Her surname was Yehenara, daughter of a Manchu official, who in 1851, at the age of 16, became the emperor's concubine. She quickly became a favourite and, after giving birth to Emperor Xianfeng's ...

Well, this was one of the most horrific stories told about her: as the emperor’s concubine, she killed her own newborn child (the Emperor’s child too, of course), and then accused the Empress ...

Empress Wu Zetian entered the Chinese court as a fifth-tier concubine, but she ended her life as the country's only female emperor. Once described as hated by “gods and men alike," Zetian ...

He died three years later. Here also is a reminder of the darker side of palace life -- the well where Emperor Guangxu’s Concubine Zhen was drowned. Having supported him as he strove for reform ...

Because he was born prematurely, the empress, jealous of his mother, one of the emperor's concubines, falsely accused his mother of adultery. Suspecting the child was not his, Zhu Yuanzhang ...