Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, born Borjigit Bumbutai, was a Khorchin Mongol consort of Hong Taiji, mother of the Shunzhi Emperor and grandmother of the Kangxi Emperor.

She lived through the creation of the Qing imperial title, the conquest of Beijing and the difficult minorities of her son and grandson. Although she did not rule openly, later accounts credit her with stabilising succession and advising the early Qing court. In Alice Poon’s historical fiction, this person is represented within the Ming–Qing transition or the founding of the Qing dynasty.