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Consort kin

{{Short description|Kin of empress dowagers in Sinosphere}}

{{more references|date=January 2008}}

{{Infobox Chinese

| c = 外戚

| p = wàiqī

| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|wai|4|.|q|i|1}}

| y = ngoih chīk

| hangul = 외척

| rr = oecheok

| hiragana= がいせき

| romaji = gaiseki

| vie = ngoại thích

}}

The consort kin or outer kins ({{zh|c=外戚|p=wàiqì}}) were the kin or a group of people related to an empress dowager or a consort of a monarch or a warlord in the Sinosphere. The leading figure of the clan was either a (usually male) sibling, cousin, or parent of the empress dowager or consort.

While Consort kins can be seen as a manifestation of nepotism in Sinospheric imperial politics, it is a moot point in a system of where most political positions were inherited via male primogeniture. Majority of the criticism lobbied against consort kins comes from the Confucians gentry class, who were often their political rival.

In certain periods of Chinese political history, i.e. Reign of Emperor Wu of Western Jin Dynasty, consort kins were empowered by emperors to create political balance or to garner support for policies or actions unpopular among the Confucian elites. In other cases, emperors at the beginning of their reign, often relied on their consort kins to hold onto power, because they lack of the political network a more established ruler may have.

The perception of their outsized role in dynastic decline may be due to a bias in official imperial historical text, mostly written by members of the Confucian gentry class. They considered the political involvement of consort kins(and eunuchs) a disruption/corruption of the proper order, while downplaying their own negative contribution. For example, Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han focuses primarily on court corruption and eunuchs, leaving out social political stagnation caused by the Confucian gentry class as a major factor in the fall of Eastern Han.

Historical examples

= China =

== Zhou dynasty==

|first2=Yuri |last2=Pines

|author2-link=Yuri Pines

|author1=Chen Minzhen (陳民鎮)

|pages=1–27

|title=Where is King Ping? The History and Historiography of the Zhou Dynasty's Eastward Relocation

|journal=Asia Major

|year=2018

|volume=31

|issue=1

|publisher=Academica Sinica

|jstor=26571325

|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26571325

|access-date=2022-06-15

|ref={{harvid|Chen and Pines|2018}}

}}{{rp|10, 12}}

== Han dynasty ==

| last = Hinsch | first = Bret

| title= The Criticism of Powerful Women by Western Han Dynasty Portent Experts

| year = 2006

| journal = Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient

| volume = 49 | number = 1 | pages = 96–121

| publisher = Brill

| doi = 10.1163/156852006776207251

| jstor = 25165130

}}{{rp|97}}

| last=Bielenstein

| first = Hans

| author-link=Hans Bielenstein

| year = 1986

| chapter= Wang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han

| series= The Cambridge History of China

| title= Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 {{sc|B.C.}} – {{sc|A.D.}} 220

| pages = 223–290

| editor1 = Denis Twitchett

| editor2 = Michael Loewe

| editor2-link = Michael Loewe

| publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24327-8

}}

== Three Kingdoms ==

| title= Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms

| script-title= zh:三國志注

| author= Chen Shou | author-link= Chen Shou

| editor=Pei Songzhi | editor-link=Pei Songzhi

| year = 1977 | orig-year=429

| publisher= Dingwen Printing

| place=Taipei

| ref={{sfnref|Chen and Pei|429}}

| chapter=38: 許麋孫簡伊秦傳

| pages = 969–970

}} However, in this case, Lady Mi likely died several decades before Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor. Mi Fang also defected from Liu Bei's army about a year before he became emperor.

  • Mi Zhu, another brother of Lady Mi, also served under Liu Bei and (briefly) Shu Han.
  • Wu Yi was a general of Shu Han. He was the brother of Empress Wu of Shu Han.
  • Cao Pi deposed Emperor Xian of Han and declared himself emperor of Cao Wei. Two of Emperor Xian's daughters became consorts of Cao Pi, although it is unclear which one of them was emperor at the time this occurred. Cao Pi was himself the half-brother of Emperor Xian's consort Empress Cao.
  • Lady Xie's brother Xie Cheng and some of her other relatives held positions in the government of Eastern Wu, although Lady Xie died long before her husband Sun Quan became emperor. Some of Lady Xu's relatives were also officials but Lady Xu herself was both a blood relative and a concubine of Sun Quan.
  • Eastern Wu official Bu Zhi was a relative of Empress Bu and in-law of Sun Quan.

== Jin dynasty (266–420) ==

Sixteen Kingdoms

== Northern and Southern dynasties ==

== Tang dynasty ==

| first = Denis | last = Twitchett

| year = 1979

| chapter= Hsüan-tsung (reign 712–56)

| editor = Denis Twitchett

| title= Volume 3, Sui and T'ang China, 589–906 {{sc|AD}}, Part 1

| series= The Cambridge History of China

| pages = 333–463

| publisher= Cambridge University Press

| doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521214469.008

| isbn = 978-0521214469

}}{{rp|449}}

== Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ==

== Song dynasty ==

| last = Murray | first = Lorraine

| display-authors = etal

| encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica

| year = 2009

| access-date= 6 May 2023

| url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jia-Sidao

| publisher= britannica.com

| title= Jia Sidao

}}

== Yuan dynasty ==

== Qing dynasty ==

= Ancient Japan =

== Asuka period ==

== Heian period ==

{{hatnote|Further readings: {{ill|Sekkan system|ja|摂関政治}}, in which the Hokke (Fujiwara) clan occupied the posts of Sesshō and Kampaku as maternal relatives of the emperors}}

= Ancient Korea =

= Ancient Vietnam =

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book

|title=Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century

|last=Bennett Peterson

|first=Barbara

|publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

|year=2000

|isbn = 0-7656-0504-X}}

{{refend}}

Category:Chinese nobility

Category:Kinship and descent

Category:Nepotism