Zheng Lang () (died 857),

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 ...

Yourong (), was a Chinese historian and politician during the

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 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 rei ...

Background and early career

It is not known when Zheng Lang was born. He came from a prominent family, as both his father Zheng Xunyu and brother

Zheng Tan Zheng Tan (鄭覃) (died 842''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 18, part 1.), formally the Duke of Yingyang (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 ...

served as

s during their respective careers.''

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 Kin ...

'', vol. 173. Zheng Lang himself 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 in 821, during the reign of Emperor Muzong, by which time Zheng Xunyu was deceased but Zheng Tan was already a prominent official — but his passage, as well as the passages of several other examinees related to prominent officials, including Pei Du's son Pei Zhuan (), Li Zongmin's son-in-law Su Chao (), and Yang Yinshi () the brother of Yang Rushi (), who was one of the lead examiners, were embroiled in controversy as the officials Duan Wenchang, Li Deyu, Yuan Zhen, and Li Shen, accused the examiners Yang Rushi and Qian Hui () of being unfair in their decisions. As a result, Emperor Muzong ordered a reexamination, while demoting Qian, Li Zongmin, and Yang Rushi, as well as the 10 examinees who passed based on perceived influence. This incident was considered to have precipitated the subsequent decades-long Niu-Li Factional Struggles. As a result of this incident, Zheng Lang was not able to remain at

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 start his official service, but instead served as a staff member of 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 ...

'') Liu Gongchuo () at Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan,

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 ...

).'' New Book of Tang'', vol. 165. Zheng was eventually recalled to Chang'an to serve as ''You Shiyi'' (), a low-level advisory official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, ''Zhongshu Sheng'').

During Emperor Wenzong's reign

During the ''Kaicheng'' era (836-840) of Emperor Muzong's son Emperor Wenzong, Zheng Lang was made an imperial chronicler (起居郎, ''Qiju Lang''). On one occasion, after Emperor Wenzong and the chancellors discussed the virtue of frugality, Emperor Wenzong saw Zheng taking notes, as an imperial chronicler was supposed to do. After the meeting, Emperor Wenzong requested to see the records. Zheng initially resisted, pointing out that if the emperor were free to read the records of the imperial chroniclers, the imperial chroniclers would feel constrained about what they could write and would not be able to be impartial, but after Emperor Wenzong insisted, stating that he wanted to see so that he could correct himself if necessary, Zheng submitted the records for his review. Zheng was later made ''Kaogong Langzhong'' (), a supervisory official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, ''Libu''). In 839, he was made ''Jianyi Daifu'' (), a high-level advisory official.

During Emperor Wuzong's reign

In 842, by which time Emperor Wenzong's brother Emperor Wuzong was emperor, there was an occasion when Zheng Lang, still then serving as ''Jianyi Daifu'', along with his colleague Gao Shaoyi (), advised Emperor Wuzong that he was spending too much time in hunting. Emperor Wuzong thanked them and told the chancellors about their advice. He later served as an imperial attendant (給事中, ''Jishizhong''), then the prefect of Hua Prefecture (華州, in modern

Weinan Weinan () is a prefecture-level city in the east central Shaanxi province, China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provincial capital Xi'an, and borders the provinces of S ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...

), then the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, ''Hubu Shilang''), also serving as the director of taxation.

During Emperor Xuānzong's reign

During the reign of Emperor Wuzong's uncle

, Zheng Lang was made the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern

Baoding Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in th ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

), as well as the prefect of its capital Ding Prefecture (). He was later transferred to Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the N ...

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 ...

), and also served as the prefect of its capital Bian Prefecture (). He was later recalled to Chang'an to serve as the minister of public works (工部尚書, ''Gongbu Shangshu'') and the director of finances. He was then made the chief imperial censor (御史大夫, ''Yushi Daifu''). In 856, he was further given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (), making him a chancellor ''de facto''.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 249. He was also made ''Zhongshu Shilang'' (), the deputy head of the examination bureau, as well as a senior scholar at Jixian Hall (), in charge of editing the imperial history. He resigned the chancellor position on account of illness in 857, and was made a senior 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 is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

.However, as there was no crown prince at the time, the post was entirely honorary. He died later that year and was given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

* ''

'', vol. 173. * '' New Book of Tang'', vol. 165. * ''

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.

241 Year 241 ( CCXLI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gordianus and Pompeianus by the Romans (or, less frequently, year ...

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zheng, Lang 857 deaths Chancellors under Emperor Xuānzong of Tang Tang dynasty historians Tang dynasty jiedushi of Xuanwu Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Yiwu Circuit Year of birth unknown Zheng clan of Xingyang