Zhanhe Gu

Zhenhe Gu, a figure from the late 16th century until 1624, was a Gräfin (princess consort) of the Later Jin and the younger half-sister of Nurhaci. She was also the wife of Gahasihan Hashihu and Yangshu. Her original name is not definitively recorded; historical sources mostly refer to her as "Ajige Fujin," where "Ajige" in Manchu means "younger," literally translating to "Small Fujin" (princess consort). Whether her real name was actually Ajige remains uncertain.

Her life and marriage experiences are as follows: She was initially the wife of Gahasihan Hashihu, the lord of Jamuhu city. Around the twelfth year of Wanli (1584), Gahasihan Hashihu was killed by his stepmother’s brother, Samu Zhan. After his death, she remarried Yangshu (the younger brother of Changshu). Having remarried, she and Yangshu had three sons, among whom Dahan married Nurhaci’s second daughter, Nenzhe Gege.

In her middle age, Zhenhe Gu had a troubled relationship with Yangshu and requested her brother Nurhaci to grant a divorce. Nurhaci, because Yangshu was his close friend, did not agree. When Yangshu died, the couple had been estranged for fifteen years and never saw each other again.

On May 9, in the eighth year of Tianming (1624), Nurhaci held a reprimand at the Bajiao Hall in Dongjing City for Zhenhe Gu and several princesses, stating that the arrogance and misconduct of the princesses were largely due to her lack of proper upbringing. After punishing her, he declared he would no longer interfere in her affairs. Modern researchers interpret this rebuke differently, believing it also carried the real intent of stripping her family’s hereditary positions. During this same period, Zhenhe Gu passed away, and on September 12 of that year, she was buried with her two daughters. Nurhaci wished to attend her funeral but was dissuaded by the princely lords; he still said, “She is the only sister born of the same father and mother as me,” and he wept loudly at the funeral.

In April of the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), E-shan, a great-grandson of Yangshu and a Manchu of the Xuanhuang Banner, submitted a memorial requesting that she be posthumously granted the title of princess as Nurhaci’s younger sister. It was noted that she died in Shengjing without official title, and the request was made for her to be posthumously named "Heshuo Gungun" (He Shuo Gong), and later it was recorded in the "Imperial Dynasty Texts" (Huangchao Wending) that the deceased was "Heshuo Gungun, the sister of Emperor Taizu Gao (Nurhaci), and her high ancestor’s aunt." There are also records referring to her as "Heshuo Jing'an Gungun," with the specific title confirmed by historical materials.