courtiers encouraged and instigated Luu to kill Dong. They said that as a young hero, Luu should not let his wife be occupied by another man and that he must take her back. The only way to take the girl back was to kill Dong. Luu thus made up his mind and killed Dong. Then he took Diaochan to his residence and married her.
        No long afterwards, some Dong's followers revolted and Luu escaped with Diaochan to a small town called Xiapi. Wang Yong was killed by the followers. After the death of Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao rose in power and conquered the followers. Then he attacked Luu Bu, who was killed. As for the end of Diaochan, there were two legends. One was that she hanged herself to follow her husband Luu Bu to Hades. The other was that Cao Cao captured her after the death of Luu, and no one knew what became of her later.

24. 謝道蘊 Xie Daoyun (a famous poetess)
Xie Daoyun (350—405 AD) was a famous poetess in the history. With the above two, Ban Zhao, Cai Wenji and she were known as the three talented women in the early history of China. She was the niece of Xie An (320—385 AD), a famous politician and general, and the daughter-in-law of Wang Xizhi (303—361 AD), a renowned calligrapher. The most known event of her was that one day in winter when it was snowing heavily, the flakes were hovering down. Xie An, one of his nephews and the girl were gathering to look at the flying snow flakes. Xie An asked who could use something in comparison to describe the flying snow flakes. The nephew said, 「Casting salts into the air is the right comparison.」 But the girl said, 「It's better to compare it to the catkins flying in the wind.」 Catkins were better comparison than salts to the snow flakes. So poets in subsequent dynasties said that she had catkin talent.
        It was a tradition that on the third day of her marriage, a girl could return to the home of her parents and the parents would inquire her what she felt about the marriage. So did her parents to her, she was dissatisfied with he husband. When her parents said that he was a good man without any defects in his character. She answered that he was okay, but a good-for-nothing while his cousins and his brother were all talented and had their own careers. Once the brother (also a famous calligrapher as the father) of her husband was cornered in a debate by a quest. She came out to his rescue. She put the guest in a corner by her eloquence and reasoning.
        Then some rebels came and killed her husband. When she heard of it, she ran out with a sword, but was captured after she killed several rebels. The leader of the rebels respected her bravery and faithfulness to her husband, and let her go. She lived the rest of her life as a widow. The magistrate learned her fame and came to visit her. She had a screen put between herself and the guest. They had a pleasant conversation. After it, the magistrate expressed his admiration of her talent.

25. 劉楚玉 Liu Chuyu (having thirty love mates)
Liu Chuyu (446—465 AD) was princess Shanyin. Her husband (446—482 AD) was the son of an official of high rank. Once the princess said to the emperor, his brother, 「We come from the same father. Although we have the difference of sex, why you can have many women while I can have only one man? It's not fair to me.」 Therefore, the emperor, Liu Ziye (449—465 AD), got thirty handsome men for her. Courtier Zhu Yuan (435—482 AD) was very handsome. But he was an upright person.
        However, the princess wanted to take a look at him first, secretly, to see if she liked him. The emperor sent for the courtier in his royal study, and the princess peeped at him from behind a screen. After she set eyes on him, she liked him very much. She asked the emperor to let him accompany her for ten days. So the emperor ordered Zhu Yuan to stay in a special pavilion for ten days. In the night of the first day, the princess went to see him and wanted to sleep with him. But as soon as the princess approached him, Zhu Yuan stood up to salute the princess. For the whole night, he stood there with little move about. The princess said, 「You look a man, but you don't act like a man.」 He replied, 「As a man, I can't do such a thing.」 Whatever the princess did to force him, he would never give in. On the last day of the ten days, the princess had to let him go.
        Liu Yu (439—472 AD) was the uncle of the emperor. He always thought that the throne should belong to him. Then on the twenty-ninth day of the eleventh moon in 465 AD, he sent someone to kill the emperor and made himself the emperor, Emperor Ming. Next day, he gave an edict in the name  of the empress dowager to order the princess to commit suicide for the reason that she was a lewd woman. The princess must obey the order of her mother. Therefore, she hanged herself.

26. 潘玉兒 Pan YuEr (a woman who could whip the emperor)
Pan YuEr (?--?) was not only beautiful with white skin and fine figure, but the most famous feature of her beauty was her lovely little feet. She was born in a vendor's family. Her father, almost illiterate, gave her the name called Nizi (literally meaning 「Little Girl」). Such a name was deemed vulgar. But her beauty attracted everyone who caught sight of her. They lived from hand to mouth, and so, when she grew into teenage, she often went to help her father sell things. She was familiar with market and trading. Once her mother had a chance to enter the palace as a wet nurse to feed the crown prince.
        It was not until 498 AD when the crown prince succeeded the throne and became the emperor. As he often heard the mother, his wet nurse, talk about the girl, he had always yearned for her. Now he sent for her to the palace and made her the imperial concubine. Her beauty stunned him as he first set eyes on her. Her white skin glittered like pure jade. So he changed her name to YuEr (literally meaning 「Jade Girl」). He had a new hall built for her. The floor was covered with engraved lotus patterns so that every step of her landed her on a lotus pattern. It was called that her steps produced lotus flowers.
        Her feet were so small and lovely. He was a foot fetishist. He liked to caress her white feet and kiss her toes one by one and licked them in turns. Sometimes he bit her big toe and when she felt a big painful, she beat his back with a stick. And he liked it. He was a masochist. In the long Chinese history, Pan YuEr was the sole concubine who could beat the emperor like whipping a slave. Instead of a concubine waiting on the emperor, this emperor liked to wait on her. He made tea for her and massaged her back and legs.
        Once she said to the emperor that she had liked the life in a market place. Therefore,  he built a market for her, and let maids and eunuchs play the roles of traders and customers. Sometimes, the emperor would let some traders pretend to offend some rules and be brought to the presence of Pan YuEr, who would decide how to punish them. She enjoyed this very much. Once YuEr pretended to be the owner of a wine shop and stood behind the counter to sell wine, and the emperor played the part of the customer. And sometimes the emperor acted like a butcher standing behind a booth to sell pork, and the concubine came as a buyer.
        This life style of the imperial couple enraged courtiers. Some of them criticized the emperor. The emperor killed them. He even killed his kinsfolk till one day his brother, afraid of being killed, too, could no longer endure it. He marched his troops to surround the capital and killed the emperor. He gave the girl to one of his generals as a reward for his merits. The general held a banquet to celebrate it. When all the guests wanted to see the beauty that they had heard of so much and so long, the general led them to his bedroom, where the girl should stay to wait for his arrival for the night. But as the door was opened they saw the girl hanging herself from the beam, and still looking beautiful.

27. 徐昭佩 Xu Zhaopei (the woman having makeup on half of her face)
Xu Zhaopei (?--549 AD) was the wife of Emperor Yuan of Liang dynasty (502—557 AD), which was a short dynasty during the second warring period. In the twelfth moon of 517 AD, she went to where the emperor lived. On her way there, there were strong winds that blew down houses, then snow storm came. When she arrived there, there were pealing thunders that shattered a pillar. All these were considered as bad omen.
        After marriage, she bore a son and a daughter for him. As the emperor had one eye blind, Xu did not like him and was often rude to him. The emperor disliked her, too. Once when he went to her room, she only put the makeup on half of her face to imply that the emperor had only one eye good. So the emperor was enraged and seldom to see her ever since.
        She then had adultery with some other people. The first one was a monk and she often went to his temple. The second one was Ji, a favorite courtier of the emperor. They had the action in the temple, too. After the action, they lay on bed and composed poems to each other.
        Xu was a jealous woman. Whenever the emperor liked someone, she would find a way to murder her. Although the emperor disliked her, he liked her son and made him the crown prince. But the son died in a battle. The emperor forced her, the mother, to commit suicide. Finally she threw herself into a well and drowned inside it. Then the emperor revealed her lewd action to let people know it so that he forced her to make suicide was not without reason.

28. 婁昭君 Lou Zhaojun (she married a common man, who became emperor finally)
Lou Zhaojun (501—562 AD) had a legendary life. Her father was a courtier of high rank. When she grew up, many official families came to see her father to ask for her hand, but she denied all the suitors. She wanted to find a man fit to be her husband.
        One day, she saw a man, a general, called Gao Huan (496—547 AD), doing some work at the battlements. She knew how to read the face. His face showed that he would be a leader of a state some day. Therefore, she married him. Although a general, he had no money. She gave him money and let him use it to make friends with all the known heroes of the time. Besides, she offered stratagems so that he could win merits in battles. He was promoted to be the premier.
        When Gao Huan got powerful enough, she helped him to establish a new state, named North Qi. Gao became the emperor and she was the empress. She had born six sons and two daughters for him. Three of her sons were emperors in different times. Her daughters both became empresses of other states. She was frugal by nature. As the empress she would weave and sew herself. She treated her own children and the children of other concubines equally. Once she made sacrifice for her husband.
        To strengthen his power for the situation, he should marry the princess of Ruru State. When he asked his empress if this was right for him to do, Empress Lou gave her ascent without hesitation. When Princess Ruru came, she let her be the empress and herself be the concubine. For that, she was praised by people in the small empire. The emperor had one wife and ten concubines. He had fifteen sons and three daughters in all.
        Once when she was pregnant and got into hard labor, someone wanted to send urgent massage to the emperor, but she would not agree. At last she gave birth to twin babies, a son and a daughter. When the emperor returned and learned the condition, he was greatly moved.
        Once he was defeated. A general came to offer to lead an army for the revenge. The emperor was glad and about to consent, but empress Lou said no. She explained that if the general had an army under command, whether he won or lost in the fight, he would never come back to obey him any more. He would be independent with an army in his control. So the emperor did not let the general go. The general later did betray another emperor in another state.
        When the emperor, Gao Huan, died, his eldest son Gao Cheng became the emperor. Lou Zhaojun, as empress dowager, controlled the power. When Gao Cheng died, her son Gao Yang took the throne. Not long later, Gao Yang died, too. His son, Gao Yin, succeeded the throne. Gao Yin was the grandson of Lou. As Gao Yin was not a good emperor, the empress dowager deposed him and made him Prince JiNan. Then her another son Gao Yan was made the emperor. Not long afterwards, Gao Yan also died. She made her another son Gao Zhan the emperor, and made two other sons the princes. She died at the age of sixty-two.

29. 穆黃花 Mu Huanghua (an empress became the bawd)
Mu Huanghua (?--?) was the third empress of the emperor Gao Wei, the last emperor of North Qi dynasty. Her mother was a maid in the family of some courtier. Then she was raped by the courtier and bore the girl. When the girl grew up, she went to the palace. At first she was the maid of the first empress of the emperor. Once the emperor saw her and liked her. She became his concubine. In 572 AD, she was made the empress when the original empress died. In 577 AD, another state invaded North Qi and took the capital. The emperor and Mu had to escape. But the emperor was captured, and Mu ran away to ChangAn city, where to make her living, she opened a brothel and became the bawd. Her brothel was at the time well-known on both sides of the Yangtze River. This was a weird experience to her from an empress to a bawd.

30. 花木蘭 Hua Mulan (the first of the four heroines)
Hua Mulan (412—502 AD) was one of four heroines in Chinese history, fighting in the battlefield. The other three were Fan Lihua (Tang dynasty), Mu Guiying (North Song dynasty), and Liang Hongyu (South Song dynasty). Her story goes back to the second warring period. She had an elder sister and younger brother. But both of them could not fight. When Mulan was still young, a minority in the north invaded her country. Then an order was issued that every family must have one man to join the army for defense against the invasion. Mulan's father was too old. Her brother was too young. When a little girl she liked to learn how to fight as her father knew the fighting skills. She was just grown up, and so she offered to go instead of her father,  but in disguise of a young man, using her brother's name,.
        At that time, the government of the country did not supply a fighter with necessary equipment such as weapon, horse, armor and helmet, etc. Therefore, she had to go to the market to buy all these for herself. She was attired as a man should wear. Then she rode to the registration at the recruit's site. She was sent to the frontier with other recruits. She fought bravely in the battlefields and won a lot of merits. No one knew that she was a woman. After twelve years, she returned victoriously. Then she was known to her fellow fighters that she was a woman, which was at the time deemed cheating. The  emperor received her and for her great merits, she was pardoned for the cheating of a good kind. The emperor wanted to let her be an official of high rank in the government, but she excused herself, saying that her father was old, and she must go home to take care of  him. So the emperor let her go.
        Her legend was written down in a long poem called 「Song of Mulan.」 In Tang dynasty, a temple was built in memory of her, and a statue of her was carved and put in the temple.

31. 楊麗華 Yang Lihua (sharing the title of empress with other four women)
Yang Lihua (561—609 AD) was the wife of Emperor Xuan (559—580 AD) of North Zhou dynasty (557—581 AD), a short dynasty in the northern China in the second warring period. Her father was Yang Jian (541—604 AD). Later he began a new dynasty, Sui dynasty, and became emperor Wen. Sui dynasty ended the second warring period and united China. Her mother was Empress Dugu.
        In 573 AD, when she was only thirteen, she married Emperor Xuan and became one of the four empresses. It was the only emperor in the history, who made all his four women empresses. Then he liked the wife of his nephew, who had to rebel and was killed. The emperor took the nephew's wife as his fifth empress. As the emperor led a lewd life, all the courtiers opposed him. Yang Jian at the time was a powerful courtier and supported by others, he deposed the emperor, who died soon after. Then Yang Jian became the emperor of Sui dynasty (581—618 AD). Yang Lihua, his daughter, could not still have the title of empress, and so her father made her Princess Lepin, till her death at the age of forty-nine.

32. 張麗華 Zhang Lihua (empress with special long hair)
Zhang Lihua (560—589 AD) was the favorite concubine of Chen Shubao (553—604 AD). When Chen Shubao was still the crown prince of Chen dynasty (557—589 AD), located to the south of Yangtzer River towards the end of the second warring period, Zhang Lihua was then only ten and entered the palace as the maid to a concubine of the crown prince. When she grew up, she was so beautiful and clever. The most conspicuous thing about her was her long black hair, more than two meters long. She was proud of her long hair. Every morning she spent a lot of time to comb her hair and did her hair up into a stylist knot. When the crown prince saw her one day, her beauty was so attractive to him that he took her as his concubine. He liked her long hair very much, which was unique. The crown prince was a famous poet.
        In 582 AD, the crown prince succeeded the throne and Zhang became his favorite concubine. This emperor was talented in music and literature. His poems were so well-known and many handed down to us. One of his famous poems runs as follows:
        Up on west tower alone, wordless,
        The moon looks like a hook.
        With the solitary Chinese parasol,
        The deep backyard locking the cool autumn in.

        Scissor'd, but not sever'd,
        Put in order, yet in disorder,
        Is the parting sorrow;
        There's an unusual sensation at heart.
As Zhang Lihua could dance gracefully, the emperor composed a famous piece of music, and Zhang Lihua danced to it. The imperial couple led a lewd and dissipated life. At that time, all the separate independent states to the north of the Yangtze River were conquered by Sui dynasty. Only the Chen dynasty to the south of the Yangtze River still survived. In 589 AD, Sui army came to the capital. When  the imperial couple was reported that Sui army entered the city, they tied themselves together and jumped into a well. But as the well was an old one without water in it, they did not die. Then Sui soldiers got them out. Zhang Lihua was killed because the commander thought that as she was so beautiful, if the Sui emperor saw her, he would take her to be his concubine, which might cause Sui dynasty to collapse like this Chen dynasty. The Chen emperor was captured and taken to be imprisoned and died a few years later.

33， 獨孤皇后 Empress Dugu (empress who'd not let emperor have other women)
Empress Dugu (543—602 AD) was the wife of Yang Jian (541—604 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui dynasty (581—618 AD). She bore a daughter, Yang Lihua (see above), and sons, Yang Yong (568—604 AD) and Yang Guang (569—618 AD).
        Dugu married the emperor at fourteen. She was a very jealous woman. When she married him, they had an agreement that he would never touch any other women. She abolished the system that an emperor could have many concubines. She would not allow her husband to have any concubines. Once he had an action with a girl in the palace, the girl was later killed by Dugu. Luckily for her, she had born children for him. She also forbade her sons to have more than one woman. She forbade the palace maids to put on makeup and to gain access to the emperor without her permission. She even interfered with the courtiers in their marital affairs. Once a courtier's wife died, and he married another woman. Dugu let the emperor demote him, because her idea in marriage was that if a man could not be faithful to his wife and needed another woman, how could he be loyal to the sovereign? So she wanted to maintain one husband and one wife system. Besides, if a woman was not allowed to remarry as a tradition, a man should not be allowed to remarry, too.
        Anyway, she was just in dealing with state affairs. She often offered her opinions to the emperor and he always thought that her opinions were right. Once one of her cousins committed some severe crime, and according to the law, he must be executed. However, the emperor, considering his relationship with the empress, intended to pardon him from his death sentence. When Dugu learned it, she said that the law must be just, and could not be disregarded owing to special conditions. The cousin thereby was executed.
        Once an official presented to her a box of costly pearls. She said to him, 「This is not what I need. You can use them as rewards to soldiers who are fighting at the frontier.」 She never gave her relatives positions of high ranks. At first, as Yang Yong was the eldest son, he was made the crown prince. Nevertheless, he sought obscenity and merry-making, which the emperor and empress disliked. Besides, the crown prince had four concubines and ignored his wife. All that was against the wishes of the empress. Therefore, he was deposed and his brother Yang Guang was made the crown prince. The empress died before the emperor in the eighth moon of 602 AD, at the age of fifty.

34. 蕭美娘 Xiao Meiniang (an empress married many times)
Xiao Meiniang (582 AD--? ) was the wife of Emperor Yang (Yang Guang) of Sui dynasty. He was the second and last emperor of Sui dynasty. She was a princess of Emperor Ming (542—585 AD) of West Liang dynasty (555—587 AD). As she was born in the second moon, superstitious tradition said that a girl born in the second moon could not bear sons. So she was given to the uncle, and when the uncle died, she was adopted by her maternal uncle, who was poor, and she must do all the housework.
        When Yang Guang was still crown prince, his father wanted to choose a wife for him. The superstitious tradition had it that the birthday and birth time of both the girl and the boy should be given to a fortune-teller, who would tell if that of the girl and that of the boy were fit to each other. If they were not fit, and the girl and boy married, misfortune would befall them. All the girls in the area were not fit to be the wife of the crown prince by the calculation of the fortune-teller. Finally a fit girl was found. She was Xiao Meiniang. Therefore, she became the wife of the crown prince. When the crown prince succeeded the throne, she was made the empress. She bore two sons and a daughter for him.
        The emperor was a lewd  and corrupt man. But he had a great job done. It was the Great Canal, beginning from Luoyang city to Hangzhou city. It made the transportation of goods from south to north easier than before. It was finished by connecting some natural rivers through a lot of digging. But some historians said that the purpose of the emperor wanted to make the Great Canal was that he wanted to travel comfortably on the ship to Yangzhou city, where the most beautiful peonies grew. And it was also said that women in Yangzhou city were all beautiful. When he stayed there to enjoy his extravagant days, he was murdered by a general he trusted. Then there rose many warlords all over the nation.
        There were two legends about her end. One was that after the death of the emperor she left the palace and wandered with her grandson like vagabonds till her death without remarrying. The other was that she was taken by the general who had murdered the emperor. When the general died, a warlord got her. Then she was captured by the chieftain of a minority in the north. Finally the famous Emperor Taizong (599—649 AD) of Tang dynasty (618—907 AD) conquered the minority and took her back to the capital. It was said that she became the wife of the Tang emperor.

35. 紅拂女 Hongfu (literally meaning red duster)
Hongfu (?--?) was the nickname and her real name was Zhang Chuchen. But better known as Hongfu in the history. Her father was a general and killed in a battle. Her mother was taken by Yang Su (544-606 AD) a general, and later the first courtier of Sui dynasty, as a wet nurse. She brought her daughter with her. So Hongfu grew up in the residence of Yang Su, and in her girlhood, she became a waiting girl to Yang Su. She often stood a little behind him when he sat on the chair to receive guests. On such occasions, She often held a red duster in hand, hence her nickname.
        There was a young man by name of Li Jing (571—649 AD). He was a man of talent and ambition, a strategist as well. Therefore, he came to the capital to seek for fame and a bright future. As he could not directly go to see the emperor, he went to see Yang Su first and became one of Yang's hangers-on, which meant people having food and board in Yang's residence working like advisers. At first, Yang did not think much of Li Jing as he had so many hangers-on in his residence. Once Yang had a talk with him and came to know that this man was talented. But he did not recommend him to the emperor, which was what Li desired. Therefore, Li was disappointed.
        When Yang had the talk with Li, Hongfu was present and had also such opinion of him. She admired him to much that one night she went to see him in his room, just as Li was sad and uncertain of his future. When he heard the knock at his door he opened it and saw the girl who had stood behind Yang in his conversation with Yang. When Hongfu was invited in and sat down, she revealed her purpose to come. She offered herself to be his life mate. Li was so happy and accepted. Then they eloped under the cover of night.
        The couple were disguised as merchants and went to ChangAn city where another Li family lived as magistrate, and afterwards, this Li family united the whole country and established Tang dynasty (618—907 AD). Li Jing went to visit Li Shiming, the famous Emperor Taizong later, to offer his service. Li Shiming thought highly of him. When Sui dynasty collapsed with the murder of the Sui emperor, there arose many warlords. Although there were constant wars among the warlords, historians did not define this period  of time as  a warring period, because it lasted very short, only for seven years and the whole nation was united by Tang dynasty. As Li Shiming wanted to unite the nation,he accepted all the known heroes that came to serve him. In the wars conquering other warlords, Li Jing and Hongfu, who could fight, achieved a lot of merits. When the Tang dynasty united the country, Li Jing was rewarded with the title of Duke Weiguo. And Hongfu was his ladyship.

36. 平陽公主 Princess Pinyang (a female commander)
Princess Pinyang (580—623 AD) was the sister of Emperor Taizong by the name of Li Xiuning. She was the only woman in the history who organized and commanded an army. Other women before her, if they could fight, just fought as a female general, not commanding an army.
         In the fifth moon of 617 AD, Li family decided to subdue all the warlords and united the country. At the time Princess Pinyang was in ChangAn city while the Li family lived in Taiyuan city. She was married to a general and lived in ChangAn city with her husband. When she got the information that her family would take up arms against all the warlords, she started to recruit enough men to form an army. Her husband went to Taiyuan city first to join in the combats. There were some small groups of rebels. She sent someone to persuade them one by one to join her army, which enlarged greatly. She even defeated several attacks from the army of Sui dynasty.
        After the death of Emperor Yang of Sui dynasty, there were warlords occupying separate  independent areas. It was the duties of Emperor Taizong now to wipe out all the warlords. And the princess only stayed in the pass called Woman Pass, which was the throat to enter where there was the base of Li family. She must guard it. Her task was very important. If any warlord entered the Pass, the safety of her family would be threatened. Anyway, she defended the Pass well against any attacks till the unity of the nation. The name of the Pass was in memory of her. When she died, the army under her command held a military funeral for her. It was the only funeral that was held by an army for a female in the history.

37. 長孫皇后 Empress Changsun ( a virtuous woman, never jealous)
Empress Changsun (03/15/601—07/28/636 AD) was the wife of the famous Emperor Taizong  (599—649 AD) of Tang dynasty (618—907 AD). Her father was a general in Sui dynasty and died when she was only eight years old. She was brought up by her maternal uncle. She married Emperor Taizong at the age of thirteen when Emperor Taizong was then only Prince Qin. She was the ladyship of the prince Qin. The crown prince was the eldest brother of Prince Qin, and he had a younger brother. The three of them vied for the throne, of course, like in many dynasties.  The crown prince was no good as a ruler, and the younger brother was a fighter, not fit to be a ruler. To be a ruler needed many qualities. Only Prince Qin had such qualities. Therefore, all the generals of Tang dynasty supported him. It was not just because they thought Prince Qin was a talented man, suitable to be the emperor, but also because they had fought together with him so long in the process of subduing all the warlords.
        On the second day of the seventh moon in 626 AD, there was a coup d'état. Helped by the generals, Prince Qin killed his two brothers and became Emperor Taizong. His father was on the throne at the time, but he could not control the situation as all the generals did not listen to him, and only obey his second son. Therefore, after the coup d'état, the father gave up the throne to the son  and became the retired emperor.  Ladyship Zhangsun was due to be the empress. She bore for the emperor three sons and four daughters. Later her youngest son became the crown prince and then the emperor, Emperor Gaozong, the husband of Empress Wu the Great. That's another book I wrote.
        She was a virtuous woman, never jealous. She treated other concubines and maids and eunuchs nicely. So the palace was peaceful, no competitions between concubines for the special favor of the emperor. She often educated the children, no matter those of her own or those of other concubines, equally that they must be frugal, not extravagant. She always gave the emperor good advice, and whenever the emperor made any mistakes, she would persuade him to correct them. She even dissuaded the emperor to give her own brother a powerful position, lest the brother turned arrogant because he had power and then made unpardonable mistakes.
        When she was seriously sick, the emperor wanted to have a ceremony in a temple to pray for her quick recovery, but she disagreed to it. She was not a superstitious person. She did not believe in prayer to make sickness better. She died at the age of thirty-six. When she was sepulchered in imperial grave, the emperor did two things for her that no other emperors did before or after for their spouses. Firstly he had a collage built in front of her grave and let some maids live there like to wait on her as if she was still alive. Secondly he had a high tower built in the palace so that whenever he thought of his empress, he could mount it to watch her grave. However, for this tower, he accepted the advice of a courtier later and demolished it.

38﹐ 樊梨花 Fan Lihua (the second of the four heroines)
Fan Lihua (?--?) lived in the reign of Emperor Taizong. She was one of the four heroines. Her father was originally a general of the Sui dynasty. When this dynasty was overthrown, he escaped to a minority in the west of present China. When Tang dynasty sent army to conquer that minority, Fan Lihua helped her father to resist Tang army. But once when she saw the son of the commander of Tang army, who came out of the camp, to fight, she fell in love with him. Therefore, she and her father  surrendered to Tang dynasty and Fan Lihua married the son of the commander of Tang dynasty. She had great fighting skills and knew strategies. She helped the Tang army to conquer the minority. Later when some tribe in the northwest invaded Tang dynasty, Her father-in-law was made the commander of Tang army again. She went as a female general and fought together with her husband against the invaders.
        When her father-in-law died in the battlefield, she, not her husband, succeeded the position of the commander, as she could fight better and knew how to use stratagems while her husband could only fight. They returned after victory and owing to her great merits, she was given the title of Marquise of Weining. She bore four sons. The third son was a naughty one, and often did something wrong. Once, by accident, the third son killed a prince. That was a serious crime. Therefore the whole family were executed. Only Fan Lihua and two of her sons escaped before the execution happened.

39. 武媚娘 Wu Meiniang (the sole female sovereign in China)
Wu Meiniang (02/27/624—12/16/705 AD) was the concubine of Emperor Taizong (599—649 AD), and after the death of emperor Taizong, she was the empress of emperor Gaozong (628—683 AD), the son of emperor Taizong. Such thing happened in the history of China. After the death of emperor Gaozong, she was the empress dowager, and then the empress sovereign.
        She was summoned to the palace at the age of fourteen and was assigned to be in charge of the emperor Taizong's clothes. Soon the emperor was serious sick and the crown prince came everyday to the sick bed to look after his father. As Wu was the woman always waiting on the emperor, she would see the crown prince every time he came. As she was beautiful, the crown prince fell in love with her. When Emperor Taizong died, the crown prince took the throne and became emperor Gaozong. He wanted to make Wu as one of his concubines, but there was an obstacle. As a rule, all the women formerly serving the late emperor must become nuns. Wu was sent to a nunnery. However, the new emperor often went to the nunnery on the excuse to worship Buddha there. In fact, he went there to meet Wu and had affairs with her.
        Anyway, rule or no rule, the emperor could do anything he liked. So one day Wu was carried in a palanquin into the palace, into a special room prepared for her. The empress disliked it, but she must obey the emperor. Wu bore some children for the emperor, but the empress had no child. Therefore, Wu of course became the favorite of the emperor. One day Wu's baby girl was dead and she framed the empress for killing the baby. So the empress was removed from the position, and Wu was made the empress. As the new emperor was not healthy and could not read many of the reports from courtiers, he let Wu help him. Gradually Wu was familiar with how to handle state affairs. By degrees, Wu controlled the situation and had power.
        When Emperor Gaozong died, one of her sons became the new emperor, Wu was the empress dowager. As all the courtier listened to her, she stayed in power. Her son was only a puppet. Supported by courtiers, she declared herself to be the sovereign empress just like the emperor. Her son became a prince. She was the sole female sovereign in the history of China. Under her rule, the country was prosperous. She stayed in such position for tens of years. Some of the courtiers did not like a woman to be the sovereign of the nation, but they did not dare to oppose her openly.
        When Wu grew old, over eighty, and her health was not good, these courtiers who supported the son forced Wu to give up the throne to her son. Therefore, she had to retire and died at age of eighty-four. There was a legend about her. One day in the cold weather, she wanted to have a tour in her imperial garden, and so she gave an order in the poetic form to all the flowers in the garden that they must bloom the next day. The order was like this:
I will go to see the imperial garden tomorrow,
And send this message to Spring right away;
All flowers must be in full bloom overnight,
Don』t wait for morning winds to make them blow.
Tomorrow when she was there, all flowers did blossom except peony. She was angry and sent the flower to Yangzhou city at the Yangtze river. That was why the peony in that city was very flourishing.

40. 文成公主 Princess Wencheng (the princess married to Tibet)
Princess Wencheng (623—680 AD) was the daughter of Emperor Taizong. She was pretty and clever, and was familiar with Chinese culture. She believed in Buddhism.
        Tibet was then independent of China. It became a vassal state to China only in Qing dynasty, but still only in name. It ruled itself independently, even under KMD government, till CPC sent its army into Tibet and actually ruled it. At that time, sometimes it was friendly to Tang government and sometimes invaded Tang territory. It depended on who ruled Tibet. At the time, Songtsen Gampo was the king of Tibet.
It was a leap year in 640 AD. The lunar calendar has a double month in the leap year. There were two tenth moons in that year and in the bissextile tenth moon, the king of Tibet sent someone to the capital of Tang dynasty with five thousand taels of silver and hundreds of gems and other valuables, asking for the hand of one of the princesses. Emperor Taizong was on the throne at that time and agreed to marry Princess Wencheng to the Tibetan king.
On the fifteenth day of the third moon in 641 AD, Emperor Taizong ordered Prince Jiangxia, his cousin, to escort Princess Wencheng to Tibet for the wedding ceremony. When the princess arrived, the king was very happy and had a palace of Tang style built for her. The king also liked the clothes and etiquette of Tang style. Whenever he went to see the princess, he put on gauze clothes of Tang style. According to the history record, the princess brought Tang culture there together with silkworm eggs, which affected the life and customs of Tibetan people. They began to breed silkworms and made silk clothes. She also brought a statue of Sakyamuni, and the king built Ramoche Temple for it. The princess was the second queen of the Tibetan king. His first queen was a princess from Nepal.
In the fifth moon of AD 650, died the king of Tibet, the husband of Princess Wencheng and so the brother-in-law of the present Emperor Gaozong, son of Emperor Taizong, who already died.  Emperor Gaozong was the brother of Princess Wencheng. The son of King Songtsen Gampohad died early and so his grandson was made the king. As the grandson was a child, the prime minister Ludongzan had all the power to rule Tibet. He was talented and so Tibet became strong.
In the second moon of 679 AD, another king of Tibet died, and his son, eight years old, succeeded to the position of king. In the tenth moon, the sad news of the death of the Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo, her husband, sent by Princess Wencheng, who was still alive, arrived in the capital of Tang Dynasty. A courtier Song Lingwen was sent to attend the funeral.
During the tenth moon of 680 AD, Princess Wencheng died in Tibet.