Deng menu

Empress Deng Mengnü Chinese  鄧 猛 女 , Pinyin Dèng Měngnǚ , also known for short as Liang Mengnü , later known as Bo Mengnü (* in the Empire of China ; † 165 ), was an empress of the Han dynasty . She was the second wife of Emperor Huan .

Family background

Deng Mengnü's father, Deng Xiang, was a minor official in the imperial administration. It is not known under which emperors he served. He was a cousin of Empress Deng Sui and therefore a grandson of Minister Deng Yu . Deng Mengnu's mother was named Xuan. Deng Xiang died early, and afterwards Ms. Xuan married Liang Ji (not identical to the later named), the uncle of Sun Shou, the wife of the powerful official Liang Ji , who was the political under the government of Emperor Huan and his predecessors Chong and Zhi As the brother of the Empress Mother Liang .

Marriage to Emperor Huan

After Ms. Xuan married, Deng Mengnü lived with her mother and stepfather for a while. Because of her beauty, Liang Ji and Sun Shou offered to become a concubine of Emperor Huan. Liang Ji adopted her and changed her family name to Liang. After the death of Liang Ji's sister Empress Liang Nüying in 159, Liang Ji hoped to use her to control Emperor Huan. That is why he campaigned for her election as empress. In order to fully control her, Liang Ji planned to kill her mother, Xuan, and even sent murderers to her. But the attack was foiled by the powerful eunuch Yuan She, who was Ms. Xuan's neighbor. It was with this failure that Liang Ji's fall began, as Emperor Huan conspired against him with five powerful eunuchs and overthrew him that same year. The Liang and Sun clans were wiped out.

After the fall of the Liang clan, Emperor Huan elevated his concubine, Liang, to empress, but because he disliked her family name, he changed it to Bo. Only later did he find out that her actual father was Deng Xiang and have her original family name, Deng, restored. Some of their uncles and cousins ​​were promoted to high posts, which did not grant them any real power.

Fall and death

For a time, Emperor Huan preferred his beautiful Empress Deng. But his attention waned because he had a large number of beloved concubines, especially concubines Guo and Tian. Empress Deng became very arrogant and jealous. She was implicated in a number of false allegations with concubine Guo. In 165, Emperor Huan decided to put an end to it. He deposed his empress and had her incarcerated. She died in anger and dejection. Her relatives who had been promoted were removed from their posts, and her uncles Deng Wanshi and Deng Hui were executed.

predecessor	Office	successor
Liang Nuying	Empress of China 159–165	Dou Miao

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Deng is the family name here, Mengnü is the first name.