University of Virginia Library

Emperor Ch'eng's infanticide of his two sons for love of the Brilliant
Companion née Chao

After her elevation, Emperor Ch'eng gradually lost interest in her,
and came to favor her younger sister more than anyone else. This latter
girl was made a Brilliant Companion (the highest rank among the imperial
concubines) and was installed in the Sun-bright Residence, the first
of the eight halls in the imperial harem. Her residence was painted
and adorned with gold and jewels as no place in the harem had ever
before been decorated. She retained Emperor Ch'eng's favor until his
death, and he promised her never to be faithless to her.

The philandering Emperor's attention could not, however, be kept
from wandering. In 12 B.C., an educated slave-girl, Ts'ao Kung, became
pregnant. She had been employed to teach the difficult Book of Odes
to the Empress, Chao Fei-yen. This girl told her mother, who was also
a government slave in the palace, that she was with child by the Emperor.
In due time, she bore a son on whose forehead there were stubborn hairs
like those of Emperor Yüan. This child constituted a great danger for
the Empress and the Brilliant Companion née Chao, for neither sister
had any children. If this child became the Heir-apparent, his mother
would be made Empress and the Chao sisters would lose their influence.

Within a few days, a eunuch came to the Assistant at the harem prison
(who testified later to what he had done), bringing an imperial edict
ordering that Ts'ao Kung, her child, and her six slaves should be taken
to the palace prison, and that no one should even ask the sex of the child or
who was its father. The third day after, another edict was brought to
the Assistant, asking whether the infant was dead yet. A little later the
messenger returned, saying that the Brilliant Companion and the Emperor
were very angry, and asking the Assistant why he did not kill the babe.
He replied that whether he did or did not kill the child, he would have to
die, so he wrote the Emperor a memorial saying that it did not matter by
whom the Emperor's heir was born. When the messenger brought the
Emperor this reply, the latter merely looked at the messenger fixedly.
That night the Assistant was brought an order to give the child to another
eunuch, who was ordered to select a wet-nurse for the babe, and not to
allow the matter to leak out. The child was then seven or eight days old.
The third day after, another edict was brought to the Assistant, together

with a small sealed box and an order that he must himself give its contents
to the woman and that she must drink it. In it were two packages of
drugs and a little written message from Emperor Ch'eng, "I am commanding
you, Wei-neng [the `style' of Ts'ao Kung], to try hard to drink
this medicine. You cannot again enter Our presence, which you yourself
know." After protesting in vain and lamenting that she had no means
of giving information about her newly born son to the Emperor's mother,
who would probably have saved the babe, Ts'ao Kung drank the poison.
Her slaves were summoned by the Brilliant Companion née Chao and
were made to strangle themselves. The wet-nurse cared for the babe to
its eleventh day, when a eunuch came with an imperial edict to take it
away, and it disappeared. Such was the penalty of successfully attracting
a philandering Emperor whose favorite was a determined woman.
It is not difficult to imagine what happened between the Emperor and
his Brilliant Companion.

Emperor Ch'eng loved hunting and similar amusements, so did not
remain continually in Wei-yang Palace. At the large Shang-lin Park,
some miles west of Ch'ang-an, some imperial concubines were kept at the
Lodge for Wetting and Bathing the Hair. In 11 B.C., a certain Beauty
née Hsü was summoned to the Ornamented House in that Lodge, conceived,
and in due time gave birth to a boy. Among the fourteen ranks
of imperial concubines, the Beauties ranked fifth, so that this child could
not be disposed of as easily as the child of a mere slave.

To prove his sincerity, Emperor Ch'eng in person brought the news of
the child's birth to the Brilliant Companion née Chao. She reproached
him with unfaithfulness to her and her sister. A eunuch later testified
that he overheard her say to the Emperor, "You are always deceiving me.
You said that you came from the Empress; if you have been coming from
the Empress, how has it come about that the Beauty née Hsü should
have had a son? Must an Empress née Hsü be again set up?" In her
desperation, she struck herself with her fists, beat her head against the
wall and doorposts, and threw herself down to the ground from her bed.
She wept and declared she would not eat, saying, "Where will you now
put me? I want to go home."

Emperor Ch'eng replied that he had purposely told her about the birth
in order to prove his own sincerity and faithfulness to her, for she could
not otherwise have known about the child being born in a lodge outside
the capital. He evidently considered that occasional attentions to other
concubines outside of the Palace did not constitute unfaithfulness to his
favorite. In order to convince her, Emperor Ch'eng likewise refused to
eat. Finally the Brilliant Companion said, "If your Majesty thinks that

you are right, why do you not eat? Your Majesty constantly said to me,
`I promise not to turn my back upon you.' But now that this Beauty
had a child, you will eventually turn you back upon your promise.
What do you mean to do?"

Emperor Ch'eng replied, "I promise that for the sake of the ladies née
Chao I will not set up the Beauty née Hsü as the Empress, and I will
bring it about that nobody in the world surpasses the ladies née Chao.
Do not be worried."

Later the Emperor and the Brilliant Companion went to this Lodge in
Shang-lin Park. A eunuch afterwards testified that he was ordered to
take a green sack containing a letter to the Beauty née Hsü. He was
told, "The Beauty will have something to give to you. Bring it and
put it in the Ornamented House south of the curtain." She took her
babe and put it into a reed basket, sealed it, and gave it with a written
reply to the eunuch. He took them, and placed them where he had been
directed, then left. The Emperor and the Brilliant Companion seated
themselves in this room, and the Emperor ordered one of his companion's
chamberlains, who later testified to the occurrence, to open the basket.
Before the sealed knot had been opened, the Emperor ordered all the
three chamberlains out of the room. He himself closed the door and
remained alone with the Brilliant Companion. In a moment he opened
the door and called them back, ordering them to take the sealed basket
to the Assistant at the harem prison. They were told that in the basket
there was a dead child and that he should bury it near the gate and should
let no one know of it. He buried it below the wall of the prison. Thus
Emperor Ch'eng himself disposed of his only sons.

It was then an ancient custom, even in the noblest houses, that when
a male or female babe was born, it was laid upon a couch or on the ground;
if the head of the family did not pick it up, the babe was not reared.
Emperor Ch'eng was thus quite within his rights in disposing of his own
sons. Yet when, several months after Emperor Ch'eng's successor had
ascended the throne, this infanticide became known, it caused a very
great stir. There indeed grew up a general feeling that Emperor Ch'eng
had acted contrary to the will of Heaven in destroying his sons, and that
the Han dynasty had lost the mandate of Heaven. The troubled economic
condition of the country aided in spreading this feeling, and in
the next reign, prophets appeared with recipes for renewing the lost
Mandate of Heaven (cf. Glossary, sub Hsia Ho-liang). Wang Mang
later took advantage of this feeling to usurp the throne. Although the
Empress née Chao and her sister, the Brilliant Companion, had assisted
Emperor Ai to the throne, when the fact became known that the Brilliant

Companion had been responsible for these infanticides, even though the
Brilliant Companion was already dead, Emperor Ai dismissed her brother
and nephew from their marquisates, made them commoners, and exiled
them together with their families. Because of his debt to the Empress
nee Chao, Emperor Ai did not push the matter further.

Public opinion did not, however, unanimously condemn the infanticide;
one Grandee-remonstrant (whose office corresponded to the Ch'ing
dynasty's Censors) memorialized that the matter was not serious, for the
Emperor had himself had his own children killed. Some intelligent
people thus justified Emperor Ch'eng's action. Immediately after the
death of Emperor Ai in 1 B.C., when the Wang clan again came into
power, the Empress née Chao was, however, degraded and exiled to
another palace; a few months later she was dismissed and made a commoner,
whereupon she committed suicide. Thus died a famous Chinese
beauty.