Empress Zhen (Wenzhao) 文昭甄皇后

Empress Zhen (Wenzhao) was a native of Wuji in Zhongshan, the mother of Emperor Ming, and a descendant of Zhen Han, Grand Protector of Han. Her family had served for generations as officials of two thousand shi, and her father Zhen Yi was Prefect of Shangcai. The Empress lost her father at the age of three. Later, when war broke out across the realm and famine followed, and the people were selling their gold, silver, pearls and jade, the Empress's family had plenty of grain and bought up a good deal of treasure. The Empress, then a little over ten, told her mother that in a time of disorder, buying up much treasure meant that 'a common man is guiltless, but holding a jade disc is his crime', and that it would be better to use the grain to relieve their starving kinsmen and neighbors; the whole household followed her advice. Records, Wei 5 §17–18

In the Jian'an era Yuan Shao took the Empress as wife for his second son Yuan Xi. When Yuan Xi went out to You Province, the Empress stayed behind to care for her mother-in-law. When Ji Province was pacified, Emperor Wen took the Empress in at Ye; she won his favor and bore Emperor Ming and the Princess of Dongxiang. Records, Wei 5 §19

In the 1st month of the 1st year of Yankang (220) Emperor Wen became King, and when he campaigned south in the 6th month, the Empress stayed at Ye. When Emperor Wen took the imperial throne in the 10th month of that year, the Duke of Shanyang presented his two daughters as consorts of Wei, and Empress Guo, Honored Lady Li and Honored Lady Yin all enjoyed favor. The Empress lost heart all the more and spoke resentful words, and Emperor Wen, in a great rage, sent an envoy in the 6th month of the 2nd year of Huangchu (221) to order her death. She was buried at Ye. The Annals of Emperor Wen record that Lady Zhen died on the dingmao day of that month. Records, Wei 5 §20Records, Wei 2 §26

The Biography of Empress Guo records that Empress Zhen's death came about because Empress Guo enjoyed favor. According to the Biographies of Technicians, when Emperor Wen dreamed of a green vapor stretching from the earth to the sky and asked about it, Zhou Xuan answered that a noble woman of the realm would die wrongfully, but by then Emperor Wen had already sent Empress Zhen the sealed letter. On hearing this he regretted it and sent men after the envoy, but they could not catch up. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that because his mother had been put to death, Emperor Ming was not made heir, and only in the 5th month of the 7th year of Huangchu (226), when Emperor Wen's illness became critical, was he made Crown Prince. Records, Wei 5 §33Records, Wei 29 §49–50Records, Wei 3 §1

When Emperor Ming took the throne, the officials concerned requested a posthumous title, and his mother, Lady Zhen, was posthumously titled Empress Wenzhao. The Minister of Works Wang Lang was made to carry the tally and the document of investiture and to announce it at her tomb with the great sacrifice (tailao), and a separate temple was established for her. Records, Wei 5 §21Records, Wei 3 §2

In the 3rd month of the 1st year of Taihe (227) her father Zhen Yi was posthumously enfeoffed as Marquis Jing, and his heir grandson Zhen Xiang succeeded to the title. In the 4th month, when the ancestral temple was first being built, a jade seal was dug from the ground inscribed 'The Son of Heaven longs for his loving mother', and Emperor Ming changed countenance and announced it at the temple with the great sacrifice. Since Emperor Ming had also once seen the Empress in a dream, he employed his mother's kinsmen in ranks according to closeness and seniority and gave them rewards amounting to tens of millions. In that month the Empress's mother died, and Emperor Ming attended the mourning in the sima mourning garment. Records, Wei 5 §22–23

In the 11th month of the 4th year of Taihe (230), because the Empress's old tomb was low and cramped, Zhen Xiang was made acting Grand Commandant and sent with the tally to Ye to announce it to Houtu, and in the 12th month she was reburied at the Zhaoyang Mausoleum. In the spring of the 2nd year of Qinglong (234) the Empress's elder brother Zhen Yan was posthumously titled Marquis Mu of Anchengxiang. Records, Wei 5 §23Records, Wei 3 §20

In the winter of the 1st year of Jingchu (237) the officials concerned memorialized that, just as the Zhou had built the secluded temple for Jiang Yuan, Empress Wenzhao had borne and raised a clear-sighted and sage ruler, so the Wenzhao Temple too should receive sacrifices and music generation after generation like the founder's temple, and the statute that it would never be dismantled should be made known forever. This proposal, together with the proposal on the seven temples, was inscribed on golden tablets and stored in a golden casket. Records, Wei 5 §25–27

Emperor Ming never ceased to long for his mother's family; he built a great mansion for Zhen Chang, Zhen Xiang's son, and visited it in person, and in its rear garden he built a temple for Zhen Xiang's mother and named the ward Weiyang Ward. In the 6th year of Taihe (232), when Emperor Ming's daughter Shu died, she was buried together with the Empress's deceased grandnephew Zhen Huang. Later the granddaughter of the Empress's elder brother Zhen Yan became empress to the Prince of Qi. Records, Wei 5 §28–30

In the assessment at the end of the volume Chen Shou said that the families of the Wei empresses and consorts never divided up the government of the court as at the end of the Han, and praised the views of Chen Qun and Zhan Qian. He did not assess Empress Zhen separately. Records, Wei 5 §53