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A romantized version of the princess' story

Another speculation put the ownership of the tomb to Kong Sizhen (孔四贞 1635-? ), the only princess of Qing Dynasty of Han ethnicity.

Kong’s father, Kong Youde (孔有德 ?-1652 ), was a former Ming general. Kong and his troop were originally stationed in Dengzhou, where the elite forces of the empire army equipped with heavy artillery and muskets were trained. When Kong was order to reinforce the Manchu front, Kong staged a mutiny and captured Dengzhou. His plan was to exploit the chaotic situation and take control of the whole Shandong peninsula as soon as possible to establish a junta independent of Ming. But in another city Laizhou, he met strong resistance, which gave the Ming emperor enough time to organize a counterattack. Kong was subsequently defeated by the attacking Ming forces and retreated to the coastal Dengzhou.

After months of besiege, Kong abandoned the stronghold. Over ten thousands rebels, including Kong, took the sea and fled in fleet. They later landed on the mouth of Yalu river and surrendered to Manchu. The Portuguese manufactured high power artillery and tens of thousands of muskets brought by Kong were the most advanced weaponry of that time and they were later used to slaughter the Ming troops on the Manchu front. Kong’s troop became the vanguard in the military conquer of the China proper.

After Manchurian took over China, Kong and some other highly-decorated Han generals were knighted as “wang”. Kong’s title was “lord who stabilizes the south”. Wu Sangui, another surrendered Ming general who opened the Shanhaiguan Great Wall pass for the Machu military, was “lord who stabilizes the west”.

Kong was granted a manor in Guangxi, where he owned his own troops and lived like a king, until he was defeated by the remainder of Ming troops and committed suicide to avoid capture. According to history, Kong burned himself and his wives with their treasures. Before his suicide, he sent his son and daughter out the besieged city. Kong wished the son could be a Buddhist monk, instead of follow his suit to be a general. However, all Kong’s surviving family members except his little daughter Kong Sizhen, were captured and killed.

The orphan girl fed to Beijing where she was treated as a royal member by the Manchurian court. She was officially adopted by the queen mother of Shunzhi and proclaimed princess. This, however, was more of a gesture to show the new ruler’s fair-handedness in treating Han ethnicity and to strengthen the loyalty of the Han Chinese who were still fighting against their compatriots for the alien administration.

When Sizhen was sixteen, the queen mother decided to marry her to the emperor Shunzhi. However, the emperor was enamored of another woman and would not marry her. When the queen mother proposed to find her a husband again, Sizhen told her that her father, when alive, had promised a loyal subordinate called Sun Long to marry her to Sun’s son. Sun Long died in the battle of Guilin, but his son survived. The son was summoned into the palace to marry the princess. After they got married, they were sent to Sizhen’s father’s manor in Guangxi, which had been recaptured by Qing forces.

Years later, Wu Sangui, the “lord who stabilizes the west”, grudged over not being trusted by the Manchu ruler, decided to transgress against the emperor and invited Sun Long to join his revolt.

After initial hesitation, Sun refused under the influence of his wife. Wu subsequently sent his troops to attack Sun, who was killed in a fight. The princess was captured by Wu and was put in a house imprisonment. Overall, she was treated well. It was partly because Wu Sangui and her father Kong Youde were once allies – they were both collaborated Ming generals. More importantly, Wu, like the Manchu court, also wanted to use the princess for their own propaganda machine.

After Wu’s revolt was put down. Kong Sizhen, the Han princess was rescued after her six years of home imprisonment and taken back to Beijing which she had left for 16 years. She gave up the manor and troops inherited from her father and lived in the Forbidden City until she died.

But is Kong Sizhen the princess in the tomb? Maybe not. According to a news report of 2005, there were actually two princesses buried in the tomb: they were Zhuangjing Heshuo Princess, who was the third daughter of Jiaqing Emperor and Zhuangjin Gulun Princess, the fourth daughter of Jiaqing Emperor. Both of them died in 1811, at the age of 31 and 28 respectively. In 1967, an excavation which was carried out by the government for better preservation and the new subway construction confirmed the identities of the owners of the tomb.

In 1997, a Taiwanese romance novelist who paid a visit to Beijing heard the fairytale version of the story and adapted it for TV screen. The TV drama turned out extremely well-received. In the TV drama, the princess was an illegitimate daughter of Qianlong with a woman he met in one of his trips.