 She was the empress dowager during the reign of her son Gao Wei.Her father was the Northern Wei official Hu Yanzhi (胡延之), and her mother was the daughter of Lu Daoyue (盧道約).She was not Gao Zhan's first wife, as Gao Zhan, then the Duke of Changguang under Eastern Wei, married a daughter of Rouran's Khan Yujiulü Anluochen, titled the Princess Linhe, in 544 as his wife.