People usually say that a joke “killed” as a figure of speech, to mean that it was super hilarious. Sometimes, though, a joke can kill quite literally. Such as that time ancient China’s Emperor Xiaowu cracked a joke about a woman’s age, and paid for it with his life. Below are some interesting facts about that lethal bit of humor.
Women’s Age Has Long Been a Delicate Subject
In polite society, it is just not done to ask a woman her age. It is seen as impolite and plain rude. Even worse is to joke about a woman’s age, especially if the would-be comedian is a man. That is not only ungentlemanly, but outright boorish. To be sure, when examined logically, it is ridiculous to consider one’s age an embarrassment. However, in a society that extols youth and degrades age, and even often (illegally) values youth over experience at the workplace, such hangups are understandable.
As The Washington Post’s Miss Manners put it: “that question should not be asked of anyone except children”. Throughout much of history, women have been judged based on their looks and sexual appeal. It was generally taken that with the passage of years, a woman’s beauty, fertility, and desirability, diminished. Such perceptions often engendered feelings of insecurity on the part of many women. Some men, of the more ungentlemanly sort, see in that an opportunity to crack age-based jokes at women’s expense.
The Downsides of Mocking a Woman’s Age
In addition to the fact that mocking a woman’s age is both crude and cruel – reason enough in of itself to avoid that line of humor – such jokes can backfire on the would-be comedian. It happened to an emperor who met an untimely demise at the hands of a woman whose age he made fun of, when she failed to appreciate the humor. That worthy was Emperor Xiaowu (362 – 396), who ascended the throne of Jin Dynasty China when he was ten-years-old.
For the first few years of Xiaowu’s reign, the realm was governed by a council of regents. When he turned thirteen, he wed a sixteen-year-old. Unfortunately, she was either a lush or became one after she married Xiaowu, and drank heavily until her death five years later. Xiaowu himself was no stranger to the bottle. He liked to party and booze it up, and left the affairs of state to his advisers. As seen below, that irresponsible existence caught up with him.
A Joke that Landed Badly
Emperor Xiaowu did not remarry after he became a widower. However, as with all Chinese emperors, he had a large number of concubines. Of those, his favorite was the Honored Lady Zhang. One time while drunk at a party in 396, Xiaowu joked about the then-thirty-year-old Zhang’s years: “Based on your age, you should yield your position. I want someone younger”. The emperor thought that was hilarious, but Lady Zhang failed to appreciate the humor. Her power and status depended on her relationship to the emperor, and if he ditched her, she would lose it all.
Lady Zhang was also quite angry at the public humiliation. She kept her cool at the party, but later that night, exacted her revenge. When the emperor passed out drunk as he often did, Zhang escorted him to his chambers. She bribed his guards to look the other way, then had her maids strangle and suffocate the emperor to death. Lady Zhang claimed that Xiaowu had passed away in his sleep, but the truth came out soon enough. Luckily for her, nobody who mattered cared. Xiaowu had been a dissolute sort who caused his courtiers more trouble than he was worth. They swiftly appointed a child emperor in his place, ruled as regents, and swept the former emperor’s murder under the rug.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Fang Xuanling – The Book of Jin
History Halls – Humor That Backfired Horribly: The Tyrant Who Was Killed Over a Gay Joke
Washington Post, January 25th, 2022 – Miss Manners: Why Is It Taboo to Ask a Woman Her Age?
