Song (concubine)

Concubine Song (宋 貴人; birth name unknown; † 82 ), posthumous title Empress Jingyin (敬 隱 后, in German: respectful and hidden empress ), was an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhang , who was slandered by his wife Empress Dou (Zhang) .

Song was the older daughter of Song Yang, a 7th generation descendant of Song Chang, an important official under Emperor Wen . Song Yang was famous for his filial loyalty. His aunt was the maternal grandmother of Empress Ma (Ming) , the wife of Emperor Ming . When Empress Ma heard that his two daughters were intelligent and beautiful at the same time, she chose them as concubines for her adoptive son, Crown Prince Liu Da. After Crown Prince Da became emperor in 75, both became imperial concubines. The elder concubine Song bore him a son, Liu Qing , in 78 . Because Empress Dou had no son, Liu Qing was made crown prince in 79.

Empress Dou was dissatisfied with the situation. In the year the young crown prince was enthroned, after concubine Liang had also given birth to a son named Liu Zhao, she adopted Prince Zhao and wanted to make him crown prince. After the Empress Mother Ma died that year, Concubine Song lost all protégés. Empress Dou began plans to remove her.

In 82 an opportunity arose for Empress Dou. Concubine Song was ill and longed for fresh devil's thread . Empress Dou intercepted these plants when they arrived and slandered Song for wanting to use them in witchcraft. Emperor Zhang became angry and banished Crown Prince Qing from the palace. He had concubine Song and her sister locked up and interrogated by the eunuch Cai Lun . Concubine Song and her sister had hit rock bottom and committed suicide. Her son, Crown Prince Qing, was deposed and replaced by Prince Zhao, who later ascended the throne as Emperor He . After the destruction of the Dou clan in 92 (in which Liu Qing was involved) and the death of the empress mother Dou in 97 , concubine Song was honored posthumously.