Xu Shang (徐商),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China China, officially the People's R ...

Yisheng (義聲) or Qiuqing (秋卿), formally Viscount of Dongguan (東莞子), was an official of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

, serving as 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 ...

during the reign of

Emperor Yizong of Tang Emperor Yizong of Tang (December 28, 833 – August 15, 873), né Li Wen, later changed to Li Cui (), was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 859 to 873. Yizong was the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong. After Emperor Xuanz ...

Background

It is not known when Xu Shang was born. He was a fifth-generation descendant of

Xu Yougong Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ( ...

(徐有功), a famed judge during the reign of

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first List of ...

.'' New Book of Tang'', vol. 113. His family claimed to be originally descended from mythical

Xia Dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradi ...

judge Gao Yao and traced its ancestry through a line of officials of the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

, the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

, the state

Cao Wei Wei (Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' < Middle Chinese: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

, the

Jin Dynasty (266–420) The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had p ...

, the

Liu Song dynasty Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period ...

, the

Southern Qi dynasty Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeede ...

, the

Liang Dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

, the Chen Dynasty, and the

. His father

Xu Zai Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ( ...

(徐宰) served as a judge at the supreme court (大理寺, ''Dali Si''). Xu Shang had at least one younger brother,

Xu Gong Xu Gong () (died 200) was a Chinese politician and minor warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Life Xu Gong started his career sometime between 190 and 193 as the Commandant () of Wu Commandery (around present-day Su ...

(徐宮). By Xu Zai's time, the family was living in

Xinzheng Xinzheng () is a county-level city of Henan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. The city has a population of 600,000 people and covers an area of , of which is urban. ...

(新鄭, in modern

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the Nationa ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

). In Xu Shang's youth, he was a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...

in the Zhongtiao Mountains (中條山), but he later came out of the hermit living and passed the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

s in the ''Jinshi'' class.

During Emperor Xuānzong's reign

Sometime during the ''Dazhong'' era (847-860) of

Emperor Xuānzong Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (July 27, 810 – September 7, 859) (reigned April 25, 846 – September 7, 859) was an emperor in the latter part of the Tang dynasty of China. Personally named Li Yi, later renamed Li Chen (), and known before his re ...

, Xu Shang was promoted to be ''Shangshu Zuo Cheng'' (尚書左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau of government (尚書省, ''Shangshu Sheng''). At a later point, Emperor Xuānzong sent him to survey the border regions and to issue edicts in those regions. He was then made the military governor (''

Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate ...

'') of Hezhong Circuit (河中, headquartered in modern

Yuncheng, Shanxi Yuncheng is the southernmost prefecture-level city in Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jincheng municipalities to the north and east, and Henan (Luoyang and Jiyuan to the east, Sanmenxia to the south) and Shaan ...

). While he was serving there, there were a group of Tujue remnants who crossed the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...

and submitted to him. He settled them and organized them into an elite fighting force of 1,000 men. Xu was later transferred to Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern

Xiangfan Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

). As Shannan East had rugged terrain, there were many mountains where bandits gathered. Xu trained an elite group of soldiers to combat banditry. As of 858, when a mutiny at Hunan Circuit (湖南, headquartered in modern

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and th ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

) expelled the governor (觀察使, ''Guanchashi'') Han Cong (韓悰), Xu sent these elite soldiers to suppress the Hunan mutiny. He also sent some of his elite soldiers, under his officer Han Jiyou (韓季友), to aid Wei Zhou (韋宙) the governor of Jiangxi Circuit (江西, headquartered in modern

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into h ...

) in combating a mutiny at Jiangxi, and subsequently Wei was able to suppress the mutiny there.

During Emperor Yizong's reign

Early in the ''Xiantong'' era (860-874) of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, Xu Shang was recalled to the capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin ...

to serve as the minister of justice (刑部尚書, ''Xingbu Shangshu'') and the director of the salt and iron monopolies; he was also created the Viscount of Dongguan In 865, by which time he was apparently serving as chief imperial censor (御史大夫), he was made the deputy minister of justice (刑部侍郎, ''Xingbu Shilang'') and given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事), making him a

''de facto''. In 869, he was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern

Jingzhou Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...

), continuing to carry the ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' as an honorary title.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 251. He died while serving there, although the date is not known. His son

Xu Yanruo Xu Yanruo (徐彥若) (died 901), courtesy name Yuzhi (俞之), formally the Duke of Qi (齊公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong. Background and early career It ...

later served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Yizong's son Emperor Zhaozong.

Notes and references

* '' New Book of Tang'', vol. 113. * ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynas ...

'', vols.

249 __NOTOC__ Year 249 ( CCXLIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) 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 ...

250 __NOTOC__ Year 250 ( CCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Gratus (or, less frequently, year 1003 ''Ab ...

251 __NOTOC__ Year 251 (CCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Etruscus (or, less frequently, year 1004 '' ...

. Chancellors under Emperor Yizong of Tang Politicians from Zhengzhou Tang dynasty jiedushi of Hezhong Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Shannan East Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Jingnan Circuit Tang dynasty politicians from Henan Tang dynasty generals from Henan