Wei Mo (魏謩''

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. 176. or 魏謨;''

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. 97. 793–858),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Shenzhi (申之), 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 ...

, who served as a

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 Xuānzong.

Background

Wei Mo was born in 793, during the reign of Emperor Dezong. He was a fifth-generation descendant of the famed early Tang

Wei Zheng Wei Zheng (580 – 11 February 643), courtesy name Xuancheng, posthumous name Duke Wenzhen of Zheng, was a Chinese politician and historian. He served as a chancellor of the Tang dynasty for about 13 years during the reign of Emperor Taizong. H ...

, who had served a distinguished career under Emperor Taizong. Wei Mo's great-grandfather Wei Yin (魏殷), grandfather Wei Ming (魏明), and father—whose name was variously given as Wei Feng (魏馮) or Wei Ping (魏憑) all served as county magistrates.

During Emperor Wenzong's reign

Wei Mo passed the

imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

s in the ''Jinshi'' class in 833, during the reign of Emperor Dezong's great-great-grandson Emperor Wenzong. When the official Yang Rushi (楊汝士) served as the prefect of Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern

Weinan Weinan ( zh, s=渭南 , p=Wèinán) is a prefecture-level city in east-Guanzhong, central Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, northwest China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provinc ...

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 invited Wei to serve as his secretary in his capacity as Tong Prefecture's defender. Later, when Yang was recalled to the capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

, he recommended Wei to serve as ''You Shiyi'' (右拾遺), a low-level advisory official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, ''Zhongshu Sheng''). Knowing that Wei was a descendant of Wei Zheng's, Emperor Wenzong treated him specially. He was also much favored by the chancellors

Li Guyan Li Guyan (李固言), courtesy name Zhongshu (仲樞), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving two terms as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzong. Background and early career It is not clear when Li Guyan was born.The Chi ...

, Li Jue, and

Yang Sifu Yang Sifu (楊嗣復; 783–848), courtesy name Jizhi (繼之), nickname Qingmen (慶門), formally Count Xiaomu of Hongnong (弘農孝穆伯), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzo ...

. After the Ganlu Incident—an incident in 835 in which Emperor Wenzong and his close associates Li Xun and Zheng Zhu unsuccessfully tried to slaughter the powerful

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

s—Li Xun's associate Li Xiaoben (李孝本), a member of the Tang imperial Li clan, was executed. Li Xiaoben's family members were seized to be servants in the army, but under Emperor Wenzong's orders, Li Xiaoben's two daughters were taken into the palace, leading to belief that Emperor Wenzong wanted to take them as

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...

s. Wei Mo submitted a petition in which he pointed out that even the suspicion that Emperor Wenzong would consider it—which would be a violation against

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

regulations against

endogamy Endogamy is the cultural practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relatio ...

—would appear inappropriate. Upon receiving Wei's petition, Emperor Wenzong immediately sent Li Xiaoben's daughters out of the palace, promoted Wei to the higher office of ''You Bujue'' (右補闕), and issued an edict in which he greatly praised Wei and compared him to his ancestor Wei Zheng. In 838, Wei was promoted to be an imperial chronicler with the title ''Qiju Sheren'' (起居舍人). When Wei met with Emperor Wenzong to thank him, Emperor Wenzong asked him to submit Wei Zheng's old writing tablet. The chancellor

Zheng Tan Zheng Tan (鄭覃) (died 842''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 18, part 1.), formally the Duke of Xingyang (滎陽公), was a Chinese historian and politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzong. He was vie ...

made the comment, "It was the man, not his tablet." Emperor Wenzong, however, responded, "I am requesting the tablet in the spirit of the poem ''Gantang'' 甘棠)"''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 246. (The ''Gantang'' was a poem in which the people of

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

memorialized the great early Zhou statesman Ji Shi the

Duke of Shao Shi, Duke of Shao (died 1000 ), born Ji Shi, posthumous name Kang (), also known as Lord Shao or Duke of Shao, was a high-ranking minister of the early Zhou dynasty. He was a member of the royal clan, the founding lineage head of the state of Ya ...

.) In 839, Wei was given the additional title of ''Jianyi Daifu'' (諫議大夫), and continued to serve as ''Qiju Sheren''. On one occasion, Emperor Wenzong requested that Wei submit the records that he had written of Emperor Wenzong's acts, claiming that by reviewing them, he would be able to review his own actions. Wei pointed out that historians were supposed to record with honesty, and that if they had to be concerned about whether emperors would be pleased or not about the historians' views of their actions, the historians could not record with honesty. Emperor Wenzong relented and did not insist on viewing the records.

During Emperor Wuzong's reign

Emperor Wenzong died in 840 and was succeeded by his brother Emperor Wuzong. Almost immediately after, Li Jue and Yang Sifu were removed from their chancellor positions and sent out of Chang'an, and their political rival

Li Deyu Li Deyu (; 787 – January 26, 850Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 174.), courtesy name Wenrao (), formally the Duke of Wei (), was a Chinese poet, politician, and writer during the Tang dynasty, ser ...

became the leading chancellor. As Wei Mo had been favored by Li Jue and Yang, he was sent out of the capital as well to serve as the prefect of Fen Prefecture (汾州, in modern

Linfen Linfen () is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. Linfen City is located in the southern part of Shanxi Province, with the remaining branches of T ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

). Subsequently, after Li Jue and Yang were further demoted and exiled, Wei was further demoted to be the secretary general of Xin Prefecture (信州, in modern

Shangrao Shangrao ( zh, s= , t= , p=Shàngráo) is a medium-sized prefecture-level city located in the northeast of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. The city borders the province of Anhui to the north, the province of Zhejiang to the east, and ...

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

During Emperor Xuānzong's reign

After Emperor Wuzong died in 846 and was succeeded by his uncle Emperor Xuānzong, Li Deyu, in turn, lost power, and Bai Minzhong became the lead chancellor. Thereafter, Wei Mo was promoted to be the prefect of Ying Prefecture (郢州, in modern

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

), and then moved even closer to the capital to be the prefect of Shang Prefecture (商州, in modern

Shangluo Shangluo ( zh, s= , p=Shāngluò) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan to the northeast and Hubei to the southeast. Part of the Shannan region of the province, it is located in t ...

). In 848, he was recalled to Chang'an to serve as imperial attendant (給事中, ''Jishizhong''), and then to be deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, ''Yushi Zhongcheng''). While serving as deputy chief imperial censor, he submitted an accusation of corruption against Emperor Xuānzong's brother-in-law Du Zhongli (杜中立), which shocked the nobles and caused them to fear him. Later, he was made the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, ''Hubu Shilang'') as well, and in that capacity was to serve as the director of taxation. He submitted a petition in which he pointed out that it would be inappropriate for him to oversee matters of money and continue to serve as censor, and by his request, he was relieved of his censor duties. In 851, Emperor Xuānzong made Wei a chancellor ''de facto'' with the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事), and continued to have him oversee taxation. At that time, Emperor Xuānzong was already relatively old (age 41), but had not designated a

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

. Given his sensitivity about the matter, however, the officials largely did not dare to speak to him about the subject. When Wei met with Emperor Xuānzong to thank him for the commission, he took the chance to point out that that was the main worry that he had about Emperor Xuānzong's governance. While Emperor Xuānzong did not thereafter create a crown prince, the people at the time were nevertheless impressed with Wei.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 249. In 852, Li Ye (李業) the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

) caused disturbances on the border by allowing the Han people to pillage the non-Han and also by killing those non-Han who had surrendered. However, Li Ye was not punished because he had backing of powerful people at court. Only Wei dared to submit an accusation against Li Ye, asking that he be relieved of his duties entirely; Emperor Xuānzong did not do so, but replaced Li Ye with Lu Jun (盧均) and transferred Li Ye to Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

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 ...

). While serving as chancellor, Wei was also in charge of editing the history of Emperor Wenzong's reign, and after he submitted a 40-volume history of Emperor Wenzong's reign, he and the key editors under him were rewarded. It was said that while the chancellors spoke with Emperor Xuānzong on policy issues, they all spoke in roundabout manners in order not to displease the emperor, but Wei dared to speak his mind with no regard for the such. It was said that Emperor Xuānzong often commented, "Wei Mo acts in the same way his ancestor i.e., Wei Zheng)did, and I respect him greatly." However, it was also said that because of this, Wei was resented by the lead chancellor Linghu Tao. In 857, Wei was therefore sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, continuing to carry the ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' title as an honorary title. In 858, when Wei grew ill, he requested to be replaced. Emperor Xuānzong was set to recall him to Chang'an to serve as the minister of defense (兵部尚書, ''Bingbu Shangshu''), but Wei, citing his illness, requested an office with little responsibilities, and therefore was made acting ''You Pushe'' (右僕射) and advisor to the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

.However, as there was (still) no crown prince at the time, the post was entirely honorary. He died in winter 858 and was given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

* ''

'', vol. 176. * ''

'', vol. 97. * ''

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.

245 __NOTOC__ Year 245 ( CCXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Titianus (or, less frequently, year 998 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

246 __NOTOC__ Year 246 ( CCXLVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 246th Year of the Common Era ( CE) and Anno Domini ( AD) designations, the 246th year of the 1st millennium, the 46th year of the 3rd century, and t ...

249 __NOTOC__ Year 249 ( CCXLIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gavius and Aquilinus (or, less frequently, year 1002 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 24 ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Mo 793 births 858 deaths Chancellors under Emperor Xuānzong of Tang Tang dynasty historians Tang dynasty jiedushi of Xichuan Circuit Mayors of Chengdu