China: Empress Dowager Zhaoxian (902 - 17 July 961), mother of the first two Song emperors Taizu and Taizong. Hanging scroll painting, Song Dynasty (960-1279). Lady Du, formally known as Zhaoxian, was an empress dowager of the Song Dynasty. She was the wife of general Zhao Hongyin and mother of the first two Song emperors Taizu and Taizong. Emperor Taizong claimed legitimacy to the throne through her apparent will, allegedly sealed in a golden shelf at her death, though many historians believe he fabricated this.

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Empress Zhaoxian (Lady Du), mother of the first two Song emperors Taizu and Taizong, consort of Emperor Xuanzu (Zhao Hongyi, 899-956), died c. 961. The Song Dynasty (960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960) and preceded the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), which conquered the Song in 1279. Its conventional division into the Northern Song (960–1127) and Southern Song (1127–1279) periods marks the conquest of northern China by the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127. It also distinguishes the subsequent shift of the Song's capital city from Bianjing (modern Kaifeng) in the north to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou) in the south.

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Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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