Chancellor of the Tang dynasty


The chancellor was a semi-formally designated office position for a number of high-level officials at one time during the Tang dynasty. This list includes chancellors of the reign of Wu Zetian, which she referred to as the "Zhou dynasty", rather than "Tang".

Origins

, the author of the New Book of Tang, asserts that the Tang dynasty inherited its bureaucracy from its dynastic predecessor, the Sui Dynasty, under which the founder Emperor Wen of Sui divided his government into five main bureaus:
Under Emperor Wen, the executive bureau was regarded as the most important, and he had his most honored officials such as Gao Jiong, Yang Su, and Su Wei lead it at various points. Its heads were generally regarded as chancellors. Ouyang asserts, however, that the heads of the examination and legislative bureaus were also considered chancellors.

Tang reorganization

The Tang dynasty founder Emperor Gaozu initially followed the Sui's system of governance, including the five-bureau organization. However, he deviated from his predecessors by creating a single head for the executive bureau, known as the Shàngshūlǐng and appointed the office to his second son and future emperor Lǐ Shìmín. After Li Shimin became emperor in 626, the office was left vacant because none of his officials dared to occupy it. Thus from the year 626 the executive bureau was headed by its two vice-directors, the Shàngshūpúshè. Around this time, probably by Emperor Taizong's orders, the institution of multiple chancellors was formalized, with the heads of the executive, examination, and legislative bureaus regarded as the chancellors. As there were often, but not always, more than one head for the examination and legislative bureaus, there were not necessarily only four chancellors. Emperor Taizong's reign also began to designate certain high-level officials, even though they were not heads of one of the bureaus, as chancellors, with titles such as Cānyù Cháozhèng. Yet later in 643, he revised the designation and formalized it as the Tóngzhōngshūménxiàsānpǐn — because the heads of the legislative bureau, the Zhōngshūlǐng, and the examination bureau, the Shìzhōng, were of the third rank. These officials were rendered as "chancellors de facto'" Shízhìzǎixiàng by the Chinese historian Bo Yang in his modern Chinese edition of the Zizhi Tongjian.
Throughout Tang history, the names of the examination and legislative bureaus were changed multiple times, and so the designation of Tóngzhōngshū Ménxià Sānpǐn was frequently changed in response thereof. For example, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, when the legislative bureau was briefly known as the Zǐwéishěng and the examination bureau the Huángménshěng, the chancellors de facto were known as the Tóng Zǐwéi Huángmén Sānpǐn. A lesser designation, with the same powers, was created in 682 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, and was initially known as the Tóng Zhōngshū Ménxià Píngzhāngshì, rendered by Bo as "chancellors de facto second grade." Later in Tang history, after the Anshi Rebellion, while the chancellor-de facto designation was not officially abolished, it was no longer in use, as the last chancellor to be designated as such was Li Lin, in 757–758, and the chancellor-de facto-of-second-grade designation became very common and was used for the rest of Tang history. Furthermore, after 705, the heads of the executive bureau were no longer considered chancellors unless they received the chancellor-de facto designation of either kind. Throughout the early dynasty until the second reign of Emperor Ruizong in 710, variations of the Canyu Chaozheng also continued appearing, including Canzhi Jiwu, Canzhang Jimi, Canzhi Zhengshi, Canmou Zhengshi also appeared, which Bo rendered as "chancellors de facto of the third class."
The chancellors periodically met together at the Zhengshi Tang, originally physically located within the examination bureau. In 683, when Pei Yan, then the head of the examination bureau, became the head of the legislative bureau, the Zhengshi Tang was moved from the examination bureau to the legislative bureau. Later, during Emperor Xuanzong's reign, when Zhang Shuo became chancellor, he changed the name to Zhongshu Menxia, apparently employing a double entendre, as when the terms were put together, they meant, "within the doors of the Zhongshu." Zhang also reorganized the Hall by creating five offices under the chancellors—in charge of civil service, state secrets, military matters, governance, and criminal law, respectively. Later in the dynasty—starting during the reign of Emperor Suzong — the chancellors begin to rotate off-days so that at least one would always be on duty; when submissions were to be made to the emperor, they were signed in the names of all chancellors, whether on duty or not. The name of their meeting place also changed back to Zhengshi Tang.

List of Tang chancellors

This list includes the chancellors during the Zhou Dynasty of Wu Zetian, even though the propriety of considering it as part of the Tang Dynasty is disputed. The list does not include people who served as regional governors who were given the titles as honorific titles. The chancellors under the pretenders Li Yun and Li Yu, Prince of De are listed, but not the chancellors under the pretender Li Chenghong because, while Li Chenghong was described to have multiple chancellors, only two and Huo Huan ) was named in historical accounts, and Yu and Huo's actual titles were not given in those accounts.

Heads of the Executive Bureau

The executive bureau had these changes in name:
Correspondingly, the heads of the executive bureau, considered chancellors from 618 to 705, had these titles during those periods:
The men who held the office included :
The leiglsative bureau had these changes in name:
Correspondingly, the heads of the legislative bureau had these titles during those periods:
The men who held the office included:
The examination bureau had these changes in name:
Correspondingly, the heads of the examination bureau had these titles during those periods:
The men who held the office included:

Prior to formalization

The office was created in 643. The titles, as modified from time to time to reflect the names in changes of the legislative and examination bureaus, included:
The office was created in 682. The titles, as modified from time to time to reflect the names in changes of the legislative and examination bureaus, included:
It was often referred to in brief as Tong Pingzhangshi.
The office recurred as variations of the pre-formalization titles, even after formalization of the chancellors de facto offices of the first and second grades, but did not regularly recur after 713. Liu Youqiu, who held the title as Zhi Junguo Zhongshi, was the last person to hold any variation of the title as chancellor as a regular title, although Pei Du would hold the title of Pingzhang Junguo Zhongshi briefly in 830. Toward the end of the dynasty, Li Zhirou was briefly put temporarily in charge of the Office of the Chancellors in 895 with the designation Quanzhi Zhongshu Shi and therefore could be regarded as a chancellor as well ; similarly, Lu Guangqi went through two similar titles.