Sun Chuyue ( Chinese: 孫處約) (died 664?), alternative name Sun Maodao (孫茂道) and/or Sun Daomao (孫道茂), was an official of the Chinese

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 ...

, serving briefly as

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 ...

during the reign of

Emperor Gaozong of Tang Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife ...

During Emperor Taizong's reign

Sun Chuyue was from Ru Prefecture (汝州, roughly modern Runan,

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

). During the reign of Emperor Taizong, he served on the staff of Emperor Taizong's son Li You () the Prince of Qi. It was said that Li You lacked virtues, and Sun often submitted suggestions to him to change his behavior. After Li You failed in rebelling against his father in 643 and was killed, Emperor Taizong personally examined Li You's archives and found Sun's suggestions; he greatly praised them.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

Sun Chuyue later was promoted, during the reign of Emperor Taizong's son and successor Emperor Gaozong, to be ''Zhongshu Sheren'' (), one of the mid-level officials at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, ''Zhongshu Sheng''). That year, the head of the legislative bureau, the

Du Zhenglun,As Du Zhenglun was only the head of the legislative bureau from 657 to 658, this event must have occurred during that span. requested that one more official be commissioned as ''Zhongshu Sheren'', but Emperor Gaozong responded, "Sun Chuyue is enough to accomplish the task. Why do we need more?" Later, he participated in compiled the imperial archives of Emperor Taizong's reign, and after the archives were compiled, he was given an award of silk. He was later promoted to be ''Zhongshu Shilang'' (), the deputy head of the legislative bureau. He was still in that post around new year 665 (but now with the title of ''Xi Tai Shilang'' (), as the ''Zhongshu Sheng'' was renamed to ''Xi Tai'' during the meantime) when he was given the designation ''Tong Dong Xi Tai Sanpin'' (), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. Four months later, however, he, along with his colleague Le Yanwei, were no longer chancellors. It was further said that later, for unspecified reasons, he was demoted to be the deputy minister of ceremony. In 664, he was made the deputy principal of the imperial university, when he requested to retire on basis of old age. He died soon thereafter.

Notes

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. 81. * ''

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. 106. * ''

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 ...

'', vol. 201. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Chuyue Chancellors under Emperor Gaozong of Tang 660s deaths Politicians from Zhengzhou Year of birth unknown