Empress Dowager Gong , formally EmpressDowager Yuan was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynastyWestern Liang dynasty. She was the mother ofEmperor Xuan of Western Liang who founded the Western Liang with the support of Western Wei. Lady Gong was a concubine of Xiao Tong, the first crown prince of Liang dynasty's founder Emperor Wu. Her rank was the second rank for a concubine of the crown prince, Baolin. She gave birth to Xiao Cha in 519. Little is known about her background, including her birth family, and Xiao Cha himself appeared to be closer to Crown Princess Cai's nephew Cai Dabao than he was with any cousins he might have had through his mother. Historical references to Lady Gong were not numerous. In 549, while Liang was in a state of disarray after the fall of the capital Jiankang to the rebel general Hou Jing and the imperial princes were battling each other, Xiao Cha, then the Prince of Yueyang, was leading an army against his uncle Xiao Yi the Prince of Xiangdong to try to save his brother Xiao Yu the Prince of Hedong, when he left his headquarters Xiangyang in the hands of Cai Dabao and Lady Gong, and they defended the city against a surprise attack by the general Du An, who served under Xiao Cha but had defected to Xiao Yi. When Xiao Cha retreated at night, Lady Gong, unaware of his military failure, mistook him for enemy; only until the next morning she realized him and let him in. Subsequently, in order to fend of Xiao Yi's attacks, Xiao Cha became a Western Wei vassal and was created the Prince of Liang. In 555, after Western Wei forces had defeated and killed Xiao Yi, Western Wei created Xiao Cha the emperor of Liang. While Emperor Xuanposthumously honored Xiao Tong as an emperor and Xiao Tong's wife Crown Princess Cai as an empress, he honored his mother as an empress dowager. After he died in 562 and was succeeded by his son Xiao Kui, Emperor Ming honored her as grand empress dowager. She died about three months after her son.
