Qian Weidao (騫味道) (died January 11, 689) was a Chinese politician who served twice briefly a

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, during the first reign of Emperor Ruizong. Little is known about Qian Weidao's career before his first stint as chancellor, as, atypical for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the ''

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 ...

'' or the ''

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 ...

''.See the Table of Contents for the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the Table of Contents for the ''New Book of Tang''. It is, however, known that his family was from Jincheng (金城, in modern

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

). As of 684, he was serving as imperial censor reviewing central government affairs (左肅政大夫), when he and his subordinate, Yu Chengye (魚承曄), was put in charge by Emperor Ruizong's powerful mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) of investigating and interrogating the chancellor Pei Yan after accusations of treason, as Pei had angered her by suggesting that she return imperial authority to Emperor Ruizong. Many officials spoke on Pei's behalf, but Empress Dowager Wu reacted by arresting and demoting them, while promoting Qian and an official who had testified that Pei had committed treason,

Li Jingchen Li Jingchen (李景諶) was briefly a chancellor of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, during the first reign of Emperor Ruizong. Little is known about Li Jingchen's career before or after his brief stint as chancellor, as, atypical for a chancellor, he di ...

, to be chancellors—in Qian's case, with the designation ''Tong Fengge Luantai Sanpin'' (同鳳閣鸞臺三品), a greater designation than Li's ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事) designation. She also made him acting ''Neishi'' (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, ''Fengge'') and a post considered one for a chancellor. In 685, there was an incident that made Empress Dowager Wu demote Qian. At that time, the official Fang Xianmin (房先敏) was demoted, and he met the chancellors to complain about the demotion. Qian told Fang, "This was the Empress Dowager's decision." Another chancellor, Liu Yizhi, instead stated, "You were dragged into this because of another's fault, and your demotion was based on the decision of the officials." These words were reported to Empress Dowager Wu, and she was displeased that Qian blamed her and pleased that Liu did not, and she demoted Qian to be the prefect of Qing Prefecture (青州, roughly modern Weifang,

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

) while promoting Liu. By 688, Qian was again the imperial censor reviewing central government affairs. Winter of that year, he was made chancellor again, this time with the designation of ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi''. However, he was soon falsely accused of unspecified crimes—and Empress Dowager Wu gave the case to Qian's subordinate Zhou Ju (周矩) for investigation. It was said that Qian had often been unimpressed with Zhou and rebuked him for being unable to complete tasks. When Zhou interrogated Qian, Zhou stated, "You often rebuke me for being unable to complete tasks. I will complete one for you today." Around the new year 689, Qian and his son Qian Ciyu (騫辭玉) were executed.

Notes and references

* '' Zizhi Tongjian'', vols.

203 Year 203 ( CCIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Plautianus and Geta (or, less frequently, year 956 ''Ab urbe condit ...

204 __NOTOC__ Year 204 (CCIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) 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 co ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Qian, Weidao 689 deaths Chancellors under Emperor Ruizong of Tang Executed Tang dynasty people People executed by the Tang dynasty by decapitation People from Lanzhou Tang dynasty politicians from Gansu Year of birth unknown