science

Xu Pingjun

Xu Pingjun is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Xu Pingjun rather than just read about it. In short: Xu Pingjun (Chinese: 許平君) (89? BC – 1 March 71 BC), formally Empress Gong'ai (恭哀皇后; lit. ''the respectful and lamentable empress''), was an empress of the Chinese Western Han dynasty as the first wife of Emperor Xuan.

Key takeaways

Xu Pingjun belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Xu Pingjun to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Xu Pingjun from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Xu Pingjun (Chinese: 許平君) (89? BC – 1 March 71 BC), formally Empress Gong'ai (恭哀皇后; lit. ''the respectful and lamentable empress''), was an empress of the Chinese Western Han dynasty as the first wife of Emperor Xuan. She was murdered by poisoning by Huo Guang's wife Lady Xian (顯氏). She was also the mother of Emperor Yuan.

Family background Xu Pingjun was born into a family that had some minor privileges but had also suffered under the reign of Emperor Wu. It is not known exactly when she was born, but probably circa 89 BC. Her father Xu Guanghan (許廣漢) was an assistant to the Prince of Changyi when young, and later became an imperial attendant. Later, while accompanying Emperor Wu on a trip, he accidentally took the saddle of another attendant and was charged with theft; his sentence was castration. After castration, he became a eunuch at court, and served as a minor official.

Marriage to then-commoner Liu Bingyi Xu Pingjun's future husband Liu Bingyi was the only surviving descendant of Liu Ju, Emperor Wu's crown prince who was forced into a failed rebellion in 91 BC when he was still an infant. He was spared, but was made a commoner and, as an orphan, he had to survive on the largess of others, including his grandfather's old subordinate Zhang He (張賀), who was also castrated by Emperor Wu as punishment for having been Crown Prince Ju's subordinate, and who became a chief eunuch. Around 76 BC, Zhang wanted to marry his granddaughter to Bingyi, but his brother Zhang Anshi (張安世), then an important official, opposed this, fearing that it would bring trouble. Zhang, instead, invited Xu Guanghan, a subordinate to him, to dinner and persuaded him to marry his daughter, Pingjun. When Xu's wife heard this, she became extremely angry and refused, but because Zhang was Xu's superior, Xu did not dare to renege on the promise, and Bingyi and Pingjun were married, in a ceremony entirely paid by Zhang (because Bingyi could not afford to). Zhang also paid the bride price. After their marriage, Bingyi depended on his wife's family for support. In 75 BC, Pingjun bore him a son, Liu Shi.

As empress In 75 BC, an unexpected development occurred. After the death of Bingyi's granduncle, Emperor Zhao, the regent Huo Guang, having been dissatisfied with his initial selection of the Prince of Changyi as the new Emperor, deposed Prince He and offered the throne to the commoner Bingyi instead. Bingyi accepted and took the throne as Emperor Xuan. After her husband became emperor, Pingjun was initially created an imperial consort. When it came time to create an empress, the officials largely wanted Emperor Xuan to marry Huo Guang's daughter Huo Chengjun and create her empress. Emperor Xuan did not explicitly reject this proposal, but issued an order to seek out the sword that he owned as a commoner. Getting the hint, the officials recommended Consort Xu as empress, and she was created as such on 31 December 74 BC. He initially wanted to create his father-in-law Xu Guanghan a marquis, but Huo opposed this, reasoning a eunuch who had suffered castration as a punishment should not be made a marquis. Instead, Xu was given the title "Lord of Changcheng" (昌成君). As empress, Empress Xu was known for her humility and thriftiness. She was also known for devotion to Empress Dowager Shangguan, often meeting her for meals.

Death

Huo Guang's wife, Lady Xian, would not be denied her wish of making her daughter an empress. In 71 BC, Empress Xu was pregnant when Lady Xian came up with a plot. She bribed Empress Xu's female physician Chunyu Yan (淳于衍), under guise of giving Empress Xu medicine after she gave birth, to poison her. Chunyu did so (with aconitum), and Empress Xu died shortly after she gave birth. Her doctors were initially arrested to investigate whether they cared for the empress properly. Lady Xian, alarmed, informed Huo Guang what had actually happened, and Huo, not having the heart to turn in his wife, instead signed Chunyu's release. It is not known what happened to Empress Xu's newborn child, but since Chinese historical sources at that time did not pay much attention to children who die young, presumably the child died early. Empress Xu was buried with full imperial honours near, but not with, her husband, whose third wife Empress Wang was later buried with him. Her son Liu Shi would become crown prince and later Emperor Yuan after surviving attempts on his life by Empress Xu's successor, Empress Huo. The Huo clan would be destroyed in 66 BC.

References

Book of Han, vol. 97, part 1. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 24.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Xu Pingjun

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Xu Pingjun claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Xu Pingjun before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Xu Pingjun ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Xu Pingjun

In research: Xu Pingjun appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Xu Pingjun in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Xu Pingjun is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1st-century BC Chinese people, 1st-century BC Chinese women, 71 BC deaths, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Xu Pingjun outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Xu Pingjun in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Xu Pingjun means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Xu Pingjun out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Xu Pingjun in simple terms?

Why does Xu Pingjun matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Xu Pingjun?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Xu Pingjun.