Ancient China · Consort

Mother of Zheng

Died BC 228

Passages: 21
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Mother of Zheng as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 21 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Mother of Zheng
Posthumous name	Empress Dowager	帝太后	Dì Tàihòu
Descriptive kinship	Mother of Zheng
Title	Queen Dowager	太后	tàihòu
Descriptive kinship	Zichu's wife	子楚夫人

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · shiji:085:s0039

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 始皇十九年 · Western Year: BC 228 · Posthumous Name: Empress Dowager / 帝太后
Explicit · shiji:085:s0092

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 始皇九年 · Western Year: BC 238
Explicit · shiji:085:s0076, shiji:085:s0079
Source Date: Text: 始皇十九年 · Western Year: BC 228
Explicit · shiji:085:s0092
Source Date: Text: 秦昭王五十年 · Western Year: BC 257
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:085:s0039, shiji:085:s0044, shiji:085:s0046
Source Date: Text: 莊襄王即位三年 · Western Year: BC 247
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:085:s0053, shiji:085:s0054

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Spouse of Lü Buwei (呂不韋)
Kinship Term: consort / 姬 · Union Category: concubinage · Relationship State: ended
Parent of Zheng (政)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Spouse of King Zhuangxiang (莊襄王)
Kinship Term: principal wife / 夫人 · Union Category: primary-marriage · Relationship State: active

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 2 · With Person Id: Lao Ai (嫪毐)
Explicit · shiji:085:s0076, shiji:085:s0079

Career and standing

Status: exile · Action: entered · Place: Yong / 雍 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 始皇九年九月 · Western Year: BC 238
Explicit · shiji:085:s0079
Status: queen-dowager · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:085:s0054

Places and affiliations

Place: Handan / 邯鄲 · Relation: native-of
Explicit · shiji:085:s0039
Place: Xianyang / 咸陽 · Relation: returned-to
Explicit · shiji:085:s0083
Place: Yong / 雍 · Relation: exiled-to
Explicit · shiji:085:s0079
Place: Yong / 雍 · Relation: resided-at
Explicit · shiji:085:s0069
Place: Zhiyang / 茝陽 · Relation: buried-at
Explicit · shiji:085:s0092

References in the histories

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

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 85Biography of Master Lü Buwei · 21 passages

呂不韋取邯鄲諸姬絕好善舞者與居，知有身。 Lü Buwei had taken as his consort a woman of Handan renowned for her extraordinary beauty and skill in dance, and she had become pregnant.

子楚從不韋飲，見而說之，因起為壽，請之。 One day while drinking with Lü Buwei, Zichu caught sight of the woman and was captivated. He raised his cup to toast his host and then asked to have her.

呂不韋怒，念業已破家為子楚，欲以釣奇，乃遂獻其姬。 Lü Buwei was furious, but then he reflected that he had already spent his entire fortune on Zichu's behalf and hoped to reap an extraordinary return from the investment. So he presented his concubine to Zichu.

姬自匿有身，至大期時，生子政。 The woman concealed the fact that she was already pregnant. When her time came, she gave birth to a son, whom they named Zheng.

子楚遂立姬為夫人。 Zichu then made her his principal wife.

趙欲殺子楚妻子，子楚夫人趙豪家女也，得匿，以故母子竟得活。 The state of Zhao intended to kill Zichu's wife and son. But Zichu's wife was the daughter of a powerful Zhao family and managed to go into hiding. Through her family's protection, both mother and son survived.

趙亦奉子楚夫人及子政歸秦。 The state of Zhao then escorted Zichu's wife and his son Zheng back to Qin.

秦王年少，太后時時竊私通呂不韋。 As the King of Qin was still young, the Queen Dowager secretly resumed her liaison with Lü Buwei from time to time.

始皇帝益壯，太后淫不止。 As the young king grew into manhood, the Queen Dowager's appetites remained unabated.

呂不韋恐覺禍及己，乃私求大陰人嫪毐以為舍人，時縱倡樂，使毐以其陰關桐輪而行，令太后聞之，以啗太后。 Lü Buwei grew fearful that their affair would be discovered and bring ruin upon him. He secretly sought out a man named Lao Ai, who was remarkably well-endowed, and took him on as a retainer. From time to time he arranged entertainments in which Lao Ai displayed his endowment by threading his member through a paulownia-wood wheel and walking about, ensuring that word of the spectacle would reach the Queen Dowager and entice her.

太后聞，果欲私得之。 When the Queen Dowager heard of this, she indeed wanted to have him for herself.

不韋又陰謂太后曰：「可事詐腐，則得給事中。」 Lü Buwei also secretly told the Queen Dowager, "If we arrange a sham castration, he can be assigned to attend you inside the palace."

太后乃陰厚賜主腐者吏，詐論之，拔其須眉為宦者，遂得侍太后。 The Queen Dowager secretly bribed the official overseeing the castrations with lavish gifts, and the man falsely certified that the punishment had been carried out. Lao Ai had his beard and eyebrows plucked to pass for a eunuch, and so he entered the palace to attend upon the Queen Dowager.

太后私與通，絕愛之。 The Queen Dowager took Lao Ai as her secret lover and became passionately devoted to him.

有身，太后恐人知之，詐卜當避時，徙宮居雍。 When she became pregnant, the Queen Dowager feared discovery. On the pretext that a divination had advised her to avoid an inauspicious period, she relocated her residence to the palace at Yong.

始皇九年，有告嫪毐實非宦者，常與太后私亂，生子二人，皆匿之。 In the ninth year of the First Emperor's reign, someone informed on Lao Ai, revealing that he was not truly a eunuch and that he had been carrying on an illicit affair with the Queen Dowager. He also revealed that they had secretly borne two sons, both of whom they had hidden.

與太后謀曰「王即薨，以子為後」。 He and the Queen Dowager had conspired, saying, "Once the king dies, we will install our son as successor."

九月，夷嫪毐三族，殺太后所生兩子，而遂遷太后於雍。 In the ninth month, Lao Ai's three clans were exterminated, the two sons the Queen Dowager had borne him were put to death, and the Queen Dowager herself was banished to Yong.

及齊人茅焦說秦王，秦王乃迎太后於雍，歸復咸陽，而出文信侯就國河南。 When Mao Jiao, a man from Qi, remonstrated with the king, the King of Qin relented and welcomed the Queen Dowager back from Yong to Xianyang. He then sent the Marquis of Wenxin to take up residence in his fief in Henan.

始皇十九年，太后薨，謚為帝太后，與莊襄王會葬茝陽。 In the nineteenth year of the First Emperor's reign, the Queen Dowager died. She was given the posthumous title of Empress Dowager and was interred beside King Zhuangxiang at Zhiyang.

上之雍郊，毐恐禍起，乃與黨謀，矯太后璽發卒以反蘄年宮。 When the king traveled to the suburban altars at Yong for the sacrifices, Lao Ai feared that his downfall was imminent. He conspired with his confederates, forged the Queen Dowager's seal to mobilize troops, and launched a rebellion at the Qinian Palace.