The death of Empress Zhen: fiction and historiography in early Medieval China.

• Author: Cutter, Robert Joe

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LET US BEGIN WITH the curious and anonymous "Ji" ("record," or "note") found prefaced to Cao Zhi's (192-232) "Luo shen fu" |Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo~ in Li Shan's (d. 689) Wen xuan |Selections of Refined Literature~ commentary:

At the end of the Han dynasty, the King of Dong'e of Wei |Cao Zhi~ sought the daughter of Zhen Yi.(1) He did not succeed, and when the Grand Progenitor |Cao Cao; 155-220~ returned, he gave her to the General of the Gentlemen-of-the Household for All Purposes |Cao Pi~; 187-226~. Cao Zhi was very upset. He thought of her day and night and stopped sleeping and eating. In the Huangchu reign period |220-26~ he attended court, and the emperor |Cao Pi~ showed him Empress Zhen's pillow of jade inlay and gold filigree. When Cao Zhi saw it, he unconsciously began to weep. At that time, Empress Zhen had already been slandered by Empress Guo and died.(2) The emperor then knew |how Cao Zhi felt~ and consequently had the heir-apparent |Cao Rui; 206-39~ urge Cao Zhi to stay on for a banquet, at which he made Cao Zhi a present of the pillow. When Cao Zhi was returning |to his benefice~, he crossed the Huanyuan range and was going to stop for a short while beside the Luo River. He was thinking of Empress Zhen when all of a sudden he saw a woman coming. She said, "Originally I set my sights on you, my lord, but my wish was not fulfilled. I took that pillow along with me from home when I got married. Formerly, I gave it to the |General of the~ Gentlemen-of-the-Household for All Purposes. Now he has given it to you." Then she slept with him. How can mere words express their blissful union? "Empress Guo stuffed my mouth with chaff,"(3) |she said,~ "and at present my hair is dishevelled. I am embarrassed to see you again, my lord, looking this way." After she spoke, he could no longer see where she was. She sent someone to give him a pearl, and he sent a jade pendant in return. He was overcome with both sorrow and joy, and so he wrote the "Gan Zhen fu" |Rhapsody on Being Moved by Empress Zhen~. Later, Emperor Ming |Cao Rui~ saw it and changed its title to "Luo shen fu."(4)

Few informed people today would lend any credence to this document.(5) There is really no basis for treating "Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo" as a poem about Empress Zhen, nor is there reason to assume that Cao Zhi was hopelessly infatuated with her.(6) Rather, this inventive interpretation "seems to be a piece of anecdotal fiction inspired by the rhapsody itself and taking advantage of the possibilities inherent in a triangle involving a beautiful lady, an emperor, and his romanticized brother."(7) Involving as it does an encounter with a ghost, the text is straight out of the zhiguai tradition so prominent in the period between the time of Cao Zhi and the age of Li Shan.(8)

Elements similar to the "Ji" are found elsewhere, however. The first of these elements is precisely this notion that Cao Zhi was in love with Empress Zhen and that there was some sort of competition for her hand. This extremely improbable and largely discredited idea underwent further elaboration in Shishuo xinyu, where we find the following anecdote:

Empress Zhen of Wei was kind and beautiful. She was formerly the wife of Yuan Xi and was greatly favored. When Duke Cao |Cao Cao~ massacred Ye, he gave an order to summon Zhen forthwith. Those in attendance told him, "The |General of~ the Gentlemen-of-the-Household for All Purposes |Cao Pi~ has already taken her away." Duke Cao said, "My smashing of these traitors this year was entirely for her sake."(9)

Here it is Cao Cao who adores Empress Zhen. Widely varying accounts of the same Three States-period persons and incidents sometimes exist, and Cao Cao is particularly susceptible to such contradictory depictions depending on writers' preconceived attitudes towards him.(10) In the passage just quoted, Liu Yiqing (403-44), or whoever may be the author and compiler of Shishuo xinyu, clearly reflects the negative judgment of Cao Cao current in Liu's time. In fact, other entries concerning Cao in Liu's book are, if anything, even more

unflattering.(11) Although the legend that it was Cao Zhi who was in love with Empress Zhen is more common, belief in the tradition from Shishuo xinyu that Cao Cao wanted her for himself is enthusiastically endorsed in an important late commentary to San guo zhi, viz., Liang Zhangju's (1775-1849) San guo zhi pangzheng |Corroborative Annotations to the Records of the Three States~.(12) Fortunately, the anecdote has been succinctly refuted by Zhang Keli.(13)

As a matter of fact, we have a good deal of information on how the lady Zhen became Cao Pi's spouse. Her biography in San guo zhi says:

In the Jian'an period, Yuan Shao obtained her for his middle son Xi. When Xi went out to govern Youzhou, the empress remained behind to care for her mother-in-law. When Jizhou was pacified, Emperor Wen married the empress in Ye.(14)

Thanks to Pei Songzhi's commentary, passages that rehearse the details of the meeting of the future emperor and empress have been preserved. The first comes from the Wei lue:

|Yuan~ Xi went out to run Youzhou, and the empress remained behind to wait on her mother-in-law. When Ye's city-wall was breached, |Yuan~ Shao's wife and the empress sat together in the main hall. Emperor Wen entered Shao's residence and saw Shao's wife and the empress. As the empress, terrified, put her head on her mother-in-law's lap, Shao's wife instinctively held her with her hands. Emperor Wen said, "Lady Liu, what makes her thus? Have your daughter-in-law lift her head." The mother-in-law then supported her and made her look up. Emperor Wen approached and looked at her. Seeing that she was extraordinary, he sang her praises. When Cao Cao learned how he felt, he brought her back as Emperor Wen's wife.(15)

Pei also quotes the |Wei Jin~ Shi yu |Conversations of the Eras (of Wei and Jin)~:

When Cao Cao subjugated Ye, Emperor Wen was first to enter Yuan Shang's compound. There was a woman with dishevelled hair and a dirty face standing behind Shao's wife Liu shedding tears. Emperor Wen asked about her, and Liu replied, "This is Xi's wife." Turning around, she gathered the woman's hair and rubbed her face with a kerchief. Her good looks were matchless. Once it was over, Liu said to the empress, "You don't need to worry about dying now!" She was taken in marriage and was favored.(16)

Despite their differences, the texts just...