Li Lingrong is the only legendary African-American imperial concubine in ancient China.

In ancient palaces in China, there were countless empresses and concubines, but. There is only one queen of African descent, and she is Li Lingrong, the concubine of Sima Yu in Jian Wendi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After Sima Yu's death, his son Sima Yao acceded to the throne as filial piety, and Li Lingrong was conferred the title of imperial concubine and empress dowager. After Sima Yao's death, Li Lingrong's grandson, Jin 'an Emperor Sima Dezong, acceded to the throne and conferred the title of Empress Li Lingrong. In the fourth year of Longan, that is, in 400 AD, Li Lingrong died, and the Empress Dowager posthumous title was buried in Yu Ling. When Sima Yi was King Huiji, Li Lingrong was just a maid-in-waiting who did menial work. At that time, Sima Yi had three sons, but they all died young. Since then, the concubines in the palace have never given birth again. After Sima Yi's early years, fearing that he had no children or successors, he recruited many women into the palace. However, after several years, I still have no son.

There are three kinds of unfilial, and the biggest one is the last one. Sima Yi's yearning for his son is almost crazy. At this time, someone recommended a fairy to Sima Yu. It is said that this fortune teller is very powerful. As long as a woman passes by him, he can see what sex this woman can give birth to. Sima Yu did not hesitate to hand over the task of preserving blood fragrance to the fortune teller.

The fortune teller looked at Sima Yi's concubines and lucky maids, and felt that none of them could give him a son. But Sima Yi didn't give up, and the wise man kept looking. The fortune teller expanded the search to all the women in the palace and finally found the maid-in-waiting Li Lingrong. After the master saw Li Lingrong, an old servant in the palace told the master, "This woman is a slave of Kunshan." According to the Book of Jin, Li Lingrong is "long and black in shape, and emperors and scholars in past dynasties called it Kunlun."

This Li Lingrong was sold to Wang Fu as a weaver in his early years. No one knows his origin. Her appearance and figure had several characteristics that the Central Plains people didn't have at that time: she was tall and big, with dark skin and curly hair. The palace called her "Kunlun slave". According to historical records, "Kunlun slaves" came from Nanlinyi. The southern part of Lin Bu mentioned in the history books includes India, the Middle East and black Africa further south.

Li Lingrong's appearance has all the characteristics of African descent. Even today, Li Lingrong's appearance has a special taste, but it was considered ugly at that time. Sima Yi was very uncomfortable when he found himself a "Kunlun slave" as a concubine, but he stubbornly "told him to wait in bed" because it was related to the great cause of family inheritance and blood continuity.

Soon, Li Lingrong became pregnant with Liu Jia. To this end, Li Lingrong also told other women that she dreamed that "two dragons are resting on their knees, and the sun and the moon are in my arms, which means good luck." Sima Yu feels strange. A few years later, Li Lingrong gave birth to two sons and a daughter. As a result, Li Lingrong's position in the palace suddenly became noble.

In the first year of Xi 'an, namely 37 1 year, Sima Yi, who was 5 1 year old, became the emperor of Jian Wendi and was named Li Lingrong Shu Fei. Li Lingrong is actually the owner of the harem, because Sima Yi didn't have time to chase the queen. Two years later, Sima Yi died. Ten-year-old Sima Yao inherited the throne of Emperor Xiaowu, and Li Lingrong's status as a mother rose all the way until she was named Emperor Taifei, dressed like a queen mother. Twenty years later, Li Lingrong's second son Sima Daozi wrote a letter urging his younger brother to make his mother the queen mother. Sima Yao listened to his younger brother's advice and soon addressed his mother as the "Queen Mother". After Sima Yao's death, his son Sima Dezong succeeded to the throne, and his grandmother Li Lingrong was named "Empress Dowager".

In this way, Li Lingrong, who was ugly and came from a foreign land, not only became an unexpected empresses, but also gave birth to a son, so that she would never be abandoned by her husband in the complicated harem. Especially her children and grandchildren, are fortunate enough to inherit wealth, and their future days are getting better and better. This kind of situation is rare among empresses.