Empress Zhen (Cao Fang)

Posthumous name
	Empress Huai (懷皇后)

Empress Zhen
甄皇后
Empress Zhen; 甄皇后
Empress consort of Cao Wei
Tenure	29 May 243 – 22 August 251
Predecessor	Empress Mingyuan
Successor	Empress Zhang
Born	Unknown
Died	22 August 251
Spouse	Cao Fang
Posthumous name
Posthumous name
	Empress Huai (懷皇后)

Empress Zhen (died 22 August 251),^[a] personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Huai (懷皇后), was an empress of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. She was the first wife of Cao Fang, the third emperor of Cao Wei.

Not much is known about her, other than that her grandfather, Zhen Yan (甄儼), was a brother of Lady Zhen, the mother of Cao Rui (the second emperor of Wei). Cao Fang created her empress in 243. She died in 251 and was buried with honours befitting 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 name; the customs at the time generally dictated that the empress' posthumous name share one character with their husbands'.)

Notes

^ ^a ^b Cao Fang's biography in the Sanguozhi recorded that Empress Zhen died on the renxu day of the 7th month of the 3rd year of the Jiaping era of Cao Fang's reign.^[2] This date corresponds to 22 August 251 in the Gregorian calendar.

References

^ According to Cao Fang's biography in Sanguozhi, Lady Zhen was made empress on the yimao day of the 4th month of the 4th year of the Zhengshi era of Cao Fang's reign. This corresponds to 29 May 243 in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.((正始四年)夏四月乙卯，立皇后甄氏) Sanguozhi vol. 04.
^ ([嘉平三年]秋七月壬戌，皇后甄氏崩。) Sanguozhi vol. 4.