Empress Dowager Bo

Empress Dowager Bo (薄太后), known as Consort Bo (薄姬) when her husband was alive, and more formally as either Empress Dowager Xiaowen (孝文太后) or (rarer) Empress Gao (高皇后) (d. 155 BC) was an imperial concubine for Emperor Gao of Han (Liu Bang) who would, unanticipated by her, become the mother of an emperor.

According to the Book of Han, Lady Bo was, when she was young, a concubine of Wei Bao (魏豹), the Prince of Wei. After Han Xin conquered Wei, she became a seamstress, and on one occasion when Liu Bang, then the Prince of Han, saw her among the group of seamstresses, he made her one of his concubines. However, it appeared that she was not much favored, and rarely saw him. On a rare occasion when he had sexual relations with her, she became pregnant and bore him Prince Liu Heng, whom he created the Prince of Dai in 196 BC, a few years after he declared himself emperor. After Emperor Gao died in 195 BC, because Consort Bo had a son, she, unlike many other concubines, was not confined to the palace, but accompanied her son to the remote Principality of Dai (modern northern Shanxi and northwestern Hebei) to be the princess dowager. Dai was not a rich domain, but as the princess dowager, she would have had a comfortable life. She probably did not live a luxurious lifestyle, for her son would not either later when he became an emperor.

In 180 BC, after the death of her mistress, Emperor Gao's wife Grand Empress Dowager Lü, and after the officials then slaughtered the Lü clan, they offered the throne to Prince Heng over his nephew Emperor Houshao -- whom they accused of not being imperial blood. Prince Heng consulted Princess Dowager Bo, who could not decide either. It was later, after they dispatched Princess Dowager Bo's brother Bo Zhao (薄昭) to the capital Chang'an to observe the situation and to ascertain the officials' good faith that Prince Heng chose to accept the throne.

After Prince Heng took the throne as Emperor Wen, Princess Dowager Bo was honored as empress dowager, even though she had not previously been an empress. She was largely unassuming as empress dowager, and did not exert anywhere close to the influence that Empress Dowager Lü asserted over Emperor Hui or even her daughter-in-law, Empress Dou, would later assert over her grandson Emperor Jing. The one major instance in which she asserted her influence was in 176 BC. At that time, Zhou Bo (周勃), who had been instrumental in Emperor Wen's becoming emperor and who had by that time retired to his march, was falsely accused of treason and arrested. Empress Dowager Bo, believing in Zhou's innocence, famously threw her scarf at Emperor Wen, stating:

Before you became emperor, Zhou was in control of the imperial seal, and commanded the powerful northern guards. How ridiculous is it that he did not commit treason then, but now plans to use his small march as the base for a rebellion?

It was at least partly due to her influence that Emperor Wen eventually released Zhou.

She either did not try to intercede similarly (as appears more likely) or was ineffective in her intercession, when her brother Bo Zhao killed an imperial messenger in 170 BC. Even though Bo Zhao was her only sibling, Emperor Wen, although not having the heart to execute him publicly, eventually pressed him into committing suicide.

Empress Dowager Bo married one of her relatives' daughter to her grandson, then-Crown Prince Qi, during her son's reign. After Emperor Wen died in 157 BC and Crown Prince Qi succeeded him as Emperor Jing, Empress Dowager Bo became grand empress dowager. There was no recorded instance of her trying to assert political influence after that. She died in 155 BC. (This would prove disastrous for Empress Bo, Emperor Jing's wife, as she, now without support, was soon deposed.)

After she died, she was enshrined in a temple of her own, not in her husband's temple, because only one empress could be enshrined in an emperor's temple, and Empress Lü was already enshrined in Emperor Gao's temple. However, later, during Emperor Guangwu's reign, he effectively reversed their positions by enshrining Empress Dowager Bo as "Empress Gao" and demoting Empress Dowager Lü to a separate temple.