Dou Xian (; died August 92) was a Chinese general and
consort kin
The consort kin ({{zh, c=外戚, p=wàiqì) was the kin or a group of people related to an empress dowager or a consort of a monarch or a warlord in the Sinosphere. The leading figure of the clan was either a (usually male) sibling, cousin, or ...
of the
Eastern Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, famous for destroying the
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
nomadic empire.
Early life
A native of modern-day
Xianyang
Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...
,
Shaanxi Province
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningx ...
, he was part of the powerful Dou clan which dominated court politics during his tenure. However, his father Dou Xun fell into disgrace and died in 70 AD, leaving Dou Xian an orphan. His fortunes were greatly enhanced, though, when his two sisters entered the imperial
harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
in 77. In the following year, the older of these two sisters became
Empress Zhangde, the wife of
Emperor Zhang of Han
Emperor Zhang of Han (; 56 – 9 April 88), born Liu Da (), was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 75 to 88. He was the third emperor of the Eastern Han.
Emperor Zhang was a hardworking and diligent emperor. He reduced taxes and paid ...
, and lasted briefly as
empress dowager
Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere.
The title was also g ...
and regent during the early reign of
Emperor He of Han
Emperor He of Han (; 79 – 13 February 106) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty who ruled from 88 to 106. He was the 4th emperor of the Eastern Han.
Emperor He was the son of Emperor Zhang. He ascended the throne at the age of nine an ...
.
The biography of Dou Xian can be found in Chapter LIII of the
Hou Hanshu.
Campaigns against the Xiongnu
In 89 AD, Dou Xian led a
Han expedition against the Northern Xiongnu.
[.][.] The army advanced from Jilu, Manyi, and Guyang in three great columns. In the summer of 89, the forces—comprising a total of 40,000 troops—assembled at
Zhuoye Mountain.
[.] Near the end of the campaign, Dou's forces chased the
Northern Chanyu
The Northern Chanyu (, reigned 89–91) was an unnamed and obscure chanyu or ruler of the Xiongnu who lived in the 1st century CE.
In February 91, he was defeated by Geng Kui during the Battle of the Altai Mountains, on an expedition sent ...
into the
Altai Mountains
The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...
, killing 13,000 Xiongnu and accepting the surrender of 200,000 Xiongnu from 81 tribes.
A light cavalry of 2000 was sent towards the Xiongnu at Hami, capturing the region from them.
Dou Xian marched with his troops in a triumphal progress to the heartland of the Northern Xiongnu's territory and engraved an inscription commemorating the victory on
Mount Yanran, before returning to Han.
[ The Han victory in the campaign of 89 AD resulted in the destruction of the Xiongnu state.
In 90 AD, Dou Xian had encamped at Wuwei.][.] He sent Deputy Colonel Yan Pan with 2000 light cavalry to strike down the final Xiongnu defenses in the Western Regions, capturing Yiwu and receiving the surrender of Jushi.[ Major Liang Feng was dispatched to capture the Northern Chanyu, which he did, but he was forced to leave him behind as Dou Xian had already broken camp and returned to China.][ In the tenth month of 90 AD, Dou Xian sent Liang Feng and Ban Gu to help the Northern Chanyu make preparations for his planned travel as he wished to submit to the Han court in person the following month.][
However, this never came to be as Dou Xian dispatched General Geng Kui and Shizi of the Southern Xiongnu with 8000 light cavalry to attack the Northern Chanyu, encamped at Heyun (河雲), in 90 AD.][ Once the Han forces arrived at Zhuoye Mountains, they left their heavy equipment behind to launch a swift pincer movement towards Heyun.][ Geng Kui attacked from the east via the Khangai Mountains and Ganwei River (甘微河), while Shizi attacked from the west via the Western Lake (西海).][ The Northern Chanyu—said to be greatly shocked by this—launched a counterattack, but he was forced to flee as he left his family and seal behind.][ The Han killed 8000 men and captured several thousands.][ In 91 AD, General Geng Kui and Major Ren Shang with a light cavalry of 800 advanced further via the Juyan Gol (Juyansai) into the Altai Mountains, where the Northern Chanyu had encamped.][ At the Battle of Altai Mountains, they massacred 5000 Xiongnu men and pursued the Northern Chanyu until he escaped to an unknown place.][ By 91 AD, the last remnants of the Northern Xiongnu had migrated west towards the ]Ili River
The Ili ( ug, ئىلى دەرياسى, Ili deryasi, Ili dəryasi, 6=Или Дәряси; kk, Ile, ; russian: Или; zh, c=伊犁河, p=Yīlí Hé, dng, Йили хә, Xiao'erjing: اِلِ حْ; mn, Ил, literally "Bareness") is a river sit ...
valley.[.]
Downfall
In 92, the Dous suddenly fell from grace as the result of a coup d'état. The details are unclear now, but it appeared that Emperor He, perhaps encouraged by his brother Prince Qing (whose mother had died at the Dous' hand and whose status as crown prince had been stripped away by their machinations) and the eunuch Zheng Zhong (鄭眾), made sudden orders to the imperial guards to have them arrest Dou Xian's associates and execute them. He sent Dou Xian and his brothers back to their marches, but eventually ordered them to commit suicide, with the exception of Dou Gui. Empress Dowager Dou remained empress dowager, but lost all power.
Inscription of Yanran
The Inscription of Yanran, composed by Ban Gu
Ban Gu (AD32–92) was a Chinese historian, politician, and poet best known for his part in compiling the ''Book of Han'', the second of China's 24 dynastic histories. He also wrote a number of '' fu'', a major literary form, part prose ...
and engraved on Mount Yanran to commemorate Dou Xian's victory against the Xiongnu, was recorded in the 5th-century ''Book of Later Han
The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...
''. The expression "to carve a stone on Yanran" () entered the Chinese language as a synonym for achieving a decisive victory. In 2016, a researchers team of Mongolian national university expedition rediscovered the inscription in the Inil (Delgerkhangai) Mountains in southern Mongolia". The 220 legible characters of the inscription, out of a total of 260, are identical to the text recorded in the ''Book of the Later Han''.
Notes
References
* Chavannes, Édouard (1907): "Les pays d’Occident d’après le ''Heou Han chou''." ''T’oung pao'' 8, (1907) pp. 149-244.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dou, Xian
92 deaths
Han dynasty generals
Year of birth unknown