Empress Dou (Wen) - As Empress To Emperor Wen

As Empress To Emperor Wen

After Prince Heng became emperor in the aftermaths of the Lü Clan Disturbance, then-Consort Dou, as the mother of his oldest son Prince Qi, was created empress in 179 BC. Prince Qi was created crown prince.

One of the first things that she carried out was a search for her brothers. Finding Zhangjun was not difficult. Finding Guangguo turned out to be difficult—and Guangguo had to find her himself, in one of the touching stories of Chinese antiquity. Shortly after Empress Dou was summoned as a lady in waiting, when he was only four or five years old, Guangguo himself was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He was sold from household to household for more than 10 times. Eventually, he was sold to a household in the capital Chang'an. There, he heard the news that the new empress was from Qinghe and named Dou. He therefore wrote a letter to the imperial palace, identifying himself, and relating an incident when they were young where they climbed a mulberry tree to gather its leaves, and he fell off it. Empress Dou summoned him and questioned him further to try to ascertain if he was in fact her brother. He then related details about their separation:

When my sister was about to be summoned west to Chang'an, we said our farewells at the imperial messenger station. She bathed me and fed me one last time before she left.

Empress Dou immediately held him and cried, and all of her ladies in waiting and eunuchs, seeing the touching scene, also cried. She then gave her brothers much wealth and built them mansions in Chang'an. At the suggestion of the officials who had overthrown the Lü clans and were fearful of a repeat, the Dou brothers were given companions of humility and virtue to try to influence them positively, and they became humble and virtuous themselves.

Either early in her husband's reign as emperor, or while he was still the Prince of Dai, Empress Dou became a strict adherent to Taoist philosophy, as encapsulated in the writing of Lao Zi and the legendary writings attributed to the Yellow Emperor—the idea of favoring inaction over action, of non-interference with others and nature, and of thriftiness in living. She ordered that her children (including Prince Qi), grandchildren, and the members of the Dou clan all study these writings. Obviously, she could not order her husband Emperor Wen to do so, but Emperor Wen was nevertheless heavily influenced by the Taoist ideas during his reign.