Consort Yu

Consort Yu, whose date and place of birth are not known, was a concubine of Emperor Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, with some accounts listing her as an imperial noble lady. She was the mother of Zhu Qi, the sixteenth son of Ming Taizu and Prince Qingjing. Zhu Qi was born on February 6, 1378 (the ninth day of the first month of the 11th year of Hongwu). In historical records, he is referred to as "Consort Yu" or "Yu Consort," and some records also refer to her as an "Imperial Noble Lady."

On May 26, 1392 (the fifth day of the fifth month of the 25th year of Hongwu), Zhu Qi was dispatched to Ningxia Prefecture under Shaanxi Province (present-day Yinchuan City, Ningxia) to take up his fief, and his mother was Consort Yu. Zhu Qi died in the third year of Zhengtong (1438), at the age of sixty-one. The time of Consort Yu’s death is not known; there is speculation that she may have been buried with her husband after his death.

According to the "Sheng Chao Tong Shi Shi Yi Ji," after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, forty of the emperor's consorts and concubines were buried with him, but there are no records of Consort Yu among those buried. Furthermore, officials and historical records do not contain specific mentions of Consort Yu or her descendants in the "Chaotian Nu Household" list.