Issue Unnamed daughter Spouse Kangxi Emperor Father Tong Guowei Parents Tong Guowei | Mother Lady Heseri Grandparents Tong Tulai Name Empress Xiaoyiren | |
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Tenure 23 August 1689 – 24 August 1689
(1 day) House House of Aisin Gioro (by marriage) Died August 24, 1689, Beijing, China Place of burial Eastern Qing tombs, Tangshan, China Similar People Kangxi Emperor, Empress Xiaogongren, Yunreng, Yongzheng Emperor, Shunzhi Emperor | ||
Empress Xiaoyiren (Manchu: Hiyoošungga Fujurangga Gosin Hūwanghu; died 24 August 1689) was the third Empress Consort of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Life
Empress Xiaoyiren was born in the Manchu Tunggiya clan. Her personal name is not recorded in history. She was a maternal cousin of the Kangxi Emperor. Her grandfather, Tong Tulai (佟圖賴; 1606–1658), was the father of Empress Xiaokangzhang, the Kangxi Emperor's mother. Her father, Tong Guowei (佟國維; died 1719), served as a minister of internal security (領侍衛內大臣) and held the title of a first class duke. Her mother was from the Hešeri clan. Lady Tunggiya had a younger sister, who later also became a consort of the Kangxi Emperor and is known by her title "Imperial Noble Consort Quehui" (愨惠皇貴妃).
It is not known when Lady Tunggiya entered the Forbidden City and became a consorts of the Kangxi Emperor. She was first mentioned in official histories in 1677 when the Kangxi Emperor granted ranks and titles to his consorts. Lady Tunggiya received the rank of Noble Consort. As she was the only one among the emperor's consorts to hold that rank, she did not receive a title to distinguish her from the other consorts.
In 1678, the Kangxi Emperor's second empress consort, Empress Xiaozhaoren, died so there was no one to take charge of the emperor's harem. Lady Tunggiya was put in charge and became the acting Empress. In the same year, another concubine of the Kangxi Emperor gave birth to a son, Yinzhen. Traditionally, the Empress was tasked with overseeing the upbringing of all the Emperor's children, regardless of whether or not she was their birth mother. Since Lady Tunggiya was the most senior among all the Kangxi Emperor's consorts at the time, she was tasked with raising Yinzhen.
In early 1681, Lady Tunggiya was promoted from Noble Consort to Imperial Noble Consort – one rank below Empress. On 13 July 1683, she gave birth to the Kangxi Emperor's eighth daughter, who was unnamed and died after barely reaching one month old.
On 23 August 1689, when Lady Tunggiya was critically ill, the Kangxi Emperor officially instated her as Empress. She died on the following day and was interred in the Jingling Mausoleum in the Eastern Qing tombs. She was posthumously honoured as "Empress Xiaoyiren".