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Empress Dowager Lü (呂太后, pinyin: Lü Taihou) or Empress Gao (高皇后, pinyin: Gao Huanghou) (d.180 BC) was the principal imperial consort of the Emperor Gao of the Han Empire. Their children included then Emperor Hui and Princess Luyuan (魯元公主).

She is most remembered for being a power-hungry woman. According to legend, she conspired against Han Xin and Pang Yue; both were prominent generals and major contributors to the founding of the Han dynasty. Emperor Gao eliminated them after they revolted. During Emperor Gao's reign, several family members of the consort clan of Lü served in the Han's militia.

After Emperor Gao was killed in 195 BC by a stray arrow in a frontier skirmish, she murdered four of Emperor Gao's other sons to secure the authority of her emperor son, Emperor Hui. She also murdered the Concubine Qi. Her inhumane treatment of Concubine Qi terrified and dominated the gentle but weak Emperor Hui. Emperor Hui's infant sons, Shaodi Gong and Shaodi Hong, were installed as her puppets on the throne after Hui's death in 188 BC. Thus, real power rested in her hands for sixteen years.

During her regency, members of the Lü clan gradually took over important posts in the government; however, upon her death, officials that previously served under Emperor Gao, including Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and Guan Ying, eliminated the Lü clan and placed Emperor Wen on the throne.

Personal information

See also

• Chu Han Contention
• Chinese history
• Empress dowager

• 180 BC deaths
• Chinese people in history
• Empresses
• Queen consorts