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Empress Chen of Wu (孝武陳皇后), also known as Deposed Empress Chen (陳廢后) and in unofficial history as Chen Jiao () or as her milk name A'Jiao (阿嬌), was an empress during Han Dynasty. She was the older cousin and first wife of Emperor Wu of Han until her deposition in 130 BC for committing witchcraft. ==Early life and arranged marriage== Empress Chen was the daughter of Chen Wu (陳午), the Marquess of Tangyi (堂邑侯), and Liu Piao (劉嫖), the Eldest Princess Guantao (館陶長公主, the older sister of Emperor Jing of Han). She also had two brothers, Chen Xu (陳須) and Chen Jiao (陳蟜). There were no authentic historic records of her real name, and the well-known name "A'Jiao" came from a pseudohistoric fable titled ''Hanwu Stories'' (漢武故事), thought to be written during the Wei-Jin period. Princess Guantao initially proposed to marry her teenage daughter to Liu Rong (劉榮), Emperor Jing's eldest son and crown prince at the time as well as son of his favorite concubine, Lady Li (栗姬). However, Lady Li rudely rejected the proposal out of grudge over that Princess Guantao often pimped new concubines for Emperor Jing (therefore siphoning away her favor). A greatly humiliated and frustrated Princess Guantao then approached Consort Wang Zhi, another concubine favored by Emperor Jing, and offered to marry her daughter to Consort Wang's 5-year-old son Liu Che, Emperor Jing's tenth (and arguably the favorite) son and then the Prince of Jiaodong (膠東王). Consort Wang, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, saw her opportunity and welcomed the proposal immediately. This political marriage secured an alliance between them, who then plotted together to ensure that Emperor Jing became increasingly annoyed at Lady Li. Coupled with Lady Li's own foolishness, it eventually resulted in the deposition of Liu Rong, who was demoted from crown prince to the Prince of Linjiang (臨江王) in 150 BC and exiled out of the capital Chang'an. Lady Li died soon after out of depression and anger, and Liu Rong was arrested two years later for illegally seizing imperial shrine lands and committed suicide in custody. However, the union between Liu Che and Miss Chen was not initially approved by Emperor Jing, as their age difference was inadequate (Miss Chen was at least 8~9 years older than Liu Che). According to ''Hanwu Stories'', during a royal gathering, Princess Guantao held the young prince in her arms and asked him whether he wanted to marry a girl. After rejecting the choice of dozens of palace maids, Princess Guantao eventually showed her daughter to Liu Che, who bragged that he would "build a golden house for her" if they were married.〔數歲，長公主嫖抱置膝上，問曰：“兒欲得婦不？”膠東王曰：“欲得婦。”長主指左右長御百餘人，皆雲不用。末指其女問曰：“阿嬌好不？”於是乃笑對曰：“好！若得阿嬌作婦，當作金屋貯之也。”長主大悅，乃苦要上，遂成婚焉。〕 (This inspired the Chinese idiom "Putting Jiao in a golden house" 金屋藏嬌, which later ironically became a term for keeping a ''mistress'' rather than a wife.) Princess Guantao then use the tale as proof that the marriage was of destiny to convince Emperor Jing, who finally agreed to the arranged marriage. Liu Che was later created crown prince at the age of 7, and formally married Miss Chen as the empress-designate some years later. When Emperor Jing died in early 141 BC, the 16-year-old heir apparent Liu Che ascended to the throne as Emperor Wu, and formally made his newlywed wife Empress not long after. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Empress Chen Jiao」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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