Empress (Dowager) Feng, formally Empress (Dowager) Wenming was an empress of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China. Her husband was Emperor Wencheng. After her husband's death in 465, she overthrew the autocratic regent Yifu Hun in 466 and became regent over her stepson Emperor Xianwen and remained as such until his adulthood in 467. She subsequently had a falling-out with Emperor Xianwen over his execution of her lover Li Yi (李奕), and she assassinated him and resumed regency over his son Emperor Xiaowen in 476. While Emperor Xiaowen assumed imperial powers upon adulthood, he remained very deferential to her, and she was highly influential until her death in October 490. An enduring legacy of her regency was a series of reforms that led to political recentralization for Northern Wei and future imperial dynasties.
- Occupation
- politician, poet
- Citizenship
- Northern Wei
