Princess Dowager Zhang (張太后, personal name unknown) was a princess dowager of the Chinese

History of China

Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

 state Northern Yan

Northern Yan

The Northern Yan was a state of Han Chinese during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China.The second Emperor of Northern Yan, Feng Ba, was Han chinese.All rulers of the Northern Yan declared themselves "emperors".-Rulers of the Northern Yan:...

. Her son was Feng Ba

Feng Ba

Feng Ba , courtesy name Wenqi , nickname Qizhifa , formally Emperor Wencheng of Yan , was an emperor of the Chinese state Northern Yan...

 (Emperor Wencheng).

When Feng Ba took the throne in 409 after the death of Gao Yun (Emperor Huiyi), he took the title "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang), but whereas most owners of that title during the Sixteen Kingdoms

Sixteen Kingdoms

The Sixteen Kingdoms, or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China proper and its neighboring areas from 304 to 439 AD after the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to South China and before the establishment of the Northern Dynasties...

 Period treated themselves and were treated as emperors in all respects, including honoring their mothers as empress dowager

Empress Dowager

Empress Dowager was the title given to the mother of a Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese emperor.The title was also given occasionally to another woman of the same generation, while a woman from the previous generation was sometimes given the title of Grand empress dowager. Numerous empress...

s, Feng Ba only gave her the title of princess dowager. No further historical reference was made to her.