Noble Consort Yi was elevated to the status of empress dowager and honoured as "Holy Mother, Empress Dowager", a great privilege for her since she was never empress while the Xianfeng Emperor was still living; she became empress dowager only because she was the biological mother of the reigning Tongzhi Emperor. She was also given the honorific name "Cixi" (meaning "motherly and auspicious"), hence she is known as "Empress Dowager Cixi". The Empress, on the other hand, as the former emperor's primary wife and the reigning emperor's nominal mother, was also elevated to empress dowager and honoured as "Mother Empress, Empress Dowager" – a title which gave her precedence over Empress Dowager Cixi – and given the honorific name "Ci'an" (meaning "motherly and calming"). Because her living quarters were in the eastern part of the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Ci'an was informally referred to as the "East Empress Dowager"; Empress Dowager Cixi, who lived in the western part, was also informally known as the "West Empress Dowager". Empress Dowager Ci'an spent most of her life in the Palace of Gathering Essence. On several occasions after 1861, Ci'an was given additional honorific names (two Chinese characters at a time), as was customary for emperors and empresses, until by the end of her life her name was a long even string of characters beginning with Ci'an.