lWorldwide Guide to Women in Leadership
Female Heads of
Chinese Substates
See also China_Heads_of_State and China Ministers
Mongol States in West Turkestan
Buhara
674-10 Khanum Qubaq Hatun
Hanzhong
219-245 Queen Wu Mu
Also known as Lady Wu her husband the warlord Prince Liu Bei, named her as Queen
of Hanzhong.It was period of many uprisings, various Emperors. When he became
Emperor in 221, she was named Empress to serve the ancestral temple and be
mother over the empire. His succesor, Liu Shan, named her as the Empress
Dowager. She (d. 245).
1127-28 Regent Dowager Queen Meng
Liao/Kara Khitui
1154-68 Queen Regnant Chi'éng-t'un han
The Kingdom of Eastern Jin
325-28 Regent Dowager Empress Yu Wenjun
Joint regent with two others for Sima Yan (321-25-42) of the Eastern Dong (Jin),
in a period which saw a severe fragmentation of central authority, as northern
barbarians succeeded in laying waste to much of China, and establishing their
own states in turn.
343-357, 364-365 and 373-76 Regent Empress
Chu Suanzi
When her husband, Sima Yue, died after one year as emperor Kang, her 1 year
old son Mu succeeded with her as regent. Buring the next years many of Later
Zhao's southern provinces switched their allegiance to Jin, but not firmly so
and a number of military campains followed. In 357, as Emperor Mu turned 14
and she officially stripped herself of her role as regent, and moved to
Chongde Palace, which would be her residence for the rest of her life. But 4
years later, her son died without heirs, and she named cousin Prince Sima Pi
of Langye as Emperor Ai. In 364 he was poisoned by pills given by magicians he
was taking trying to seek immortality and could not handle matters of state.
She again served as regent. After he died sonless in 365, she ordered that his
younger brother Sima Yi succeed him (as Emperor Fei). After some years he was
deposed and replaced by Emperor Jianwen, who died in 372, and when he was
succeeded by his son Emperor Xiaowu, she was persuaded to become regent again
until he turned 14 in In 376. For the rest of her life, she was again referred
to as Empress Dowager Chongde. She lived (324-384).
The Kingdom of Later Zhao
349 Regent Empress Dowager Liu
After her father, the last Han Zhao emperor, Liu Yao, was captured by Later
Zhao's founding emperor Shi Le in 329, she fled together with her brothers
Crown Prince Liu Xi and Prince Liu Yin of Nanyang from the capital Chang'an to
Shanggui. Soon after her brothers were defeated and killed and she was
captured by Zhang Chai. In 348 Emperor Shi Hu picked their son as his Heir and
she was named Empress. When the Emperor grew ill the following year, he
appointed his two sons as joint regents for her son, Shi Shi, but when he died
she took over as regent for her son, holding power jointly with her husband.
She tried to placate the sons of the later Emperor giving them high posts, but
instead they marched on the capital. She then tried to placate them by
offering them the office of regent and the nine bestowments, but instead he
executed her husband, and then forged her to sign an edict deposing her son.
She was given the title of Princess Dowager of Qiao, but soon both she and her
son were executed. She lived (318-349).
Northern Qi
556-78 Political Influential Lu Lingxuan
She was the nurse of Emperor Gao Wei (556-78), the fifth and last ruler of
Northern Qi. He was only 12 when his father died and his political survival in
the years between his father’s death and the fall of the dynasty was in many
ways due to her assistance and support. She was promoted to the post of Female
Attendant of the Palace which gave her – a grade equivalent to that of a second
class official in the outer bureaucracy. Her relatives were all given official
positions. The emperor's confidence in her was almost absolute and she was
careful not to damage the relationship by antagonizing the Empress Dowager who
was afraid of her son. For a short while she was also promoted to the post of
Empress of the Left but later stripped of the title. She died by her own hand
when she heard that her son had defected to Northern Chou on the eve of Northern
Qi’s defeat. Emperor Gao Wei (Houzhu) and Empress Mu were both executed by the
Chou in 578; the Empress Dowager was captured and survived into the Sui era. She
(d.578)
Kindom of North China Dynasty
926 Regent Dowager Queen Shulü Hatun of Quidan
982-1003 Regent Dowager Queen Ziao Shi of Quidan
1031-33 Regent Dowager Queen Xiaohaojin of Quidan
1122 Queen Regnant De of Quidan
1133 Regent Dowager Queen De of Quidan
Kingdom of Northern Wei/Touba Wei
465-71 and 476-90 Regent
Dowager Queen Feng Shi
She dominated politics in Northern Wei for twenty five years as regent during
the reigns of two emperors: Xianwen (Toba Hong) (465-76) whom she had poisoned
in 476, then her grandson, Xiaowen (476-99). Xiaowen is known for his
sinicization zeal, as flamboyantly demonstrated by moving the capital from
Datong to Luoyang, forbidding Xianbei clothes and language, legislating Han
names, and encouraging intermarriage and Chinese law. The Xianbei aristocracy
was against full-scale sinicization and even though the opposition was contained
by Xiaowen, the dissent later split the Northern Wei into Eastern and Western
Wei. She was Han - a member of the Northern Yan imperial family who entered the
Northern Wei court as a concubine after Wei conquered Northern Yan. In the south,
a series of ethnically Chinese dynasties managed to endure on the lower Yangtze.
She lived (441-90).
528 "Reigning Queen" of
Northern Wei
When her son Suzong was killed after having asked Er-zhu Rong, the Xiongnu
leader in Shansi, to free him from her Chinese advisors, she she placed her
infant grand-child on the throne, but it was a girl and this turned out to be
unacceptable and the infant was replaced by Gaozu’s two-year-old grandson by the
Xiongnu and Xianbei leaders, who had brought their troops to the capital.
The Qaganris
(In Mongolia and Yuan)
1241-48 Dowager Grand Khanum Törägänä
Of a Mongol tribe in Chinese Turkestan
1248-51 Dowager Grand Khanum Hatum Ogul Glamis
Kingdom of Qidan
926 Regent Dowager Queen Shulü Hatun
982-1003 Queen Regnant Xiao Shi
1031-33 Queen Regnant Xiaonaojin
The South China Dynasty
1276-78 Queen
Regnant Xie
1276-78
Queen Regnant Yang
Tanguter (Dangxiang)
1086-94 Regent Dowager Queen
For Li Qianshum
Yuan
1307 Dowager Khanum Regnant Bulugan
1332-33 Regent Dowager Khanum Ptashali
1366-71 Regent Khanum Beng
Shi
For the pretender Ming Sheng
The Khanate of the Eastern Turkiut (Xinjiang)
1252-61 Regent Dowager
Khanum Organa Hatum
She was head of the Ghafa Sid Horde and also ruler of Qara Khitai (or Qura Hytai/
Chagataiid
Horde), which cowered China, Mongolia, Tibet, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan
(Turkestan). Her name also spelled as Orqina Khatum
Kingdom of Wu
190-203 Politically Influential Lady Wu
She was the chief consort of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty China. Along with A
master swordsman, she was the advisor of her oldest son, Sun Ce, and helped in
directing military and state affairs. When Sun Ce died in 200, she asked the
ministers to support her second son, Sun Quan and since he was still young, she
assisted in administering the army and state. He ruled 200-222 as Wu Wang (King
of Wu) and 222-252 as Emperor of the Wu Dynasty, and when he was proclaimed
emperor, he conferred the posthumous title of Empress Wulie on her and the title
of of Emperor Wulie Huangdi on his father. Mother of 5 sons and 1 daughter. (d.
203).
1934-40 Head of the Pacification Army in Manchukuo (Manzhuguo) Commander Jin
Bihui
She was born as Princess Xianzi of Su and was the 14th. daughter of Wang Chai Chi, Prince and Head of the House Su (1910-22), who had 21 sons and 17
daughters with his 4 wifes. Commander Jin was also known by the alias Dongzhen.
She lived (1907-48)
Last update 12.02.08