 Her father Yifu Yuan (乙弗瑗) was a provincial governor, and her mother was the Princess Huaiyang, a daughter of Emperor Xiaowen.In 525, when she was 15, she married Yuan Baoju, who was then 21 and a general under his cousin Emperor Xiaoming, but who carried no noble title because his father Yuan Yu (元愉) the Prince of Jingzhao had had his title stripped posthumously in a rebellion.In 535, after Northern Wei had split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, he was made emperor (as Emperor Wen) by the general Yuwen Tai after the death of his cousin Emperor Xiaowu.