Hou Sizhi (侯思止) (died 693) was a secret police official during the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

dynasty

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

and

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...

's Zhou dynasty. It is not known when Hou Sizhi was born, but it is known that he was from Tang's capital prefecture Yong Prefecture (雍州, roughly modern

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

). He was said to be poor and unable to make a living from selling bread, and so he served as a servant at the household of the general Gao Yuanli () in Heng Prefecture (恆州, roughly modern

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang; Mandarin: ; formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang is the capital and most populous city of China's Hebei Province. A prefecture-level city southwest of Beijing, it administers eight districts, three county-le ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

). In 690, he was accused of inappropriate conduct, and the prefect of Heng Prefecture, Pei Zhen, was set to sentence him to caning. A local official advised him to make a secret report to Wu Zetian, who was then

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 monarch, especially in regards to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese monarchs in the Chines ...

and

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

over her son Emperor Ruizong, and he did so, accusing Pei and Emperor Ruizong's granduncle Li Yuanming () the Prince of Shu of plotting treason together. Empress Dowager Wu, already looking for excuses to act against senior members of the Li imperial clan, exiled Li Yuanming and executed Pei and Li Yuanming's son Li Dan () the Prince of Yuzhang. She gave Hou a general title, but Hou offered to become an assistant censor, which was ranked lower but which had the authority to investigate crimes. Empress Dowager Wu asked him, "You are illiterate. How can you be a censor?" Hou responded, "A ''

xiezhi The ''xiezhi'' ( Burmese ''da.rai'' "hog deer"), Old Khmer ''drāy'' > Khmer ''triəy'' "stag" and Stieng iat''draːi'' " swamp deer", whose Proto-Mon-Khmer ancestor was reconstructed by Shorto as *''draaj'' (#1508). Linguist Juha Ja ...

'' is also illiterate, but it could use its horn to hit the evil!" (The ''xiezhi'' was a mythical one-horned animal that was intelligent, and whenever it saw two people fighting, it would use its horn to hit the wrong side.) Empress Dowager was pleased and made him a censor. On one occasion, she was set to award a house to Hou that was seized from a person accused of treason. Hou declined and stated, "I hate treasonous individuals, and I do not want a house from one!" She was further impressed. In 692 (by which time Wu Zetian had seized the throne from Emperor Ruizong and established her own Zhou dynasty), a number of officials—the

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Ren Zhigu Ren Zhigu (任知古) was a Chinese politician of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor. Despite Ren's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as ...

Di Renjie Di Renjie (630 – November 11, 700), courtesy name Huaiying (懷英), posthumous name Duke Wenhui of Liang (梁文惠公), was a Chinese politician of the Tang dynasty, Tang and Wu Zhou dynasties, twice serving as Chancellor of the Tang dynas ...

, and

Pei Xingben Pei Xingben (裴行本) was a Chinese politician of Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor. Despite Pei's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the time that he served as chancellor—a ...

, along with other officials Pei Xuanli (), Lu Xian (),

Wei Yuanzhong Wei Yuanzhong (魏元忠) (630s - late 707?), né Wei Zhenzai (魏真宰), formally Duke Zhen of Qi (齊貞公), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian and h ...

, and Li Sizhen () -- were accused of treason. The secret police official

Lai Junchen Lai Junchen ( Chinese: 來俊臣) (died 26 June 697) was a Chinese politician and writer. He was a well-known secret police official during the Chinese Tang and Wu Zhou dynasties, whose ability to interrogate and falsely implicate officials of cr ...

was in charge of the investigations, but Hou was specifically charged with interrogating Wei. Wei refused to admit to treason, and Hou reacted by having him dragged on the ground feet-first. Wei sarcastically stated, "I am so unlucky that it is like having fallen from a donkey with my feet stuck to the

stirrup A stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a ''stirrup leather''. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal ...

, and being dragged by the beast." Hou, in anger, increased the speed of the dragging, and Wei responded, "Hou Sizhi, if you want my head, just cut it off. Do not ask me to admit treason." He further criticized Hou for using vulgar speech unfit for an imperial official—which, oddly, caused Hou to stop the torture and thank him for teaching him to speak properly. (Ultimately, the seven officials were spared their lives but were exiled.) Hou, however, continued to be known for his vulgar speech, which the other officials often joked about. When the censor Huo Xianke () once laughed about Hou's speech, Hou, in anger, reported it to Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian rebuked Huo for laughing about one of her trusted officials—but when Huo then informed Wu of Hou's vulgarities, she laughed as well. Meanwhile, Hou, seeing that Lai had divorced his previous wife and forced the daughter of one Wang Qingshen (), of a prominent clan, to marry him, also wanted to marry a daughter from a prominent clan—the daughter of one Li Ziyi () -- and this matter was discussed by the chancellors. The chancellor

Li Zhaode Li Zhaode (; died 28 April 697) was a Chinese politician in Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, who at point served as chancellor. He was known for his abilities and strong will, which eventually led to a conflict with Wu Zetian's secret police official Lai ...

thought this to be extremely inappropriate and vowed to act against Hou. After Wu Zetian decreed in 693 that no one was to use silk, Hou was accused of improperly using silk, and Li Zhaode investigated the case. He took this opportunity to have Hou battered to death.

References

* ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

'', vol. 186, part

* ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'', vol. 20

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

'', vols.

204 __NOTOC__ Year 204 ( CCIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cilo and Flavius (or, less frequently, year 957 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 204 for th ...

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 205 for this year h ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hou, Sizhi 693 deaths Politicians from Xianyang Tang dynasty government officials Year of birth unknown