Empress Zhen (Cao Fang)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhen.

Empress Zhen
Chinese	甄皇后
Transcriptions

Empress Zhen (died 251), personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Huai (懷皇后; literally: "The Kind-But-Died-Early Empress"), was an empress of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. She was the first wife of Cao Fang, the third ruler of Cao Wei.

Not much is known about her, other than that her grandfather, Zhen Yan (甄儼), was a brother of Cao Fang's adoptive father Cao Rui's mother, Lady Zhen (posthumously honored Empress Wenzhao). Cao Fang created her empress in 243. She died in 251 and was buried with honors due an empress. (The reason her posthumous name was one character rather than two was because her husband was eventually deposed in 254, and therefore never given a posthumous imperial name; the customs at the time generally dictated that the empress' posthumous name carry one character from their husbands'.)

See also

• Cao Wei family trees#Cao Fang
• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

References

• Chen Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms, volumes 4, 5.
• Sima Guang. Zizhi Tongjian, volumes 74, 75.

Chinese royalty
Preceded by Empress Guo	Empress of Cao Wei 243–251	Succeeded by Empress Zhang