Empress Dowager (two-palace references) (兩宮皇太后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager (two-palace references) as a royal family member and ruler. This record brings together 7 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese
Personal	Empress Dowager (two-palace references)	兩宮皇太后
Title	empress dowager	太后
Title	two empress dowagers	兩宮皇太后

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Title only
Sex: Uncertain

Roles

Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Attested activity

Western Interval: Start: AD 1862 · End: AD 1869 · Source Date: Text: 同治元年至八年
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0042, qingshigao:391:s0094, qingshigao:391:s0112

Works and attributed material

Kind: audience instruction · Role: speaker · Addressee Person Id: Wu Tingdong (吳廷棟) · Topic: speak frankly on state affairs because of the late emperor's trust
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0190
Kind: order · Role: issuer · Other Person Ids: Woren (倭仁), Emperor Tongzhi (同治帝) · Topic: appoint Wo Ren to tutor Muzong
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0042

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: welcomed Li Tangjie's counsel · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0094, qingshigao:391:s0110

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 391Volume 391 Biographies 178: Wo Ren, Li Tangjie, Wu Tingdong · 7 passages

Open chapter

兩宮皇太后以倭仁老成端謹，學問優長，命授穆宗讀。 The two empress dowagers, finding Wo Ren seasoned, upright, and learned, ordered him to tutor the Tongzhi Emperor.

兩宮嘉納焉。 The two empress dowagers welcomed his counsel.

翼日召對，王反复陳君臣交儆之義，棠階與同僚繼言之，兩宮改容嘉納。 At audience the next day the prince spoke again and again on how ruler and ministers must warn each other; Tangjie and his colleagues added their voices, and the two empress dowagers listened with changed faces and welcomed the counsel.

太后命南書房、上書房諸臣纂輯前史事蹟，賜名治平寶鑑，命諸大臣進講。 The empress dowager ordered scholars of the Southern and Upper Study to compile historical precedents; the work was named the Mirror of Ordered Peace, and senior ministers were told to lecture on it.

皇太后、皇上體上天好生之心，必有哀矜不忍喜者。 The empress dowager and emperor, sharing Heaven's love of life, must feel compassion and cannot rejoice.

皇太后召對時，諭曰：「皇帝衝齡踐阼，國家大事，汝宜直言無隱，以無負先帝知遇。」 At audience the empress dowager told him, "The emperor is young on the throne; on great affairs of state speak frankly and hold nothing back, so as not to betray the late emperor's trust in you."

論曰：倭仁晚為兩宮所敬禮，際會中興，輔導衝主，兢兢於君心敬肆之間，當時舉朝嚴憚，風氣賴以維持。 The historian comments: In his later years Wo Ren was revered by the two empress dowagers. At the restoration he tutored a boy emperor, ever watchful over the balance of reverence and laxity in the ruler's heart; the whole court stood in awe of him, and public morals were steadied by his example.