Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun – The Grand Empress Dowager who married the man she was smitten with at first sight

Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun was the posthumous Empress of Emperor Gao Huan. She came from a wealthy family.^[1] However, she became smitten at first sight with Gao Huan, who was originally a low-ranking military officer.^[2] She married him against the wishes of her parents.^[3] Gao Huan would eventually become one of the most powerful men of the Northern Wei Dynasty.^[4] He even became a posthumous Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Four of Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun’s sons would become Emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

In 501 C.E., Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun was born in Pingcheng (located in modern-day Shanxi Province).^[5] She was from a wealthy family.^[6] She was of Xianbei origins. One day, she noticed Gao Huan (a low-ranking military officer) patrolling Pingcheng’s wall.^[7] Lou Zhaojun became smitten with him at first sight.^[8] She immediately decided that she would marry no one else but him.^[9] She then sent a maid telling him that she wished to marry him and sent him gifts that increased his wealth and status.^[10] 

The marriage to Lou Zhaojun was very advantageous to Gao Huan because it would connect him with “Xianbei and Xiongnu officials in the northern garrisons.”^[11] This would also connect him with renowned military families in Northern Wei.^[12] Lou Zhaojun’s parents initially disapproved of the marriage because of his low rank and status.^[13] However, through Lou Zhaojun’s persistence, they reluctantly agreed.^[14] After Lou Zhaojun married Gao Huan, he became a mercenary.^[15] He eventually became a general under Erzhu Rong.^[16]

In 534 C.E., Gao Huan defeated the powerful Erzhu clans and established absolute power for himself.^[17] He installed a puppet Emperor.^[18] His puppet Emperor moved his capital to Chang’an.^[19] This became known as the Western Wei.^[20] Gao Huan then installed another puppet Emperor, and his capital was Ye.^[21] This became known as the Eastern Wei.^[22] Therefore, Gao Huan split the Northern Wei Dynasty into two kingdoms.^[23] Gao Huan never made himself Emperor during his lifetime.^[24]

Lou Zhaojun bore Gao Huan six sons and two daughters.^[25] Four of her sons would become Emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty.^[26] Lou Zhaojun helped Gao Huan with his decisions on state affairs, and she became a respected figure in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.^[27] As a powerful figure, Gao Huan had to take multiple wives to consolidate his power.^[28] One of his wives was Erzhu Ying’e.^[29] She was the daughter of Erzhu Rong and was once an Empress of the Northern Wei Dynasty.^[30] When Gao Huan had to marry a Ruanruan Princess, Lou Zhaojun, agreed to no longer be Gao Huan’s principal wife.^[31] She also gave the Ruanruan Princess her bedchamber.^[32] Lou Zhaojun treated Gao Huan’s fifteen sons as if they were her own.^[33] She made clothes for them and also for Gao Huan’s soldiers.^[34]

In 538 C.E., Gao Cheng (Gao Huan’s eldest son) had an affair with his father’s concubine, Zheng Dache.^[35] Gao Huan banished Lou Zhaojun from his palace.^[36] He ordered that Lou Zhaojun and her son receive a hundred strokes as punishment.^[37] Gao Huan continued to disfavour her until his official, Sima Ziru, advocated for Lou Zhaojun.^[38] However, Gao Huan only favoured her merely for appearance’s sake.^[39]

In 547 C.E., Gao Huan died. His eldest son, Gao Cheng, became Regent of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. However, he was assassinated two years later. Historians believe the culprit was his younger brother, Gao Yang.^[40] In 550 C.E., Gao Yang dissolved the Eastern Wei Dynasty and founded his own dynasty known as the Northern Qi.^[41] Emperor Gao Yang made his father, Gao Huan, the posthumous Emperor Shenwu. He also made his elder brother, Gao Cheng, the posthumous Emperor Wenxiang. Emperor Gao Yang also made his mother, Lou Zhaojun, the Grand Empress Dowager of the Northern Qi Dynasty.^[42]

When Emperor Gao Yang died in 559 C.E., he was succeeded by his son, Prince Gao Yin. However, the Grand Empress Dowager wanted to make her son, Prince Gao Yan, the Emperor of Northern Qi instead.^[43] Therefore, she plotted with Prince Gao Yan and overthrew her grandson.^[44] Emperor Gao Yan died a year later from falling off a horse.^[45] He was succeeded by his brother, Prince Gao Zhan. Emperor Gao Zhan was the last of her sons to be Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty.^[46] On 20 May 462 C.E., Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun died. She was buried with her husband, Emperor Gao Huan, and with the rites that befitted an Empress.

Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun is remarkable because she married a man she loved.^[47] The match was unfavourable for her parents, but it proved to be very prosperous for her later on.^[48] Her marriage to Emperor Gao Huan was not without its heartaches.^[49] He would later punish her and only honour her for the sake of appearance.^[50] However, her sons gave her the honour she deserved.^[51] Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun wanted her son and not her grandson to be Emperor.^[52] This was because in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the succession was still determined by brother to brother rather than father to son.^[53] Therefore, Grand Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun proved to be one of China’s most formidable Empresses.^[54]

Sources:

Ching-Chung, P. and Tai, P. Y. (2015). “Lou Zhaojun, Empress of Emperor Shenwu of Northern Qi”. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. – 618 C.E.. (L. X. H. Lee, Ed.; A. D. Stefanowska, Ed.; S. Wiles, Ed.). NY: Routledge. pp. 314-316.

Luo, M. (2019). “The politics of place-making in the records of Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang”. T’Oung Pao, 105(1-2), 43–75. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685322-10512p02.

McMahon, K. (2013). Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao. NY: Rowman and Littlefield.