The title Grand Empress Dowager (also Grand Dowager Empress or Grand Empress Mother) (Chinese: 太皇太后; pinyin: tài huáng tài hòu; Japanese: たいこうたいごう) was given to the grandmother, or a woman from the same generation as the grandmother, of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese dynastic rulers. Some grand empress dowagers held regency within the beginning years of reign of an underage emperor. Some of the most prominent empress dowagers extended long periods of regency, to beyond after the ruler was mature enough to govern alone. This was seen as a source of political turmoil, according to the traditional views of Chinese historians.
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