Princess Guantao

Princess Guantao Liu Piao (館陶長公主 劉嫖, ? – 116 BCE?) was a princess of the Chinese Western Han dynasty and the eldest daughter of Emperor Wen and Empress Xiaowen.

Life

She was the first child of Emperor Wen and Empress Xiaowen. Before her father ascended the throne, he was the king of Dai and her mother was a concubine. Emperor Wen had several children from his earlier consort, Lady Wang, but Lady Wang and her children all died young, so in practice she was the eldest of Emperor Wen's children. Her father became the emperor of Han in 180 BCE, and in the first month of his first year (179 BCE) he made her younger brother Jing crown prince; in the third month her mother became empress. She herself was made a Grand Princess (a title given to the emperor's eldest daughter).¹² Because she was enfeoffed in the region of Guantao, she was called Princess Guantao or Senior Princess Guantao. She married Chen Wu, grandson of the Marquis An of Dangyi, Chen Ying, a meritorious minister of the founding of the Western Han; Chen Wu was the Marquis Yi of Dangyi. From then on, she was called Grand Princess Dangyi (堂邑大長公主) after her husband's title.³⁴

She introduced many women to her younger brother Jing, making him favor them, and therefore she was on bad terms with Li Ji, the mother of Liu Ying, the eldest son of Jing who became crown prince. She tried to marry her daughter Chen Ajiao to Liu Ying, but was refused. She then asked Jing's other concubine, Wang Zhi, to arrange a match between Chen Ajiao and Wang Zhi's son, Wu, and obtained permission. In cooperation with Wang Zhi, she spoke to Jing about Li Ji's shortcomings, while Wang Zhi had the Minister of Guests make Li Ji empress as the mother of the crown prince. Jing was angered, executed the Minister of Guests, deposed Liu Ying as crown prince, demoted him to King of , and made Wu crown prince; Chen Ajiao became crown princess.