Quan Huijie

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Quan Huijie
全惠解
Empress of Eastern Wu
Tenure16 February 253 – 258
PredecessorEmpress Pan
SuccessorEmpress Zhu
Born244
Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Diedc. 300s
SpouseSun Liang
Father
In this Chinese name, the family name is Quan.

Empress Quan (244[a] – c. 300s), also known as Quan Huijie,[2] was an empress of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. She was married to Sun Liang, the second emperor of Wu.

Life[]

Lady Quan was the daughter of (全尚). Her mother is the daughter of Sun Gong, the grandson of Sun Jing. Her relative Quan Cong married Sun Luban, a daughter of Wu's founding emperor Sun Quan. When she was young, she looked pretty and was favoured by Sun Luban.[2] Every time Sun Luban entered the palace, she took Lady Quan to visit her father. When a succession struggle between Sun Quan's sons Sun He and Sun Ba was ongoing, Sun Luban, who had a feud with Sun He's mother, urged her father to arrange a marriage between Lady Quan and Sun Liang (another of Sun Quan's sons born to Lady Pan) because Sun Liang and his mother were becoming increasingly favoured by Sun Quan. Around 250, the succession struggle between Sun He and Sun Ba concluded when Sun Quan deposed Sun He from his position as crown prince and forced Sun Ba to commit suicide. Sun Liang was designated as the new heir apparent to the Wu throne.[3]

In 252, Sun Liang ascended the throne upon the death of his father. In January 253, he instated Lady Quan as the empress. Following that, Empress Quan's family and relatives rose to power as six members of the Quan clan (including Quan Shang) were enfeoffed as marquises and assumed high offices in the Wu government and military forces. This was regarded as a phenomenon because since the founding of Wu in 229, there had never been a case of waiqi (外戚; relatives of the emperor's wives) playing prominent roles in the Wu political scene. In 257, when Zhuge Dan (a general from Wu's rival state Cao Wei) started a rebellion in the Wei-controlled Shouchun (壽春; around present-day Shou County, Anhui), he requested help from Wu so Sun Liang ordered the Quans to lead troops to Shouchun to assist Zhuge Dan. However, the rebellion was suppressed by Wei forces and Zhuge Dan was killed, while four of the Quans surrendered and defected to Wei, thereafter the Quans' influence in Wu weakened drastically.[4]

In 258, Sun Liang was deposed from the throne by Sun Chen, a distant relative of the Wu imperial family who rose to power in the 250s and became the regent of Wu. Sun Liang became known as the "Prince of Kuaiji" after his dethronement while Empress Quan also lost her place as the empress. In 260, Sun Liang's elder half-brother and successor, Sun Xiu (who eliminated Sun Chen after ascending the throne in 258) further demoted Sun Liang to "Marquis of Houguan" and sent Sun Liang to his marquisate in Houguan County (侯官縣; around present-day Fuzhou, Fujian). Lady Quan accompanied Sun Liang to Houguan County and settled there.[5] She returned to the Wu capital Jianye (建業; present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) after Wu was vanquished in 280 by forces of the Jin dynasty. She died sometime in the Yongning era (301–303) of the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin.[2]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The Yonghe Biji mentioned that Quan Huijie was 10 years old (by East Asian age reckoning) when she became empress in 253.[1] Her year of birth should therefore be 244.

References[]

  1. ^ (夫人錢唐人，諱惠解，十歲立為吳皇后。吳主既廢，貶號夫人，年十八而廢主卒，崎嶇權臣劇寇之間，卒能保身完節，時議憐之。) Yonghe Biji vol. 5.
  2. ^ a b c (吳錄曰：亮妻惠解有容色，居候官，吳平乃歸，永寧中卒。) Wu Lu annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 50.
  3. ^ (孫亮全夫人，全尚女也。尚從祖母公主愛之，每進見輒與俱。及潘夫人母子有寵，全主自以與孫和母有隙，乃勸權為潘氏男亮納夫人，亮遂為嗣。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
  4. ^ (夫人立為皇后，以尚為城門校尉，封都亭侯，代滕胤為太常、衞將軍，進封永平侯，錄尚書事。時全氏侯有五人，並典兵馬，其餘為侍郎、騎都尉，宿衞左右，自吳興，外戚貴盛莫及。及魏大將諸葛誕以壽春來附，而全懌、全端、全煒、全儀等並因此際降魏，全熈謀泄見殺，由是諸全衰弱。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
  5. ^ (會孫綝廢亮為會稽王，後又黜為候官侯，夫人隨之國，居候官，尚將家屬徙零陵，追見殺。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
Chinese royalty
Preceded by
Empress Pan
 Empress of Eastern Wu
253–258 		Succeeded by
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