father death_date house title spouse issue article_title name
xu gun 549 liang dynasty -lrb- by marriage -rrb- princess of xiangdong xiao yi , prince of xiangdong xiao princess yichang fangdeng , crown prince wulie xiao hanzhen , princess xu zhaopei
 xu zhaopei
princess xu zhaopei

princess xu zhaopei -lrb- 徐昭佩 -rrb- -lrb- died 549 -rrb- was an imperial princess of the chinese liang dynasty .
she was the wife of xiao yi , prince of xiangdong , son of the founding emperor emperor wu who later took the throne as emperor yuan .
xu zhaopei was the granddaughter of the southern qi prime minister xu xiaosi -lrb- 徐孝嗣 -rrb- .
her father , xu gun -lrb- 徐緄 -rrb- , was also an important official under emperor wu .
she married xiao yi around the new year 518 ; thereafter she carried the title princess of xiangdong .
in the `` book of liang '' and `` history of southern dynasties '' , it was said that as her bridal procession neared xiao yi 's mansion , powerful winds damaged the house , and it snowed so hard that the curtains all turned white , both of which were considered ill signs .
princess xu bore xiao yi two children -- his oldest son and heir apparent xiao fangdeng -lrb- 蕭方等 -rrb- and a daughter , xiao hanzhen -lrb- 蕭含貞 -rrb- -lrb- the later princess yichang -rrb- .
however , the relationship between xiao yi and princess xu was stormy , and xiao yi rarely joined her in bedchambers -- only once every two or three years .
each time he did , she humiliated him , however -- as xiao yi was blind in one eye , she would intentionally put on makeup only on one side of her face and not the other , to parodize him , and he would rush out of her bedchambers when he saw this .
she was said to be an alcoholic and jealous .
when she knew of xiao yi 's concubines becoming pregnant , she would try to attack them with swords , and she often drank with the other concubines who were not favored by the prince .
she also carried on affairs -- initially with the taoist monk zhiyuan -lrb- 智遠 -rrb- , and then later with her husband 's associate ji jijiang -lrb- 暨季江 -rrb- and another man , he hui -lrb- 賀徽 -rrb- , and she wrote he poetry .
ji once commented , `` although lady xu is old , she is very amorous . ''
this led to the chinese idiom `` the half-old lady xu '' -lrb- 徐娘半老 , `` xu niang banlao '' -rrb- , used to describe a middle-aged or old-aged woman who is considered sexually promiscuous .
because of the difficult relationship between xiao yi and princess xu , xiao yi also did not favor her son , the heir apparent xiao fangdeng .
in 548 , when the capital jiankang was besieged by the rebel general hou jing , xiao yi , then the governor of the important jing province -lrb- 荊州 , modern central and western hubei -rrb- , sent xiao fangdeng with a relatively small detachment to assist other generals in trying to relieve jiankang , but after hou captured the capital in spring 549 , xiao fangdeng returned to xiao yi 's base of jiangling .
when xiao yi saw how organized xiao fangdeng 's troops were , he was greatly pleased , and he entered princess xu 's bedchambers to tell her of how much he approved of xiao fangdeng .
princess xu , however , inexplicably responded by crying hard .
in anger , xiao yi wrote extensively about her affairs and posted the writing onto the provincial government walls .
-lrb- he later also collected these writings in his work `` jinlou zi '' -lrb- 金樓子 -rrb- . -rrb-
xiao fangdeng became fearful of his father 's wrath , and in summer 549 , when his cousin xiao yu -lrb- 蕭譽 -rrb- the prince of hedong and governor of xiang province -lrb- 湘州 , modern central hunan -rrb- refused to follow xiao yi 's orders , xiao fangdeng volunteered to attack xiao yu -- and made the comment , `` i will surely die on this campaign -- but i would have no regrets dying in the right place . ''
soon , when he engaged xiao yu , he was defeated , and he fell into the xiang river and drowned .
when xiao yi heard of xiao fangdeng 's death , he did not mourn xiao fangdeng at all , and his relationship with princess xu deteriorated even greater after xiao fangdeng 's death .
when his favorite concubine lady wang died , he accused princess xu of murdering lady wang , and ordered her to commit suicide .
she killed herself by jumping into a well .
xiao yi , instead of burying her with honors due a princess , returned her body to the xu clan , stating that she had become a divorced wife .
he also prohibited his sons from mourning her .
when he became emperor in 552 , he also made no efforts to posthumously honor her .
