| Lou Zhaojun | |||||
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| Empress dowager of Northern Qi | |||||
| Tenure | 550–559 | ||||
| Tenure | 560–562 | ||||
| Grand empress dowager of Northern Qi | |||||
| Tenure | 559–560 | ||||
| Born | 501 | ||||
| Died | 20 May 562 (aged 61) | ||||
| Spouse | Gao Huan | ||||
| Issue | Gao Cheng, Emperor Wenxiang Gao Yang, Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yan, Emperor Xiaozhao Gao Yu, Prince Jing of Xiangcheng Gao Zhan, Emperor Wucheng Gao Ji, Prince Wenjian of Boling Empress Gao of Northern Wei Empress Gao of Eastern Wei | ||||
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| Father | Lou Gan | ||||
Lou Zhaojun (Chinese: 婁昭君; 501 – 20 May 562[1]), formally Empress Ming (明皇后, literally "the understanding empress"), was an empress dowager of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. 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.
- ^ xin'chou day of the 4th month of the 1st year of the Qing'he era, per Emperor Wucheng's biography in Bei Qi Shu. Lady Lou's biography in the same work indicate that she was 62 (by East Asian reckoning) when she died.