This is my depiction of a little-known personage from the annals of imperial Chinese history, namely a woman named Li who was the mother of the Emperor Xiao Wuwen (373-397 AD, during the Jin Dynasty). According to the official chronicle "History of the Jin", Li got her start as a concubine and and weaver whose colleagues had showered her with abuse for her being "tall and black" as well as a "kunlun" (the Chinese word for darker-skinned foreigners). Thankfully, this would ultimately play out like a classic Cinderella story for Li, since she found herself nominated as Empress (as in imperial consort) out of all the concubines.

I don't think anyone knows for sure what Li's ethnic heritage would have been, assuming she was a real person to begin with. The Chinese often used the word "kunlun" for African people, but in other cases it could apply to Negrito, Indian, or even "Mongoloid" Southeast Asians (e.g. Cambodians, Vietnamese, or Malays). Since none of those other ethnic groups are known for having distinctly tall stature like Li, however, I chose to go with an African interpretation for my portrayal of her.

By the way, the phrase Li is saying is supposed to be Mandarin Chinese for "Haters gonna hate!" Go show those catty concubines, my Empress!

In case people wonder where I learned about the story behind this character, I will provide the two sources that brought it to my attention.

1. Wilensky, Julie. "The Magical Kunlun and “Devil Slaves”: Chinese Perceptions of Dark-skinned People and Africa before 1500." Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 122 (July 2002). July 2002. http://sino-platonic.org. A passage describing Empress Li as "tall" and with "black coloring" appears in the opening of Ch. 1 on p. 4 of the paper.
2. Wyatt, Don J. "A Certain Whiteness of Being." In Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions, edited by Rotem Kowner and Walter Dennel, 307-26. Brill, 2012. On p. 314, the author quotes his own translation of the passage from "History of the Jin Dynasty", which describes Empress Li as tall and having a "dark" complexion, albeit acknowledging that the original Chinese word "hei" could refer to the color black as well.