| Empress Xiaoxianchun | |
| Empress of Qing | |
| Succession: | Empress consort of the Qing dynasty |
| Reign: | 23 January 1738 – 8 April 1748 |
| Reign-Type: | Tenure |
| Predecessor: | Empress Xiaojingxian |
| Successor: | Empress Nara |
| Birth Date: | 28 March 1712 (康熙五十一年 二月 二十二日) |
| Death Date: | (乾隆十三年 三月 十一日) |
| Death Place: | Forbidden City, Beijing |
| Burial Place: | Yu Mausoleum, Eastern Qing tombs |
| Consort: | yes |
| Issue: |
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| Issue-Link: |
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| Issue-Pipe: | among others... |
| Posthumous Name: | Empress Xiaoxian Chengzheng Dunmu Renhui Huigong Kangshun Futian Changsheng Chun (孝賢誠正敦穆仁惠徽恭康順輔天昌聖純皇后) |
| House: | Fuca (富察氏; by birth) Aisin-Gioro (by marriage) |
| Father: | Lirongbao |
| Mother: | Lady Gioro |
| Religion: | Vajrayana Buddhism |
Empress Xiaoxianchun (28 March 1712 – 8 April 1748), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Fuca clan, was the first wife of the Qianlong Emperor. She was empress consort from 1738 until her death in 1748.
Empress Xiaoxianchun's personal name was not recorded in history.
The future Empress Xiaoxianchun was born on the 22nd day of the second lunar month in the 51st year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, which translates to 28 March 1712 in the Gregorian calendar.
On 3 September 1727, Lady Fuca married Hongli, the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, and became his primary consort. She then moved into the Palace of Eternal Spring in the western part of the Forbidden City. She gave birth on 3 November 1728 to Hongli's first daughter, who would die prematurely on 14 February 1730, on 9 August 1730 to his second son, Yonglian, who would die due to smallpox on 23 November 1738, and on 31 July 1731 to his third daughter, Princess Hejing of the First Rank.
The Yongzheng Emperor died on 8 October 1735 and was succeeded by Hongli, who was enthroned as the Qianlong Emperor. On 23 January 1738, Lady Fuca, as the new emperor's primary consort, was instated as empress.
In the Draft History of Qing, Lady Fuca is described as a respected and virtuous person. She looked after the Qianlong Emperor and the people in the palace, serving her role as empress well. She was praised and favoured by the Emperor.[1] It is also said that Lady Fuca did not like spending money for her own aggrandizement. Instead of expensive jewelry, she would wear artificial flowers in her hair. The Emperor once told her that their Manchu ancestors were too poor to make their own pouches from cloth and had to settle for simple deer hide instead. She immediately made one for him. He was touched by the gift.[2]
Lady Fuca took her duties seriously when it came to Confucian rituals. As head of the inner palace, she supervised the imperial consorts when performing rituals. One of these was a rite concerning sericulture that was presided over by the empress. This rite, which had been practised since the Zhou dynasty, was gradually restored during the reign of Qianlong. For the purpose of the rite, a sericulture altar was completed in 1744,[3] largely at Lady Fuca's urging.[4] That year, she became the first empress of the Qing dynasty to personally lead the women in the palace in these rites, making offerings of mulberry. In 1751, the whole rite was painted on four scrolls in memory of Lady Fuca.[5]
On 27 May 1746, Lady Fuca gave birth to the Emperor's seventh son, Yongcong. The Qianlong Emperor had high hopes for Yongcong and named him the crown prince shortly after his birth. However, Yongcong too would die prematurely on 29 January 1748 due to smallpox, similar to Yonglian.
In 1748, during one of Qianlong's southern tours, Lady Fuca became seriously ill with a malarial fever and eventually died on 8 April, three months after the death of Yongcong.[6] The Empress's funeral was lavishly done. The Emperor was deeply affected and did not take her death well. When he found out that two of his sons, Yonghuang and Yongzhang, had not mourned for the Empress as much as was expected, he issued a decree removing both of them from his list of potential successors to the throne. In addition, those court officials who shaved their hair, which was considered disrespectful as it was forbidden to do so throughout the mourning period, were either heavily punished or executed.[6]
The bereaved Emperor wrote the poem Expressing My Grief after her death: