The Secrets of Seven Tong Jia Consorts in the Great Qing Harem

Over the Qing dynasty’s 296 years, the imperial harem was home to many consorts from the Borjigit, Ulanara, Niohuru, Fuca, and Yehenara clans. Their ranks ranged from empress and imperial noble consort to noble consort, consort, concubine, and lesser consort.

There was another clan, too: the Tonggiya clan, known as “half the court” during the Kangxi era. It produced one primary consort, three empresses, two imperial noble consorts, and one lesser consort, seven women in all.

Who were these seven consorts, and why did they hold such high ranks?

Was it thanks to their family backgrounds or their beauty?

Or did they transmigrate to the Qing dynasty with enough knowledge to earn the admiration of their imperial husbands?

How did Kangxi’s birth mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang Tonggiya Nianjin, serve the emperor only once in her life and conceive an emperor that one time?

Why was Kangxi’s Empress Xiaoyiren Tonggiya Xianrui the shortest-reigning empress? Just how short was her reign?

How did her younger sister, Tonggiya Xianzhu, rise to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort Quehui?

And how did Kangxi’s lesser consort Tonggiya Ziyou leave the palace and return home, free to remarry as she pleased?

How did Daoguang’s Empress Xiaoshencheng Tonggiya Yuqi become the empress most frequently honored in posthumous ceremonies? What secret did she share with Daoguang?

How did Xianfeng’s Imperial Noble Consort Duanke Tonggiya Wuzhao survive five reigns without losing her position?

What were the backgrounds of these seven consorts? What stories lay behind their clan and children?

Come discover the untold secrets of the Tonggiya clan’s consorts!