Noble Lady Shun

Noble Lady Shun was born of the Manchu Niohuru clan. Her personal name is unknown. Her father was Aibida (愛必達), a Governor-General (總督) and grandson of Ebilun. Her great aunt was Empress Xiaozhaoren, the second Empress Consort of the Kangxi Emperor. Lady Niohuru's ancestry and family was filled with prestigious officials and respectable individuals.

Lady Niohuru was born on 3 January 1748 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. She entered the Forbidden City in 1766 and became a concubine of the emperor and was granted the rank of "Noble Lady Chang" (常貴人). Originally, Empress Dowager Chongqing suggested that the Emperor select her as Empress, as the previous Empress had died that same year and the only one leading the imperial harem was Empress Xiaoyichun, a Han woman who could never marry the Emperor legally and be instated as an Empress Consort. Qianlong rejected Lady Niohuru, stating that he would never promote anyone to the position of Empress Consort again, and continued to leave palace affairs to Empress Xiaoyichun, who at that time was the Imperial Noble Consort Ling.

In 1768 Lady Niohuru was promoted to "Imperial Concubine Shun" (順嬪). In 1771, the Emperor took a southern tour of the country, bringing only six consorts with him. Among them was Lady Niohuru. In 1776 Imperial Concubine Shun got pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage. She was elevated to the status of "Consort Shun" (順妃) the same year by the Emperor, perhaps to comfort her. A similar occurrence happened to Consort Yu in 1759. The promotion ceremony was set to be held in the following year but was delayed by two years because of the death of the Empress Dowager in 1777.

In 1780 Consort Shun lead the Silkworm Worship Ceremony, which was usually held by the Empress herself.

The Qianlong Emperor was said to have a great relationship with Consort Shun. There is a record that the Emperor personally hunted two ducks and gave them to her as a gift. She was one of the twelve consorts out of Qianlong's fifty to be drawn in the painting "Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts" by Giuseppe Castiglione.

In 1788 Lady Niohuru was demoted from the rank of Consort Shun to "Imperial Concubine Shun" (順妃) for unknown reasons. 16 days later she was demoted to "Noble Lady Shun" (常貴人). She died in 1790 at the age of forty-one or forty-two and was interred in the Yuling Mausoleum for imperial consorts in the Eastern Qing Tombs.