Empress Yang (Song dynasty)

Empress Gongsheng 恭圣仁烈皇后
Empress of the Southern Song Dynasty
Reign	29 December 1202 – 17 September 1224
Predecessor	Empress Gongshu
Successor	Empress Xie Daoqing
Empress Dowager of the Southern Song Dynasty
Reign	17 September 1224 – 18 January 1233
Born	30 June 1162 Kuaiji, Zhejiang, China
Died	18 January 1233(1233-01-18) (aged 70) Lin'an, Zhejiang, China
Burial	Yongmaoling (永茂陵) Shaoxing, Zhejiang
Spouse	Emperor Ningzong
Issue	Zhao Zeng Zhao Jiong
Posthumous name Empress Gongsheng renlie 恭聖仁烈皇后

Empress Gongsheng (30 June 1162 – 18 January 1233), surnamed Yang, was a Chinese Empress consort of the Song dynasty, married to Emperor Ningzong of Song. She served as the co-regent of Emperor Lizong from 1224 until 1233.^[1] Empress Yang, also known by the name Yang Meizi, is considered "one of the most powerful empresses of the Song dynasty."^[2]

Biography[]

It is said that she came from Kuaiji. She was reportedly either the biological or the adopted daughter of a female musician, Zhang Shansheng (d. 1170), who was at one point employed in the palace, and became and actress in service of the Empress Dowager Wu.^[1] Historical accounts indicate that Zhang Shansheng left the palace, but eventually returned after learning that her daughter would become a famous politician through a vision. Zhang Shansheng then returned to the palace as a court musician, rising through the ranks due to her musical abilities. Empress Wu called for Madame Zhang sometime after her arrival, only to find that Madame Zhang had, by that point, passed away. Yang Meizi, her daughter, was the natural substitute, and was placed immediately into imperial precincts.^[2]

In this position, she came to the attention of the future Emperor Ningzong. She had the palace eunuchs find an official who was willing to be her accomplice in changing her family history, and with his cooperation, she claimed to be the sister of the official Yang Cishan, and assumed his surname Yang.^[1] It is important to note that many biographical details about Empress Yang are unclear, and, while this simply be a product of misplaced facts over the past centuries, some studies have noted the potential for purposeful omissions in her personal details for political reasons.^[2]

Recent historiography uncovered a connection between Yang Meizi and Empress Yang, connecting them after centuries of belief that they were in fact two different people. This discovery led to the upheaval of previous narratives about both people. Yang Meizi, hitherto dismissed as concerned chiefly with romance and beauty, was granted a dimension of leadership and acumen. Empress Yang, already respected, added an aspect of humanity which was formerly foreign.^[2]

Consort[]

In 1195, the first year of the Qingyuan era, she married with Zhao Kuang, and was named the Lady of Pingle Commandery (平乐郡夫人). She was promoted to the title jieyu (婕妤) three years later. In the fifth year of Qingyuan (1199), Yang was promoted to wanyi (婉仪), and to guifei (贵妃) a year later. In 1200, Empress Gongshu died of an illness. Both Beauty Cao (曹美人), described as gentle and submissive, and Yang were favoured by the emperor. Han Tuozhou, an uncle of the dead Empress Han, advised against the appointment of Yang because of her ambition. The Emperor arranged a dinner for each consort to decide which one to make his empress. Yang allowed Cao to have her dinner first. This meant, that the Emperor came to Yang's dinner at night, being already somewhat drunk after having attended the dinner of consort Cao. Yang convinced the drunk emperor to sign the edict making her empress at the table.^[1] The first edict was intercepted by Han Tuozhou, as she had expected. Believing he had won over her, Han Tuozhou relaxed his guard, while Yang triumphed over him by convincing the emperor to sign another edict making her empress.^[1]

Empress Yang did not forgive Han Tuozhou, tried several times to turn the emperor against him, and finally sent her ally Shi Miyuan to murder him in 1207.^[1] The emperor discovered the plot, but she pleaded with him not to side with her enemy less she should commit suicide, and he agreed not to interfere.^[1]

Her ally Shi Miyuan rose in rank and eventually became grand chancellor. Shi Miyuan had a girl placed as a spy with the designated crown prince of the emperor, and in 1223, she reported that the crown prince was planning to depose him when he became emperor.^[1] When Emperor Ningzong died in 1224, Shi Miyuan wished to have another of the Imperial princes, Zhao Yun, placed on the throne instead.^[1] Empress Yang initially refused to cooperate, but when Shi Miyuan threatened to have the entire Yang clan massacred, she agreed to fabricate the edict which installed Zhao Yun on the throne who reigned as Emperor Lizong.^[1]

Artistic Commissions[]

Empress Yang is best known for her collaborations with the Song court painter Ma Yuan. She was a gifted calligrapher, and her poems often graced Ma Yuan's works in a sort of accompaniment or explanation. It can be argued that recent art history values the poems more than the paintings, as they are indicative of the opinions and views of the nobility. Empress Yang's increasing popularity has also made some of her work far more valuable as of late.

Stylistically, Ma Yuan favored the infusion of nature with humans and man-made structures. As was indicative of his time, the landscape is not merely a background, but a subject - a living, dynamic, active player in the work. Depictions of royal architecture are central to his style, partly due to trends in art during his time, but also due to his occupation as a court painter.^[3] Specifically for his work with Empress Yang, light imagery and illustrations of the graceful facets of natural Chinese landscapes - blossoms, bamboo, and mountains are among the most abundant images in works between the two.

A perfect example of such a collaboration is Ma Yuan's Night Banquet, currently housed in Taipei's National Palace Museum. It depicts the title event in the characteristic details of Emperor Ningzong's administration while staying true to the painter's style and the demands of Song artistic culture. In the background, large mountains rise above the horizon, while fog and low clouds occupy the vertical center. Far below, a palace is pictured, with several ministers and court patrons exchanging pleasantries. The arrangement of the features in the work give room above the palace for Empress Yang's calligraphy, which emphasizes the feelings of a warm, damp summer night in Hangzhou, the capital of the Song dynasty. Further connecting the poem and the painting, a recent feat of art historians of the period, are details about the Han Hall, presumably the palace pictured, and descriptions of such an event as a banquet.^[3]

Night Banquet is a prime example of the themes explored in Empress Yang's poetry, as she reimagined literary culture to represent the values common in Confucian women while fundamentally challenging assumptions of the gender held by many in her time. For example, her encouragement of such frivolities involving alcohol as those depicted in Night Banquet could be seen as unbecoming of a Confucian woman, but she was also politically inclined to support the customs of the nobility. Her embrace of the noble culture and the reclamation of that culture for women has made her a famous figures in contemporary studies of how gender roles were challenged in older East Asian societies.

Empress Yang is also the writer of several important inscriptions in the paintings of Xia Gui, a landscape painter of Song Dynasty, such as in Twelve Views of Landscape. Based on her achievement in poetic inscription, art historian John Hay commented that "before [Empress Yang's] time no scroll or fan was ever viewed as such an intimate union of word and image."^[4]

Inscriptions (Attributed) ^[2][5][]

Ma Yuan, Attending the Banquet by Lantern Light, with poetic inscription attributed to Emperor Ningzong. Early thirteenth century, Southern Song period. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 111.9 x 535 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Ma Yuan, Apricot Blossoms. Twelfth century. Southern Song period. Album leaf, ink and color on silk, 25.2 x 25.3 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Ma Lin, Layer upon Layer of Icy Tips. Dated 1216, Southern Song period. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 101.7 x 49.6 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

Ma Yuan, Peach Blossoms. Album leaf, 25.8 x 27.3 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Ma Yuan, Dong shan Wading through Water, with encomium by Empress Yang. Early thirteenth century. Southern Song period. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 77.6x33cm. Tokyo National Museum.

Ma Yuan, Holding Wine Cups under the Moon. Late twelfth to early thirteenth century. Southern Song period. Album leaf, ink and color on silk, 25.3 x 27.5 cm. Tianjin Art Museum.

Ma Yuan, Twelve Scenes of Water. Dated 1222. Album leaves mounted as a handscroll. Ink and light color on silk, 26.8 x 41.6 cm, each. Palace Museum, Beijing.

Ma Yuan, Presenting Wine. Late twelfth to early thirteenth century. Southern Song period. Album leaf, ink and color on silk, 25.6 x 28.5 cm. Tang Shi Fan Collection.

Anonymous, Golden Blossoms of the Weeping Willow. Twelfth century. Southern Song period. Album leaf, ink and color on silk. 25.8 x 24.6 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing.

Layer Upon Layer on Icy Tips[]

This painting differs from most other paintings carrying an inscription by Empress Yang: it is attributed not to Ma Yuan, but to his son Ma Lin; it is a hanging scroll, a more public medium than the usual fan or album leaf; the dedicated recipient is not Emperor Ningzong, but rather the Supervisor in Chief Wang. It is originally one of a set of four hanging scrolls depicting different plum blossoms.^[2]

The painting features two branches covered with white blossoms of palace plum (gongmei). Empress Yang's poetic inscription utilized the poetic mode of yongwu, or the singing of objects, to foster a personal reading of the blossoms. She portrays the plum as a timeless beauty withstanding the winter cold, pure and lofty—the qualities that Empress Yang wished to associate herself with as a powerful empress.^[2]

The calligraphy style of this inscription is notably different from Empress Yang's calligraphy in an earlier painting, Apricot Blossoms. While the former can be characterized as smooth and bold, the later seems more slender and restrained. It is deduced that in Layer, she was perhaps mimicking the calligraphy style of Yan Zhenqing, a renowned calligrapher of Tang Dynasty. The calligraphy of Layer borrowed the proportion of Yan's characters, as each stroke was distributed evenly. The details of the brushwork—such as the heavy and tapered vertical strokes, and the “swallowtail” notch at the end of the right-falling strokes—demonstrated her deep learning of the calligraphy style of the Tang Dynasty. The employment of this "masculine" style of writing perhaps also reflects Empress Yang's own political ambition in the Song court.^[6]

Ghostwriting[]

Empress Yang is among the many regents in ancient China said to have partaken in ghostwriting. She was capable of mimicking her husband Emperor Ningzong's handwriting, and she sometimes used this ghostwriting ability for her political maneuverings. It is highly possible that she has appropriated Ningzong's hand to send out imperial "consents" for Han Tuozhou, her political rival, to be expelled from the imperial precincts and be assassinated.^[2] Ghostwriting was also used extensively by rulers in and around the Song dynasty as a way of delegation of imperial responsibility, but was sometimes cast in bad light because of its inclusion of the lower classes as ghostwriters. Empress Yang was among those who employed ghostwriters on occasion for her own political endeavors.^[7]

Painting[]

Some scholars believe that Holding Wine Cups under the Moon (Tianjin Museum) and Cherry Blossoms and Oriole (Shanghai Museum) are painted by Empress Yang. It is also widely believed that the Hundred Flowers Scroll, the oldest surviving painting by female artist in Chinese art history, should be attributed to Empress Yang, but there are many controversies surrounding this issue.^[5]

Regent[]

In gratitude for giving him the throne, Emperor Lizong invited her to reign as his co-regent behind a lowered screen.^[1] She accepted the offer and ruled jointly with him until her death in 1233, eight years later.^[1] To the opposition of many at court, she selected Empress Xie Daoqing rather than the emperor's favorite consort Jia (d. 1247) as empress.

In the second year of Baoqing (1226), Empress Gongsheng became Empress dowager Shouming. In the first year of Shaoding (1228), she was additionally named Empress Dowager Shoumingcirui (寿明慈睿皇太后). In the fourth year of Shaoding (1231), she was made Empress Dowager Shoumingrenfucirui (寿明仁福慈睿皇太后). In the fifth year, she died in Ciming Palace, and was named Gongshengrenlie (恭圣仁烈) posthumously.

References[]

• History of the Song Dynasty. Liezhuan. Empress Part Two