Empress

After Pei Yan was arrested and his quarters had been searched, the examining magistrate informed me that the Great Secretary had lived in a state of destitution. His furniture was rudimentary and his rooms quite without ornamentation. In his six-year term of office as a Great Minister, he had managed to save up a few bags of rice and a dozen rolls of silk, gifts given to him by my late husband and myself.

I was moved by the man’s honesty. In prison he would not admit to the crime of which he was accused and never proclaimed his i

I chose to ignore whether he deserved to die. His condemnation had been a deciding factor in the fight against the insurgents. I secretly ordered for his head and body to be collected and given a decent burial in the countryside near Luoyang. Occasionally, on the a

Within the Forbidden City, my voice echoed solemnly around the Palace of Virtuous Authority: “Gentlemen, I have never disappointed Heaven, you know that well! I served the previous sovereign for more than twenty years, and the Empire’s affairs have caused me much concern! I have watched over the stability and happiness of this world. I have offered wealth and nobility to all of you. Since the previous sovereign abandoned you and entrusted me with command, I have never troubled with my own health; my every thought has been for the happiness of the people. These rebels were ministers, generals, and Court officials. Where, then, is loyalty, and where is honor? Shame on you! I am not afraid of treacherous, rebellious men. I ask of you: Who among you would be more powerful, more sour-tempered, and more stubborn than hereditary minister Pei Yan? Who would be more violent, more reckless, and more inflamed than Xu Jing Yei descended from one of the dynasty’s Veterans? Who would be more experienced, more adroit, and more tactical than Cheng Wu Ting who never suffered military defeat? Those three men were believed to be indomitable! When they tried to betray me, I cut off their heads. If you consider yourself better than them, then you must revolt straight away. If not, work together and save all your energies for helping me in affairs of State. Prove yourselves worthy of posterity!”

IN THE FIRST month of the first year in the era of the Residence of Sunlight, I begat a new world. The imperial ba

When stars move across the sky, they transcribe a mathematical perfection. When flowers open, they reveal a universe of harmonious architecture. The seasons unfold in keeping with the order of creation-Germinating, flourishing, ripening, wilting, because where there is death, there is also harvesting. The pi

Four months after the era of the Residence of Sunlight was inaugurated, I was ready to pass to the higher phase of my policies.

The era of Lowered Arms and Joined Hands a

NINE

My periods had stopped.

The moon waxed and waned in vain. The crimson tide had run dry.

In this lowly world, women are the ocean’s pearls, their brilliance derived from the stain of their flesh. The blood had been the thread linking me to an underground world where a grim labyrinth twisted around a perpetual furnace. It had been the source of all my energy.

As Supreme Empress I had to conceal my failing, but the changes in my mood did not escape my old servant Emerald. One evening she forced me to accept a visit from a woman doctor, an austere creature who wore a man’s hat. After a brief examination the doctor prostrated herself and congratulated me: My divine body had returned to its original state. The serenity accorded me by my resting senses would allow me to achieve immortality at last. I did not like the term “resting,” and I interrupted her croaking pronouncements with a desultory wave. None of these women who officiated in the palace had known the violence of a phallus or the seismic upheavals of childbirth; virginity had made diaphanous creatures of them. A tree emptied of its sap loses its leaves and dries out. Stripped of my womanly barbarity, it was as if I were dead. The gods were imposing a virtuous widowhood on me, and I accepted their censure. The pleasures of the flesh no longer interested me. Carnal gratification would be the sacrifice I made to the heavens.

My duties ru