CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

Princess Changde

princess of Ming dynasty

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ11060387
Source-derived summary

Princess Changde (常德公主; 1424–1470), personal name unknown, was a princess of the Ming dynasty and the third daughter of Emperor Xuanzong. She was his only daughter with Empress Xiaogongzhang of the Sun Clan, thus making her the only full sister of Emperor Yingzong.

Life

Princess Changde was born in the jiachen year of the Yongle era (1424) in Beijing to the then Huang Taisun ('imperial grandson-heir') Zhu Zhanji and his then concubine Sun. Her great-grandfather, the Yongle Emperor, died later the same year and her grandfather became Emperor Hongxi.

On 27 June 1425, when she was 1 year old, her grandfather died and her father became Emperor Xuanzong ⁣and her mother became the Noble Consort Sun. On March 1, 1428, when she was 4 years old, her mother became the Empress Sun. When she was 11 years old her father died and was followed as Emperor by her younger brother, who became the Emperor Yingzong.

In 1436 (the 5th year of the Zhengtong reign), when she was 12 years old, her mother, Empress Dowager Sun, arranged for her to marry Xue Huan, the son of Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu, whose Mother was of the Wang clan, after which she was granted the higher title of "Grand Princess". In the same instance her Husband Xue Huan, was appointed to the position of Commandant and granted the rank of fuma. Unfortunately the marriage didn't seem to be a happy one.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Princess Changde” is princess of Ming dynasty. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Princess, Changde and princess, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1424, 1470, 1425, 1428—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Princess, Changde and princess is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “princess of Ming dynasty” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11060387. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1424, 1470, 1425 and 1428.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Princess Changde”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Princess Changde primary sources, Princess Changde archive and Princess research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Princess Changde”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Princess Changde” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.