Empress Xiaozheyi
| Empress Xiao Zhe Yi | |
|---|---|
| Alute, the Qing Dynasty Jiashun Empress | |
| Tenure | September 15, 1872 - January 12, 1875 |
| Spouse | The Tongzhi Emperor |
| Father | Minister Chong Ji |
Empress Xiao Zhe Yi (Chinese: 孝哲毅皇后阿鲁特氏) 1854 - 1875; also known as the Jia Shun Empress (Chinese: 嘉顺皇后), was the Empress Consort of the Tong Zhi Emperor of China. Empress Xiao Zhe Yi came from the Manchu Alute clan, and she was considered as one of the most talented and tragic Empresses of the Qing Dynasty of China.
Biography
Childhood and Marriage to the Tong Zhi Emperor
As a teenager, Alute was highly talented at poetry, literature, music, and painting. She was from a highly cultivated family. Her father Chong Ji (Chinese: 崇绮), an intelligent and well-cultivated man who ranked first in the classical Chinese test of scholars, served in the Qing Imperial Court. He tutored Alute when she was young. Record shows that the Alute demonstrated high potentials and intelligence as a child. She could read "ten lines at a glance", and possessed both beauty and high morality. Influenced by her father, Alute learned to write with both hands aptly, and became famous among the Manchu aristocracy.
On September 15 1872, Alute was chosen as the Empress Consort by the Tongzhi Emperor. Shortly before that event, there had been a conflict between the two Dowager Empresses, Ci'an and Cixi, on the issue of the selection of Empress. Ci'an, who favoured the Jia Shun Empress, argued that an Empress should most importantly possess high moral standards, while Empress Dowager Cixi argued that an Empress should be wise and shrewd. Alute's maternal grandfather (a brother of the late Daoguang Emperor) was an enemy of Empress Dowager Cixi in the past. However, the conflict was resolved by the Tongzhi Emperor, who gave his words of choosing Alute as his Empress. Empress Dowager Cixi was very displeased at Alute's victory since the beginning.
Married life
After his marriage, the Tongzhi Emperor clearly favored the Empress Consort Alute, and ignored his four Imperial Consorts. They spent every night together, while the Imperial Consorts spent weeks and months waiting for the Emperor to come. Empress Dowager Cixi, who grew angrier about the unfair treatment of the Emperor's wives, became very hostile to Empress Consort Alute. She warned that an Empress Consort should allow an Emperor to share his favor equally among his wives, and not to seize him alone. Also, she told Empress Alute that both her and Emperor Tongzhi are still young, so they should spend more energy focusing on how to manage their country. When she still saw no signs of change in the attitude of Emperor Tongzhi, Empress Dowager Cixi finally ordered the Emperor and the Empress to separate, and continue single-handedly on their study and preparation of becoming ruling sovereigns.
However, Emperor Tongzhi, who could no longer cope with his grievance and loneliness, grew more and more ill-tempered. Eventually, a palace eunuch secretly urged the Emperor to visit brothels located outside the Forbidden city. As a result, it was assumed he caught "Hua-Liu" 花柳病, a sexually transmitted disease. Empress Dowager Cixi regarded this as a humiliating scandal and warned the imperial doctors to have their mouths sealed. The doctors produced a lie that the Emperor caught smallpox, and gave medicines and treatments according to smallpox. The Emperor died within a few weeks.
Death of the Jia Shun Empress
Within a hundred days of the death of Tongzhi Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi laid all the blame of his death onto Empress Alute. Cixi ordered her food supply to be cut, and Alute wrote a letter to her father asking for help, but her father only dared to reply: "Your Imperial Majesty knows what to do". (Chinese: "皇后圣明。") Soon, Alute commited suicide. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi granted Alute the posthumous title Empress Xiao Zhe, meaning "The Philosophical Empress", and announced to the public that the Alute has committed suicide out of the love and memory of her husband.
Demise of the Empress's family
In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi asked her Minister Chong Qi, Alute's father, to stay in Beijing and handle the state affairs. However, the late Empress Alute's mother (granddaughter of the Jia Qing Emperor) and sisters were escorted by force to the Temple of Heaven, and were there gang raped by several dozens of foreign soldiers. Upon that day, all members of the late Empress's family committed suicide when they came back to home.
Posthumous title
The full posthumous title of Alute is:
- Empress Xiao Zhe Jia Shun Shu Shen Xian Ming Gong Duan Hui Tian Zhang Sheng Yi
- (Chinese: 孝哲嘉順淑慎賢明恭端憲天彰聖毅皇后)
Imperial Portraits
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The Official Portrait of the Jiashun Empress
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Alute, the Jiashun Empress
