Princess Linhe

Princess Linhe was a granddaughter of the Rouran khan Anagui. In 542 Anagui asked that she be married to Gao Zhan, Duke of Changguang and ninth son of Gao Huan. The emperor of the Eastern Wei ordered the marriage.^[1] Two Rouran nobles brought her to Jinyang: the tudoudeng Yujiulü Pijue and the junli mohe You Dadao.^[1] Hers was the second of three Rouran marriages by which the east bound the khan. A Wei princess had gone north to Anagui’s son in 541. Gao Huan himself married Anagui’s daughter in 546.^[1]

The tomb

A painted arch above a doorway: a large monster mask with spread feathers in the middle, a winged figure on each side, and red flowers along the edges — Modern copy of the painting above the gate of her tomb: a monster mask between two winged figures. Hebei Museum. Copy: Hebei Museum. Photograph: Gary Todd, 2014, CC0.

The histories record nothing more about her. Her tomb was found near Cixian, in the south of Hebei, and excavated in 1978 and 1979.^[2] As the excavation report is cited, the epitaph names her Lü Chidilian. It calls her a granddaughter of the Rouran ruler and the wife of Gao Zhan. It gives her death in 550, at thirteen by Chinese reckoning.^[2] Gao Zhan became emperor of the Northern Qi in 561. She did not live to see it.