Feng Liao
Feng Liao (馮嫽) was China's first official female diplomat, who represented the Han dynasty to Wusun (烏孫), which was in the Western Regions. It was a practice for the Imperial Court to foster alliances with the northern tribes via marriage, and two Han princesses had married Wusun kings. The maidservant of Princess Jieyou (解憂公主), who was married off to a Wusun king.
Also recorded as Feng Liao
Feng Liao
- Nationality
- China · Western Han
- Occupation
- diplomat · politician · poet
- Fields
- poetry
- Languages
- Chinese
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Feng Liao. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q5443384 · wikipedia · Feng Liao
In this article
Historical Sources and Archives
Feng herself later married an influential Wusun general, whose good standing with Prince Wujiutu (烏就屠) of the kingdom later proved beneficial to the Han dynasty. When Prince Wujiutu seized the throne of Wusun in 64 BC, after his father died, there was fear in the Imperial Court of Han that Wujiutu, whose mother was Xiongnu, would allow Wusun to become Xiongnu's vassal. Zheng Ji, Governor of the Western Regions, recalled that Feng Liao had married into Wusun and with her familiarity of the Wusun customs, she was a prime candidate to persuade Wujiutu to ally his kingdom with Han. Wujiutu acceded and Emperor Xuan of Han (漢宣帝) sent for Feng. The Emperor received Feng Liao in his palace in Chang'an and took her advice of granting Wujiutu a title to secure his loyalty. The emperor appointed her as chief envoy and dispatched her again to Wusun, this time with an official hanjie (汉节) given to diplomats of the Han Dynasty. She announced Yuanguimi as the Great Kunmi (chief king) of Wusun, and Wujiutu the Lesser Kunmi. Wusun thereafter became a vassal state of the Western Han.
Multiple historical texts produced from the Han dynasty and later ancient Chinese dynasties recorded Feng's accomplishments. The best known sources out of them are The Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian, specifically the 19th chapter on the Han dynasty. In addition to those texts, a collection of Han bamboo and wooden slips found in Dunhuang described some of Feng Liao's life in Wusun.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Feng Liao, revision 1341086370 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.黄建强. 悬泉汉简隐传奇,史上第一位女外交家冯嫽. 兰州晨报. 2020-04-30.
- 2.读史增智:《资治通鉴》之汉纪十九(47)_冯夫人_乌就屠_汉朝. www.sohu.com.
- 3.甘肃文化丨悬泉汉简隐传奇,史上第一位女外交家冯嫽_甘肃文化_中国甘肃网. gansu.gscn.com.cn.
- 4.悬泉汉简隐传奇,史上第一位女外交家冯嫽-名人轶事-敦煌阳关景区官方网站. www.dhyangguan.com.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Femi OsofisanAuthor
- Femi TaylorAuthor
- Femke HalsemaAuthor
- Feng BanAuthor
- Feng MenglongAuthor
- Feng XianAuthor
- Feng XiaolianAuthor
- Feng ZhiAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Feng Liao?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.