Jia Nanfeng

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Jia Nanfeng (Chinese 賈南 風; * 257 in Xianling in the then Pingyang region (today Shaanxi ); † May 13, 300 in Luoyang ) was a Chinese imperial consort of the Western Jin Dynasty and married to Emperor Jin Huidi . It is commonly portrayed in contemporary sources as extremely negative and tyrannical.

Life

Origin and marriage with the Crown Prince

Jia Nanfeng was part of a family of dignitaries who served under the Wei Dynasty . Her father was Jia Chong (217–282), an early follower of Sima Yi , and her mother was named Guo Huai. Jia Nanfeng also had two brothers who died in childhood and a sister three years younger than him, Jia Wu. In 272 she was chosen as the wife of the heir to the throne of Jin, Sima Zhong, although the reigning Emperor Wudi had actually opposed the connection. Jia Nanfeng had four daughters, Sima Zhong. According to sources, she was said to have acted exceptionally cruelly against rivals during her marriage, even killing them with her own hands and ordering the execution of pregnant women. According to tradition, her father-in-law wanted to hold her accountable for her actions, but then allowed himself to be convinced by dignitaries at court that Jia Nanfeng would moderate herself over time.

Empress of China

According to sources, Crown Prince Sima Zhong had very little intellectual intelligence and there were votes at court to appoint another Crown Prince. The emperor therefore decided to test his son's skills. According to tradition, Jia Nanfeng found someone who could answer the emperor's questions and passed the answers on to her husband. So he was able to pass the test of his father and remained crown prince. Emperor Wudi died in 290 and his son Sima Zhong ascended the throne of China as Jin Huidi. Even as empress, Jia Nanfeng is said to have displayed tyrannical behavior and lived sexually dissolute. Allegedly, Jin Dynasty sources claim, she killed several of her lovers. She had the Empress Mother seized and locked up. She starved herself to death in custody. At court, Jia Nanfeng began to replace long-established dignitaries with her favorites. To safeguard her power, she allegedly used a ruse to force her husband's son and another woman, Sima Yu, to commit suicide. Sima Yu's mother, wife and child were also killed.

death

With the death of Sima Yu, Jia Nanfeng turned large parts of the imperial family against her and some of her followers turned away from her. In 30000, the emperor's half-brother Sima Lun and his relative Sima Jiong marched into the capital, Luoyang, and arranged for Jia Nanfeng to be arrested. The empress was executed a little later.

To their representation in the sources

The perception of Jia Nanfeng as empress and person is still strongly influenced by the historiography, which was already published during the Jin Dynasty and is considered biased and exaggerated. This makes it difficult in the science of history to get a clear picture of it. So she was able to book some achievements and she succeeded, for example, in preserving the power of her husband and her family against conspirators and competitors, and she also held the empire together. The fact that the western Jin dynasty perished immediately after its death could also be understood as evidence of its political fate. Their negative and tyrannical portrayal in the ancient sources could also be explained from the point of view that many of the contemporary chroniclers had a strong aversion to a female regent and, moreover, that some of the sources were written directly by political opponents of Jia Nanfeng. The author Zhang Hua, who paints a particularly bad picture of the empress, was involved in various conspiracies against the imperial family.

Offspring

  • Consort: Jin Huidi
    • Princess Aixian (died young)
    • Princess Hedong
    • Princess Linhai
    • Princess Shiping

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lily Xiao Hong Lee / AD Stefanowska / Sue Wiles: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 BCE - 618 CE, London / New York 2007, pp. 302f.
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Lim SK .: Chinese Imperial Women, 2nd ed., 2010 Singapore, p. 66.
  4. ↑ Xiao Hong Lee / Stefanowska / Wiles, p. 305.
  5. ^ Lim SK, p. 67.
  6. ↑ Ibid.
  7. ↑ Xiao Hong Lee / Stefanowska / Wiles, pp. 306f.
personal data
SURNAME Jia, Nanfeng
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese Empress of the Western Jin Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 257
PLACE OF BIRTH Xianling
DATE OF DEATH 300
Place of death Luoyang