Life

Zhou was the daughter of Zhou Neng (周能), a poor farmer in Changping County. When Emperor Yingzong went hunting, he accidentally entered her home by mistake. The whole family was shocked and scared, but Zhou was the only one who acted comfortably. Because of this, she caught the eye of the emperor and entered the palace with the high rank of consort. In 1446, she gave birth to Zhu Qizhen's eldest daughter the Princess Chongqing and his eldest son, Zhu Jianshen (the future Chenghua Emperor). When Emperor Yingzong was captured by the Mongols in 1449, the Empress Dowager Sun ordered that Consort Zhou's eldest son would be named Crown Prince. But when Emperor Yingzong's younger brother Zhu Qiyu became emperor, he deposed Crown Prince Zhu Jianshen. In 1455, she gave birth to Zhu Qizhen's sixth son, Zhu Jianze.

In 1457 when Zhu Qizhen was restored to the throne, she was given the rank of Noble consort.

When her son the Chenghua Emperor ascended the throne, both she and Empress Qian received the rank of empress dowager. However, there was conflict on who to give the empress dowager's emblem since there were two empress dowagers. The eunuch Xia Shi, in an effort to please Noble Consort Zhou, sent an order to honor Zhou with the emblem of the empress dowager. Both the scholars Li Xian and Peng Shi fought hard on which empress dowager would be given an emblem while both Empress Qian and Zhou treated each other with respect. On April 23rd of Chenghua, Zhou was given the embelem and title of 'Empress Dowager Shengcirenshou' (聖慈仁壽皇太后).

It was said that during the Chenghua Emperor's reign, Zhou was known to be extremely kind and treated everyone around her with respect. The Chenghua Emperor held his mother in high regard, and never dared to disobey her orders.

In the Ming dynasty (before Yingzong) only the empress could be buried with the emperor. The name of the emperor and the empress were fixed before and could not be changed in any circumstance. When Empress Qian died, Zhou wanted to prevent Empress Qian from being buried together with Emperor Yingzong in Yuling. Zhou secretly changed the design of Emperor Yingzong's mausoleum so that she can be buried with him in the future. Although Empress Qian and Emperor Yingzong had the same tomb, they were entered through different tunnels.

When the Hongzhi Emperor came to the throne, he honored Empress Dowager Zhou as Grand empress dowager and named Empress Wang as empress dowager. The Hongzhi Emperor was said to have been respectful and filial to Zhou.

During winter in the eleventh year of Hongzhi, Qingning Palace was destroyed and Zhou moved to Renshou Palace.

Death

In Ming, only the emperor and empress were allowed to be worshipped in ancestral temples. So when Empress Zhou died in 1504, courtiers were fighting if Empress Zhou should be worshipped in the Ancestral temples. Scholars Liu Juan, Xie Qian and Li Dongyang objected mentioning that Zhou was never an empress in her lifetime and therefore does not deserve to be worshipped in the ancestral temples and to be buried with the emperor. However, Zhou was still given a posthumous title for an empress and was buried together with Emperor Yingzong, as she wished. After Zhou had been buried, it was discovered that the tunnel to the tomb of Empress Qian was separated from Emperor Yingzong. Empress Qian was never reburied together with Emperor Yingzong. After Zhou's death, the birth mothers of future Ming emperors (even if they never held the rank of empress) were buried together with their husbands.

The Hongzhi Emperor gave Zhou the posthumous title of: Grand Empress Dowager Xiàosùzhēnshùnkāngyìguānglièfǔtiānchéngshèng (孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖太皇太后)

During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, he granted Zhou a different posthumous title. Her final posthumous title was: Empress Xiàosùzhēnshùnkāngyìguānglièfǔtiānchéngshèng (孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖皇后)

Film and Television

• He Saifei as Empress Dowager Zhou in 2011 drama The Emperor's Harem

• Sheng Langxi as Noble Consort Zhou in the 2016 drama 'The Imperial Doctress'

• Qu Ni Tsering as Zhou Guifei in the 2019 drama 'Ming Dynasty'

• Fang Xiaoli as Empress Dowager Zhou in the 2020 drama 'The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty'

生平

周氏為昌平縣的貧農之女，『罪惟錄』言英宗狩獵外出，行至昌平，誤入其家。舉家驚駭規避，唯有周氏出應，舉措自如。由是奇之，以入宮。明英宗正統十一年（1446年），周氏生下皇次女重慶公主。正統十二年（1447年），生下皇長子朱見深。兩年後，土木之變，英宗被也先俘獲，孫太后下詔立其子朱見深為皇太子。景泰元年，英宗回到北京，居南宮。景泰三年，太子朱見深被廢。景泰六年（1455年），周氏生下英宗第六子朱見澤。其間，不知周氏的妃嬪位階。天順元年（即1457年，明英宗復闢時），封周氏為貴妃。時有託言孫太后懿旨，稱錢皇后殘疾不當復立（因思念被俘在遠方的丈夫哭泣致使殘廢），周貴妃多有不遜的舉動。一日在太子前對皇后甚為無禮，英宗生氣呵斥她，錢皇后請曰：「請為太子留地」（見『罪惟錄』）。

明憲宗即位後，要尊嫡母錢皇后和生母周貴妃為皇太后，同時確定徽號。當時太監夏時為討好周貴妃，傳諭獨尊周貴妃為皇太后。大學士李賢、彭時力爭，才兩位太后並尊。成化二十三年四月，上徽號聖慈仁壽皇太后。憲宗在位時，事太后極孝，史書上記載「五日一朝，燕享必親」。太后的要求明憲宗不敢不從，惟恐太后不悅。

明朝在英宗以前，只有嫡后以及殉葬妃嬪才能與皇帝合葬，英宗生前並下詔錢皇后名位已定，不可改變。錢皇后死後，周氏欲阻擋錢皇后合葬裕陵，憲宗委曲寬譬，最後才得以合葬。不過周太后還是暗中搞了鬼，改變英宗的陵寢設計，使自己將來也得以與英宗合葬，而且錢太后雖與英宗同陵墓，卻異隧，葬處距離英宗玄堂有數丈，中間的隧道被填滿了，而右邊周太后的隧道卻是空的。

明孝宗生西宮，生母紀妃薨後，周太后育之宮中，省視萬方。及明孝宗即位，尊周氏為太皇太后，事太皇太后亦至孝，甚至欲為祖母破格召崇王入賀。弘治十一年冬，清寧宮災，太皇太后移居仁壽宮。第二年，清寧宮建成，還居清寧宮。方士李廣之死，起因在太皇太后。

明制只有嫡后才可以繫帝諡及祔太廟，繼后及皇帝生母都不繫帝諡、別祀奉慈殿。弘治十七年三月，周太皇太后崩，群臣商議，認為應該諡周太皇太后為孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖睿皇后。大學士劉健、謝遷、李東陽以周太皇太后並非嫡后，不能繫帝諡為由反對，孝宗遵從，諡周太皇太后為孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖太皇太后，合葬裕陵，別祀于奉慈殿，不祔廟。周氏死後，孝宗發現錢皇后陵墓的隧道被堵塞，想開通那隧道，欽天監不贊同，于是沒有進行。自周氏以後，嗣君生母亦得以與皇帝合葬。

嘉靖十五年，明世宗下旨，與紀太后、邵太后二人並移祀陵殿，題主曰皇后，不繫帝謚以別嫡庶。之後的穆宗母孝恪太后、神宗母孝定太后、光宗母孝靖太后、熹宗母孝和太后、思宗母孝純太后，都使用其制。周貴妃最終的謚號為孝肅貞順康懿光烈輔天承聖皇后。

諸弟貴顯，惟幼弟吉祥（為其堂弟，詳見周吉祥塔）出外遊方，久乃為僧還。姊為太子母，英宗欲使還俗。固辭，居西山，自適而卒。

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