Dou Xian (竇憲 dou4 xian4 50s - 92), leader of the consort clan Dou, first of which engaged in the struggle for power against eunuchs in the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty.
Of her brothers, Dou Gui alone was humble and unassuming, but the other three, particularly DouXian, were arrogant, using their connection to the empress dowager to intimidate other officials into submission.
Empress Dowager Dou agreed, and DouXian led an army and crushed the North Xiongnu in 89.
After the coup d'etat against the Dous, Emperor He appeared actually take power, and Empress Dowager Dou lost all power, although he continued to honor her as his mother, apparently having some inkling but not knowing for sure that she was not his birth mother.
Xian's successor, Yu, was initially ambivalent in his sympathies: though he distrusted the pro-Chinese group, he was prepared to accept the advantages of a subsidised peace.
DouXian, moreover, had been involved in scandals at the capital, and both he and his sister the Dowager sought to hide his embarrassment beneath a cloak of military glory.
DouXian now reported that the Northern ruler was so weak there was no point in treating with him further, and in the following year a final attack defeated the Shanyu and drove him finally from his kingdom.
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