Other lordship · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

The empress and the consorts

Empress Han is the presence that ties the emperor to Han Tuozhou's family; she dies on 14 December 1200, a loss that costs Han Tuozhou some of his footing at court.

Consort Yang (Yang Guizhi, b. 1162), clever and of humble origin as the histories tell it, is the rising figure and will bear a son later in 1200 (likely course; Zhao Zeng, Prince of Ying, who dies in 1201). Consort Cao (rank not pinned) is the quieter favourite. Han Tuozhou will favour Cao, the emperor Yang. Yang is a jieyu (junior consort) on 1 January 1200 and is made guifei (noble consort) on 14 March 1200 (2nd month, jiashen; the annals); she becomes empress on 3 January 1202.

THE DOWAGERS. The old Empress Dowager Wu, who joined Han Tuozhou in the abdication plot of 1194, is already dead: she died at the Cifu Palace on 12 December 1197 (11th month of Qingyuan 3, xinchou; Julian) and was laid in a temporary tomb at Yongsi in 1198. The living dowager is Xiaozong's widow, titled Shoucheng Huici huang taihou (the empress's family name and her posthumous name are not checked here), whom the court accompanies to the Jujing garden on 30 April 1200 (3rd month, xinwei); Guangzong's wife, Empress Li, is described under Guangzong and empress Li.

Who he is

Name
Empress Han (posthumous name Gongshu)
Title
Empress (huanghou)
Since
Empress from 1195, married 1185 as the wife of the Prince of Jia
Born
1165
Family
Of the Han of Xiangzhou, descended from the chancellor Han Qi; niece of Han Tuozhou in the common reckoning (en.wikipedia) and his grand-niece in some histories. Sons: Zhao Jun (Prince of Yan, d. 1196) and Zhao Tan (Prince of Bin, d. 28 September 1200).
Confidence
medium

en.wikipedia on Ningzong; Song shi quan wen juan 29 shang for the deaths; the claim that Yang and Cao were rival candidates for the empress after Han is from the Song shi biography and the later histories, not re-read.

Overlord

The emperor.

What it holds

  • The inner palace and its household
  • The patronage of palace appointments and of the Han kin

How it was acquired

By marriage (Han 1185; Yang entered the household about 1195).

Allies and rivals

Han and Yang rival; Han Tuozhou and the empress's family stand together; Yang's adopted brother Yang Cishan and nephew Yang Gu (later) are her clan.

How things stand that morning

Han is empress and alive; Yang a jieyu who is raised to guifei in March 1200; Cao a lesser consort; the old Empress Dowager Wu is dead since December 1197, and Xiaozong's widow (Shoucheng Huici huang taihou) is the living dowager.

Threats

  • The empress's death in December 1200
  • The empress's seat contested

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. 14 March 1200 (2nd month, jiashen)The jieyu Yang is made guifei (noble consort).Depends on: The emperor's favour.
  2. 28 September 1200Her last son, Zhao Tan, dies.Depends on: Illness.
  3. 14 December 1200Empress Han dies.Depends on: Illness; the chronicle gives no cause.

Later, on the likely course

  1. 3 January 1202Yang is made empress.Depends on: The emperor's choice against Han Tuozhou's. Stopped by: Han succeeds in placing Cao.

Places of note

  • The inner palace: The women's quarters of the palace city

Where the sources disagree

  • en.wikipedia says Yang 'married 1195'; the annals show her as a jieyu until 14 March 1200 (guifei). The assignment's 'dowager empress' is Xiaozong's widow, as Wu died in 1197. The campaign board's calendar 'the empress dies 14 December' agrees with our conversion of the chronicle's 11th month jiwei.

Evidence: Dates of death are firm; ranks and the Cao-Yang contest rest on later histories.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: No ground; inside the palace.

Primary sources for Southern Song

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
  • Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
  • Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
  • History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
  • History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
  • History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
  • History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
  • Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online

12 more in the sources library for South China.

Sources and studies

  1. Songshi quanwen (Song shi quan wen), juan 29 shang, Ningzong annals Qingyuan 1 to 6 (zh.wikisource, Siku edition)
  2. en.wikipedia, Emperor Ningzong
  3. zh.wikipedia, Song Guangzong

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.