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Wang Mang's revenge upon Emperor Ai's maternal relatives

Before the new Emperor was enthroned, Wang Mang began his revenge
upon Emperor Ai's maternal relatives, who had previously turned Wang
Mang out of power and out of the court. The Empress Dowagers nee Fu
and nee Ting had both died; the only lady remaining of their clans was the
Empress nee Fu of Emperor Ai. She had had no children, so Wang
Mang had the Grand Empress Dowager issue an edict commanding the
Empress to retire to another palace, because of the crimes of her elder
cousin, the deceased Empress Dowager nee Fu. Some months later she
was dismissed from her rank and made a commoner, whereupon she committed
suicide. At the death of Emperor Ai, the Fu and Ting clans
possessed no male relatives who could intercede with the ruler for them,
hence these clans became helpless. Fu Yen, the brother of the Empress
Dowager, was dismissed from his marquisate and exiled to Ho-p'u Commandery,
in the southernmost peninsula of the present Kuangtung. The
members of the Ting clan were sent back to their natal commanderies.
The Grand Empress Dowager nee Fu and the Empress Dowager nee
Ting were posthumously degraded in their titles and merely entitled the
Mother (nee Fu) of King Kung of Ting-t'ao and the [Royal] Concubine
nee Ting. In 5 A.D., Wang Mang argued the Grand Empress Dowager
nee Wang into permitting him to have the tombs of these two ladies
opened, their official seals taken away and destroyed, the body of the
lady nee Fu transported from the capital to Ting-t'ao, and to have them

both reburied in simple wooden coffins, like concubines (which had been
their original rank). Their tumuli were levelled and thorns were planted
at these places. Wang Mang did not forget an injury.

The Empress Dowager nee Chao was degraded and removed from the
imperial palace at the same time as was the Empress nee Fu. This
famous beauty, Chao Fei-yen, was the sister of the Favorite Beauty nee
Chao, who had been responsible for Emperor Ch'eng's infanticides. She
would have been punished for her sister's crimes when they were discovered
at the beginning of Emperor Ai's reign, except for the fact that
Emperor Ai was indebted to her. Wang Mang was not so indebted, and
had her removed to the palace for dismissed empresses. She was later
dismissed from her title, whereupon she too committed suicide.