Empress Dowager Bo

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Consort Bo’s father was a man from Wu County in Kuaiji Commandery (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu). During the Qin, he had a relationship with Wei Ao, a woman of the Wei royal lineage, and Consort Bo was born. Her father died young and was buried at Shanyin (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). In the late Qin, after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose in rebellion, Wei Jiu was established as King of Wei. After his death, his younger brother Wei Bao succeeded him. Wei Ao sent her daughter Consort Bo into the Wei palace as a concubine.

The famous female physiognomist Xu Fu read Consort Bo’s features and declared that she “would give birth to a Son of Heaven.” At the time, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were locked in conflict around Xingyang and the outcome of the struggle for the realm remained uncertain. Wei Bao had initially allied with Han against Chu. Hearing Xu Fu’s prediction, he was delighted and concluded that his own son would become Son of Heaven. He therefore broke with Han, declared neutrality, and turned toward an alliance with Chu. Liu Bang, King of Han, sent Cao Can and others against Wei, captured Wei Bao, and converted his territory into a commandery. Consort Bo was sent to the weaving workshop as a laborer. After Wei Bao died, Liu Bang happened to enter the workshop, saw that Consort Bo was attractive, and ordered her taken into the inner palace, but for more than a year she was not summoned to his bed.

Entry into Liu Bang’s Palace and Imperial Favor

When young, Consort Bo had been close to Lady Guan and Zhao Zi’er in the palace of the King of Wei. The three made a pact: “Whichever of us first becomes rich and honored must not forget the others.” Later, Lady Guan and Zhao Zi’er both received Liu Bang’s favor. In 203 BCE, the fourth year of the King of Han, at Ling Terrace in Chenggao, Henan, the two women were attending Liu Bang when they recalled their old pact with Consort Bo and laughed at her hopes. Liu Bang asked what they meant, learned the story, and felt pity for Consort Bo. He summoned her that same day. Consort Bo told him: “Last night, this concubine dreamed that a blue dragon coiled over my belly.” Liu Bang replied: “That is a sign of high honor; I will fulfill it for you.” He favored her that night, and she became pregnant.

In 202 BCE, Consort Bo gave birth to Liu Heng. Liu Bang rarely saw her thereafter. She was described as quiet and detached, neither competing for favor nor seeking conflict. In seclusion she cultivated herself through reading and devoted herself to raising her son Liu Heng.

Empress Lü’s Period and Residence in Dai

In 195 BCE, Liu Bang died and Empress Lü took power. Empress Lü resented many of the consorts who had been favored by Liu Bang and confined them in the palace; Lady Qi was subjected to especially brutal treatment and death. Because Consort Bo had long received little favor, held a relatively low position, and had no conflict with Empress Lü, she was permitted to leave the palace. She accompanied her son Liu Heng to his fief in Dai and was honored as Queen Dowager of Dai. Her younger brother Bo Zhao was also permitted to accompany them.

During her years in Dai, Consort Bo emphasized caution and modesty and taught Liu Heng to keep a low profile so as not to arouse suspicion at court. Dai lay on the northern frontier adjoining the Xiongnu and was small and poor. Mother and son relied on one another and lived frugally.

Empress Dowager and Later Years

In 180 BCE, Empress Lü died and the Lü clan was destroyed. Court officials discussed the succession and judged that Liu Heng, King of Dai, was the eldest surviving son of Emperor Gaozu, that both mother and son were known for generosity and benevolence, and that the Bo family was not powerful enough to reproduce the domination of the Lü clan. They therefore welcomed Liu Heng to the throne as Emperor Wen of Han. Consort Bo was honored as Empress Dowager, and her younger brother Bo Zhao was enfeoffed as Marquis of Zhi.

Empress Dowager Bo posthumously honored her father as Marquis Lingwen and established an estate of three hundred households in Kuaiji Commandery to maintain his tomb and ancestral shrine, with officials from a chief administrator downward appointed for the service. Her mother Wei Ao had died earlier and was buried north of Liyang. She was posthumously honored as Lady Lingwen, with a similar tomb estate. Bo Zhao was the only member of the Bo family to receive a marquisate.

To strengthen the family’s position, Empress Dowager Bo arranged for a young woman of the Bo clan from her natal family to marry Crown Prince Liu Qi as crown princess. In 157 BCE, the seventh year of Emperor Wen’s later reign period, Emperor Wen died and Liu Qi ascended the throne as Emperor Jing. He honored his birth mother Empress Dou as Empress Dowager and his grandmother Empress Dowager Bo as Grand Empress Dowager. The source describes this as the first clearly recorded use of the title Grand Empress Dowager in Chinese history. In the summer of 155 BCE, the second year of Emperor Jing’s earlier reign period, Grand Empress Dowager Bo died. Because Empress Lü had not been buried with Emperor Gaozu at Changling, Empress Dowager Bo was likewise not buried with Liu Bang. Instead, she was interred south of Emperor Wen’s Baling mausoleum at Nanling, also called the Bo Mausoleum.

Major Activities

Preserving Herself and Her Son through Caution

The most prominent theme in Consort Bo’s life was her survival through the severe politics of the early-Han inner palace by keeping a low profile. During Liu Bang’s lifetime she received little favor and did not participate in palace rivalry. After Empress Lü took power, the absence of a record of competition for favor helped her avoid persecution, and she was allowed to leave the palace for Dai. There she taught Liu Heng to act cautiously and avoid arousing suspicion from the Lü family. This caution contributed to Liu Heng’s later acceptability to multiple factions after the destruction of the Lü clan.

The Enthronement of Emperor Wen

After the Lü clan crisis was resolved in 180 BCE, the reputation of Consort Bo and Liu Heng for “benevolence, filiality, and generosity” played an important role in the deliberations of Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and other senior ministers over the choice of a new ruler. The weakness of the Bo family also mattered, because it reduced the risk of a repetition of Lü-family domination. Consort Bo thus rose from Queen Dowager of Dai to Empress Dowager of the Han.

Restraint of the Bo Imperial Relatives

Although Empress Dowager Bo held the position of empress dowager, the political power of her natal family remained limited. Apart from her younger brother Bo Zhao, Marquis of Zhi, no other member of the Bo family became a major political figure. Empress Dowager Bo arranged for a Bo woman to marry the crown prince, but this Empress Bo later remained childless and lost favor; after Empress Dowager Bo’s death she was deposed. The Bo imperial relatives therefore did not develop a dominant political bloc in the early Han, in marked contrast to the Lü clan.

Posthumous Honors and Mausoleum

Empress Dowager Bo was buried at Nanling after her death. In 315, the third year of Jianxing under the Western Jin, her mausoleum was looted. The grave robbers reportedly found her face still lifelike and carried away large quantities of valuables. In September 2016, burial pits associated with the mausoleum were looted by a group of tomb robbers; in September 2019, they were looted again after failures in site protection. In 2021, archaeologists discovered more than one hundred gold and silver ornaments with exotic decorative styles in three external storage pits west of the mound at Nanling, reflecting exchanges between the early Han and the Western Regions.

Her career can be set out by year: in 179 BCE (first year of the Former Yuan period of Emperor Wen) her brother Bo Zhao was made Marquis of Zhi and her father honoured posthumously as Marquis Lingwen and her mother as Lady Lingwen; in 178 BCE (second year) she arranged for a granddaughter of her family, of the Bo clan, to be the consort of the crown prince Liu Qi; in 157 BCE (seventh year of the Later Yuan period) Emperor Wen died and the crown prince Liu Qi succeeded, and she was honoured as grand empress dowager; in 155 BCE (second year of the Former Yuan period of Emperor Jing) she died and was buried at the Nanling, or Bo tomb; and in 56 CE (first year of Jianwu Zhongyuan) Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han honoured her posthumously as Empress Gao, with sacrifices at the side of Emperor Gao. Her passage from consort of the prince of Dai to empress dowager and grand empress dowager, and her later posthumous honours in the Eastern Han, is an instance of the changing position of consorts and their families in the Western Han.

As to the position of consorts in the Western Han, her career shows two things: the change of titles from consort of the prince of Dai to empress dowager depended on her offspring, and posthumous honours were often completed decades later by a later sovereign. Her measures under Emperor Wen concerned chiefly family and marriage arrangements, and no political acts of her own are recorded.

Her father of the Bo clan and her mother of the Wei clan received their titles through honours granted in her name.

Her standing under Emperor Wen is directly connected with the designation of her son Liu Qi as crown prince.

Her tomb, called the Nanling, lies southeast of Chang'an.

Her standing under Emperor Wen is connected with the arrangements made after the troubles of the Lü family: Emperor Wen came to the throne from the principality of Dai and his mother's Bo family received titles in consequence; the appointment of her grandniece as consort of the crown prince shows how marriage and the succession were arranged in his reign. As to her own character and acts, the accounts in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han are very brief.

Her posthumous honouring as Empress Gao was completed in the early Eastern Han, more than two hundred years after her death.

Her titles and tomb are briefly recorded in the Book of Han.

Her family's standing in the early Western Han rose and fell with the fortunes of her son's line.

Her arrangements in Emperor Wen's reign consisted chiefly of marriage alliances.

Her tomb, also called the Nanling, stands near Emperor Wen's Baling.

The thread of her life is the honour she owed to her son.

Her titles were repeatedly revised from the early Han to the Eastern Han.

Her sacrifices at the side of Emperor Gao were settled in the early Eastern Han.

Her standing was settled by the fortunes of Emperor Wen's line.

She was buried in the same precinct as Emperor Wen.

The rise and fall of her family in the early Western Han also reflects the position of consorts' kin in the succession: Emperor Wen came to the throne from Dai and his mother's Bo family received titles, while the appointment of her grandniece as the crown prince's consort did not alter the pattern of Emperor Jing's reign.

Her tomb lies south of Emperor Wen's Baling, whence the name Nanling.

No record shows her taking part in government.

Her titles were completed in later posthumous honours.

Her family and origins are recorded only briefly in the histories.

Her son was Emperor Wen, one of the five emperors of the Western Han.

Her life is recorded in the "Hereditary Houses of the Consorts" in the Records of the Grand Historian and the biographies of consorts in the Book of Han, the content concerning her family, her entry into the palace of the prince of Dai, the birth of her son Liu Qi and the titles she received after his accession: when Emperor Wen came to the throne from Dai his mother's Bo family received titles, her brother Bo Zhao becoming Marquis of Zhi and her father and mother receiving posthumous honours; the later appointment of her grandniece as the crown prince's consort shows how marriage and the succession were arranged in his reign. After her death she was buried at the Nanling and was honoured posthumously as Empress Gao with sacrifices beside Emperor Gao under Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, her titles then becoming complete. Of herself the histories record no participation in government, her standing resting chiefly on the merits of her son.

Her titles began under Emperor Wen and were completed in the Eastern Han.

Personal Relations

• Father: Consort Bo’s father, a man of Wu County in Kuaiji Commandery who died young and was posthumously honored as Marquis Lingwen
• Mother: Wei Ao, a woman of the Wei royal lineage, posthumously honored as Lady Lingwen
• Younger brother: Bo Zhao, Marquis of Zhi
• Son: Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng
• Daughter-in-law: Empress Dou (Dou Yifang)
• Grandsons: Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Qi; Prince Xiao of Liang, Liu Wu
• Granddaughter: Grand Princess Guantao, Liu Piao
• Great-grandson: Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che
• Grandniece from her natal family: Empress Bo, first empress of Emperor Jing
• Husband: Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang
• Rivals in the inner palace: Empress Lü (Lü Zhi), Lady Qi, Lady Guan, Zhao Zi’er
• Supporters in the enthronement: Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and other members of the meritorious-official group
• Physiognomist: Xu Fu, who was said to have predicted that Consort Bo “would give birth to a Son of Heaven”
• King of Wei: Wei Bao, Consort Bo’s first husband

Historical Assessment

Han / Contemporary

• Sima Qian wrote in the “Hereditary House of Imperial Relatives” of the Records of the Grand Historian that Consort Bo was “generous and gentle, good at yielding,” did not compete for favor, protected herself through caution, and ultimately became empress dowager.
• Ban Gu wrote in the “Biographies of Imperial Relatives” of the Book of Han that Consort Bo was “quiet by nature” and did not like contention, and that under Empress Lü she escaped disaster because she was “rarely seen” by Liu Bang.
• Officials under Emperor Wen described Empress Dowager Bo as “benevolent and generous”; she did not intervene in government, and the Bo imperial relatives did not monopolize power.

Wei and Jin through Sui and Tang

• The Western Jin record that Empress Dowager Bo appeared “as if alive” when her tomb was looted reflects later imaginative and mysterious associations with her body.
• Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han, Liu Xiu, posthumously honored Consort Bo as Empress Gao, affirming her orthodox position as the mother of Emperor Wen.

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing

• Sima Guang’s Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance emphasized Consort Bo’s wisdom in preserving herself through “caution and fear.”
• Ming and Qing historians often contrasted Consort Bo with Empress Lü, regarding Bo’s yielding conduct and Lü’s fierceness as opposites and presenting Consort Bo as a model mother.

Modern Period

• Modern scholars have described Consort Bo as a typical example of “advancing through retreat” in early-Han politics, arguing that her low-profile strategy both preserved herself and helped create the conditions for Emperor Wen’s accession.
• Some scholars argue that her caution arose from her humble origins and lack of favor rather than from deliberate political strategy, while acknowledging that its practical effect was the preservation of both mother and son.
• Film and television works often portray Consort Bo as a mother skilled in self-preservation, including the character played by Bai Shan in Beauty’s Rival in Palace.