Ministers › Provincial Governors
Dou Tao
Former Qin governor of Qinzhou, exiled to the desert, for whom his wife Su Hui wove the palindrome Xuanji Tu.
A walled hilltop city with a tall brick gate tower stands above a pine-covered cliff, its wall running along the ridge, while a long wooden bridge crosses a wide river below and plains, islets and layered mountains stretch into the distance, with no person in view.
Also known as Zi Lianbo
- Roles
- Provincial Governors
Dou Tao was an official of the Former Qin, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms, serving as governor of Qinzhou under Fu Jian before being banished to the desert frontier. His wife Su Hui (Su Ruolan) of Shiping, a gifted writer, longed for him and wove a palindrome poem of 840 characters into brocade that can be read in every direction, later known as the Xuanji Tu. The Book of Jin records only his office and exile; the story of his concubine Zhao Yangtai found in the preface attributed to Empress Wu is a later embellishment and should not be taken as history.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active under Fu Jian of Former Qin (357–385)