Empress Wang (Ping)

Empress Wang
Born8 BC
Died5 October 23 AD (aged around 30)
Weiyang Palace, Chang'an, Xin dynasty
SpouseEmperor Ping of Han
HouseHouse of Wang (by birth)
House of Liu (by marriage)
FatherWang Mang
MotherLady Wang

Empress Wang (王皇后)[1](8 BC[2] – 5 October 23 AD[3]), formally Empress Xiaoping (孝平皇后), formally during her father Wang Mang's Xin dynasty Duchess Dowager of Ding'an (定安太后) then Princess Huanghuang (黃皇室主), was an empress during the Han dynasty and the last empress of the Western Han dynasty. She was the daughter of the eventual usurper Wang Mang, who established the Xin dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Ping. She is largely viewed by historians as a tragic figure, the victim of circumstances who tried to remain loyal to her husband of only a few years, but whose faithfulness to her husband's dynasty eventually led her to commit suicide at the end of her father's reign.

  1. ^ Lady Wang's name was not recorded in history.
  2. ^ Lady Wang's biography in Book of Han indicated that she was 18 (by East Asian reckoning) when she was made Duchess Dowager of Ding'an.
  3. ^ According to her father Wang Mang's biography in Book of Han, the fire which Lady Wang committed suicide in reached her residence on the 2nd (jiyou) day of the 10th month of the 4th year of the Di'huang era, which corresponds to 5 Oct 23 in the Julian calendar. According to the same biography, her father died the next day.

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