Biography
Family Background and Early Years
The Du family had long lived in Zhending in Changshan and was locally known for accumulated good deeds. According to Su Tianjue's inscription on the ancestral virtue of the Zhending Du clan, the ancestral cemetery lay at Linjiyuan southeast of Zhending, and Empress Zhaoxian's former residence was also in Linji Village. Her great-grandfather Du Yun was posthumously appointed Grand Guardian and Grand Preceptor and titled Prince of Pingyuan; her grandfather Du Wan was posthumously Grand Preceptor and Defender-in-chief and titled Prince of Xihe; her father Du Shuang was posthumously Grand Preceptor. Her mother Lady Fan bore five sons and three daughters, with Empress Dowager Du the eldest daughter. Her brothers Du Shenqi, Du Shenyu, Du Shenqiong, Du Shenzhao, and Du Shenjin later all received offices and titles in the early Song as imperial relatives.
Around the age of fifteen, Lady Du married Zhao Hongyin, a military man serving through the Later Tang and Later Jin periods. After marriage she managed the household with firmness, decisiveness, and ritual discipline. The *History of Song* says that after coming of age she married Emperor Xuanzu and “managed the household with stern resolve and ritual propriety.” She bore four sons and two daughters: Zhao Kuangji, Prince of Cao; Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu; Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong; Zhao Guangzan, Prince of Kui; and the Senior Princesses of Chen and Yan.
From Military Wife to Grand Lady of a Military Commissioner's Household
Zhao Hongyin held military posts under Later Tang, Later Han, and Later Zhou, and Lady Du followed him through a life associated with the army. In 956, when their son Zhao Kuangyin was Military Commissioner of Dingguo Army, she received court rank as Grand Lady of Nanyang Commandery because of his status. The *History of Song* records that during the Xiande era of Zhou, when Taizu was Military Commissioner of Dingguo Army, she was granted this title. By then the Zhao family had become one of the prominent military households of Later Zhou.
The Chenqiao Mutiny and Empress Dowager
In 960, Zhao Kuangyin, then Inspector-General of the Palace Command, launched the Chenqiao Mutiny, was robed in yellow and acclaimed emperor, overthrew Later Zhou, and founded the Northern Song. When someone rushed to tell Lady Du that “the Inspector-General has become emperor,” she reportedly replied, “My son always had great ambitions; now they have indeed come true.” The *History of Song* records this remark as evidence that she had long understood her son's ambitions.
On the fifth day of the second lunar month of 960, Emperor Taizu honored his mother as empress dowager and bowed before her at court. Officials offered congratulations, but she remained worried. When asked why she was not pleased that her son had become emperor, she answered that “being a ruler is difficult”: an emperor stands above countless people and can enjoy honor only if he governs well; if he loses control of the state, he cannot even return to the life of a commoner. Taizu bowed again and promised to follow her instruction. The conversation, preserved in the *History of Song*, is presented as direct evidence of her political judgment.
Later Years and the Golden Coffer Pledge
In 961 Empress Dowager Du fell ill, and Emperor Taizu personally attended to her medicines and remained at her side. On the first day of the fifth lunar month he issued an amnesty for prisoners below the level of certain capital offenses because of her illness, but her condition did not improve.
According to the traditional narrative, when she was near death she summoned Zhao Pu to hear and record her final instructions. She asked Emperor Taizu if he knew why he had obtained the realm. After he answered that it was due to the accumulated blessings of his ancestors and mother, she said that the real reason was that Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou had left a child ruler. Had Zhou possessed an adult ruler, she argued, the realm would not have fallen to Zhao. She therefore told Taizu that after his death he should transmit the throne to his younger brother, because establishing an adult ruler would benefit the state. Taizu agreed, and she instructed Zhao Pu to remember and record the words. Zhao Pu wrote a pledge beside her bed and signed it “Your servant Pu wrote this.” The document was said to have been placed in a golden coffer and entrusted to palace women. This became known as the Golden Coffer Pledge.
Empress Dowager Du died at Zide Hall on the second day of the sixth lunar month at the age of sixty. She initially received the posthumous title Mingxian and was buried at Anling, with her spirit tablet enshrined in the imperial ancestral temple. In the third lunar month of 962 (the second year of Qiande), Emperor Taizu sent Zhao Guangyi, acting as Defender-in-chief, to present the formal investiture documents and seals and changed her posthumous title to Empress Zhaoxian.