Empress Dou (Wen)
[1] She therefore contributed greatly to the Rule of Wen and Jing, commonly considered one of the golden ages of Chinese history.
On one occasion, Emperor Hui's mother Empress Dowager Lü wanted to give some of the ladies in waiting to the imperial princes as gifts.
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 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.
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 favouring inaction over action, of non-interference with others and nature, and of thriftiness in living.
Whether Empress Dowager Dou favoured Emperor Jing's policies of reducing principality sizes—which eventually led to the Rebellion of the Seven States in 154 BC—is unknown.
This was favored by Empress Dowager Dou as well, but opposed by officials, who believed such a move would bring instability to dynastic succession.
Emperor Jing was extremely angry and sent many investigators to Liang to track down the conspirators, whom Prince Wu eventually surrendered.
Prince Wu then appeared before the imperial palace, half-naked, and bearing a cutting board on his back, in a manner of a criminal ready to be slaughtered.
When Empress Dowager Dou's grandson Liu Rong, the Prince of Linjiang (and former crown prince), was imprisoned in 148 BC for intruding onto the grounds of Emperor Wen's temple when building walls to his palace, it is unknown whether Empress Dowager Dou tried to intercede on his behalf.
In 139 BC, when in response, Confucian officials Zhao Wan (趙綰) and Wang Zang (王臧) advised the emperor to no longer consult the grand empress dowager, she had them investigated and tried for corruption, and they committed suicide.
Unlike her stepmother-in-law Empress Dowager Lü, despite her shortcomings in nepotistic behaviour, she is largely viewed positively, for her impact on her husband and son and the consequent benefit to the people.
