Empress mother

Empress mother ( Kor. , Japanese , Chinese  皇太后 , Pinyin Húang Tài Hòu , Korean pronunciation: Hwang Tae Hu , Japanese pronunciation: Kōtaigō, Vietnamese pronunciation: Hoàng Thái Hậu ) was a title bestowed on the mother of a Chinese emperor .

From time to time the title was also given to another woman of the same generation, while the woman of the previous generation was given the title of Emperor's Ring Grandmother ( Chinese  太 皇太后 , Pinyin tài huáng tài hòu ). Some empress mothers served as regents for underage emperors. Most famous empress mothers often extended their control into the adulthood of the emperor, which sometimes caused crises in Chinese history.

Under the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was also the title of wet nurse empress mother ( Chinese  保 太后 , Pinyin Bǎo Tàihòu ), which was given to the wet nurse of an emperor. This title was based on a Xianbei tradition that ordered the mother of the Crown Prince to commit suicide. The crown princes of the Northern Wei Dynasty were therefore raised by wet nurses and, as soon as they had ascended the throne, gave them the title of "wet nurse-empress mother". In later times the wet nurses also received the actual title of "Empress Mother" and often had as much influence as she did.