Background
Doulu Qinwang might have been born in 630, and it is known that his family was from the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an. His family traced its ancestry to Murong Yun (慕容運), a younger brother of Former Yan's founder Murong Huang (Prince Wenming), and after Murong Yun's descendants became subjects of Northern Wei, they were known as the family that surrendered in righteousness—a concept that, in the Xianbei language, was called "Doulu," and therefore had their family name changed to Doulu. Doulu Qinwang's great-grandfather Doulu Tong (豆盧通) served as a provincial governor and carried the title of Duke of Nanchen during Tang's predecessor Sui Dynasty, as he had married one of the sisters of Emperor Wen of Sui. His son and Doulu Qinwang's grandfather, Doulu Kuan (豆盧寬), was thus a nephew of Emperor Wen, and served as a county magistrate. When Tang's founder Emperor Gaozu rebelled against Sui rule in 617 and conquered the Guanzhong region (i.e., the region around Chang'an), Doulu Kuan surrendered, and Emperor Gaozu gave a daughter to Doulu Kuan's son (Doulu Qinwang's uncle) Doulu Huairang (豆盧懷讓) in marriage, and changed the family's name to Lu, pursuant to the edict that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei had issued in 496 to have Xianbei names changed to Han names. Doulu Qinwang therefore would have been born with the family name of Lu. However, in 640, when Doulu Kuan died, Emperor Gaozu's grandson Emperor Gaozong changed the family's name back to Doulu. Doulu Qinwang's father Doulu Chengye (豆盧承葉) had a general title, but his acts are otherwise unrecorded in history.
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