Family Background and Marriage To Emperor Huan
It is not known when Dou Miao was born. Her father Dou Wu was a low level official during Emperor Huan's administration and a well-known Confucian scholar; he also came from a background of nobility, as a descendant of Dou Rong (竇融), who had contributed much to the reestablishment of Han Dynasty under Emperor Guangwu. Not much is known about her mother's family background.
In 165, around the time that Emperor Huan deposed his second wife, Empress Deng Mengnü, Dou Miao became an imperial consort. However, Emperor Huan did not favor her. Later that year, though, when selecting a new empress, she was considered. Emperor Huan wanted to create his favorite, Consort Tian Sheng (田聖), empress, but officials, led by Chen, opposed due to Consort Tian's low birth. Rather, they pressured Emperor Huan to create Consort Dou empress. He gave in to pressure and created her empress later that year. Her father was promoted to a series of posts with increasing importance.
In 166, during the first Disaster of Partisan Prohibitions (黨錮之禍), Dou Wu interceded on behalf of the officials who were accused of wrongdoing by the powerful eunuchs and the university students who had been arrested for petitioning on their behalf, and his intercession helped to prevent them from being executed. Because of this, Dou Wu and Empress Dou were viewed by the officials as hopes for overthrowing the powerful eunuchs eventually.
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