Wang Shen'ai
Wang Shen'ai (384–3 October 412), posthumously known as Empress Anxi, was the Empress consort of the Eastern Jin dynasty and wife of Emperor An. She was the daughter of official Wang Xianzhi and Princess Xin'an, who was the daughter of Emperor Jianwen, making Wang Shen'ai and Emperor An cousins.
She married the crown prince in 396 when she was 12 and he was 14. Emperor An was described as developmentally disabled, unable to speak or care for himself, and their marriage was likely not consummated; they had no children. When he became emperor, she was created empress on 3 May 397.
Little is recorded about her life as empress. In 403, Emperor An’s throne was usurped by the warlord Huan Xuan, and she and her husband were placed under house arrest. In 404, during Liu Yu’s rebellion to restore Jin, Huan Xuan fled west with them, but Yin Zhongwen rebelled and brought them back to Jiankang. After Huan Xuan died and Emperor An was restored, she was reunited with him.
She died on 3 October 412 and was buried with honors due an empress at Xiuping Mausoleum on 26 October; Emperor An was buried there later, in 419.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 23:26 (CET).