Empress Xiaoshengxian
Empress Xiaoshengxian (12 January 1692 – 2 March 1777), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Niohuru clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the consort of Yinzhen, the Yongzheng Emperor and mother of Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor. She was honoured as Empress Dowager Chongqing during the reign of her son and posthumously honoured as empress, although she never held the rank of empress consort during her lifetime. When the empress seat was vacant after Empress Xiaojingxian of the Ulanara clan's death, she was placed in charge of the imperial harem as the highest ranked concubine in that time . The Qianlong Emperor held her in high regard and often consulted her for advice. She died in 1777 and outlived many of her son's consorts. Life. Family background. Empress Xiaoshengxian's personal name was unknown and not recorded in history. She was born to the upper class Niohuru clan in Beijing. Kangxi era. The future Empress Xiaoshengxian was born on the 25th day of the 11th lunar month in the 30th year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, which translates to 12 January 1692 in the Gregorian calendar. Her family was poor and lived in Chengde city. She  is said to shop in the markets for daily necessities, when she was only six or seven. In 1705, aged thirteen, when she went to the capital, just at the time, it so happened, that the ladies of the nobility were there awaiting selection to the palace. She followed them to watch the excitement, and the door guards let her in, thinking she was one of the candidates. It was only when the selection began, and the leading officials found that she was not on the list. They told Yinzhen, the fourth son of the Kangxi Emperor, who asked them  to include her in the last group. She was then selected because of her regular features and tall figure. She was then sent to the prince's resident and received the title of "Gege". She was, however, not in the prince's good graces. He apart from his official wife, favoured his concubines Li, Geng, and Nian. In the summer of 1710, he suffered from a disease that made his attendants unwilling to be too close to him. She nevertheless looked after him day and night, and he recovered from the illness after two months. He was grateful to her  for her loyalty, and the following year on 25 September 1711, she gave birth to his fourth son, Prince Hongli. Soon after the birth, she fell out of favor again. In 1722, Prince Yinzhen, who was made Prince Yong, invited the Kangxi Emperor to his residence, Yuanmingyuan, where he met his grandson, eleven year-old Prince Hongli, and took him to his own palace to rear him, and the two lived together for six months. The Kangxi Emperor's love for Hongli was sufficient to raise her status, whom the emperor had once given an audition and praised as "a  person with good fortune". Yongzheng era. The Kangxi Emperor died on 20 December 1722 and was succeeded by Yinzhen, who was enthroned as the Yongzheng Emperor. On 28 March 1723, Lady Niohuru was granted the title "Consort Xi". In 1730, she was elevated to "Noble Consort Xi". When the Yongzheng Emperor's empress consort, Empress Xiaojingxian, died on 29 October 1731, Noble Consort Xi was placed in charge of the emperor's harem because she was the highest rank consort in that time. Qianlong era. The Yongzheng Emperor died on 8 October 1735 and was succeeded by Hongli, who was  enthroned as the Qianlong Emperor. As the birth mother of the reigning emperor, Noble Consort Xi was honoured as (the) "Divine Mother Empress Dowager Chongqing". The Qianlong Emperor held his mother in high regard and often consulted her for advice. Some believe that she may have been behind the emperor's ill-fated selection of Lady Nara to be his second empress consort. The Qianlong Emperor often visited his mother. The Empress dowager also always accompanied her son on his excursions to Shenyang and the Yangtze River Delta. In her old age, when the Empress Dowager was no longer fit  to travel, the Qianlong Emperor stopped all his trips and only resumed them after her death. The Empress dowager's 60th birthday was lavishly celebrated. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the roads decorated from Beijing to the Summer Palace, Chinese poems were read in her honour and sacrifices were made to the gods by the emperor and the entire imperial court. In her honour, the emperor also ordered the dredging of a lake at the Garden of Clear Ripples, which he named Kunming Lake, as well as renovated buildings on the lake shore. Empress Dowager Chongqing died on 2 March 1777 . She was interred in a separate tomb in the Tai Mausoleum of the Western Qing tombs.