Dou Wu
| Dou Wu | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 竇武 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 窦武 | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Dòu Wǔ |
Dou Wu (Chinese: 竇武; died 168), courtesy name Youping (游平), was a Han Dynasty politician who was known as a Confucian scholar and served as a low-level official during the reign of Emperor Huan until his daughter Dou Miao was elevated from imperial consort to empress, which caused him to be promoted, eventually to become one of the most important imperial officials when his daughter became empress dowager and regent for Emperor Ling. He, along with Chen Fan, attempted to curb the eunuchs' power and install Confucian scholars in imperial government, but after a plot by him and Chen to exterminate the most powerful eunuchs was discovered, he was defeated in battle and committed suicide.
Dou Wu's father Dou Feng (竇奉) was a great-grandson of Dou Rong (竇融), who contributed much to Emperor Guangwu's campaign to reestablish Han Dynasty. Dou Feng was a commandery governor. When Dou Wu was young, he became known for his scholarship in Confucian classics and was famous for it in all of western empire, but was not involved in politics.
That changed in 165 when his daughter Dou Miao was selected to be an imperial consort, as an eligible woman from an honored clan. Because of this, Emperor Huan made Dou Wu a low level official. Later that year, after Empress Deng Mengnü was deposed, the imperial officials all favored Consort Dou to be the new empress due to Dou Wu's reputation, and Emperor Huan gave in to their wishes although he personally did not favor Consort Dou. She was created empress later that year. Dou Wu was promoted to be the commander of the capital (Luoyang) defense forces and created a marquess.
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