Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun

Lou Zhaojun (Chinese: 婁昭君; 501–562), formally Empress Ming (明皇后, literally "the understanding empress"), was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Northern Qi. She was the wife of Gao Huan, the paramount general of Northern Wei and its branch successor state Eastern Wei, and during Gao Huan's lifetime was already influential on the political scene. After Gao Huan's death, she continued to exert influence through the regency of her son Gao Cheng, and then as empress dowager after another son Gao Yang seized the throne from Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei and established Northern Qi (as Emperor Wenxuan). She continued to serve as grand empress dowager through the reigns of Gao Yang's son Emperor Fei, and then again as empress dowager during the reigns of two more of her own sons, Emperor Xiaozhao and Emperor Wucheng.

Lou Zhaojun was born in 501, as the daughter of a rich merchant, Lou Gan (婁幹), and she grew up in Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi), the old capital of Northern Wei. In her youth, she was described to be intelligent and resolute, and when she saw Gao Huan, who was then too poor even to own a horse, serving as a soldier and standing guard on Pingcheng's wall, she became so impressed by him that she, against customs of the times that women's marriages were to be arranged by parents, became resolved to marry him, sending her servant girls to Gao Huan to deliver messages and monetary gifts for her. Her parents therefore became forced to allow the marriage, and they were married. Lou Zhaojun was of Xianbei ethnicity while Gao Huan was Han Chinese. In 521, she gave birth to a son, Gao Cheng. (She would eventually have six sons—Gao Cheng, Gao Yang, Gao Yan, Gao Zhan, Gao Yu (高淯), and Gao Ji (高濟) -- and two daughters, the eventual empresses for Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei and Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei.) It was only after their marriage that Gao Huan could even afford a horse and was able to become an imperial messenger, delivering the governmental reports between Pingcheng and the new capital Luoyang. Once, when Gao Huan was severely battered, she cared for him all day and night and nursed him back to health.

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