Guo Daiju (郭待舉) was a Chinese 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 Kingdom ...

, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong as well as the

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of Emperor Gaozong's wife

Empress Wu The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

(later known as Wu Zetian) over their sons Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong. Despite Guo's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the years that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the '' Old Book of Tang'' or the '' New Book of Tang''.See the Table of Contents for the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the Table of Contents for the ''New Book of Tang''. He was from

Yingchuan Yingchuan Commandery ( zh, 潁川郡) was a Chinese commandery from the Warring States period to Tang dynasty, located in modern central Henan province. The name referred to the Ying River, which flowed through its territory. The commandery was es ...

(潁川, in modern

Xuchang Xuchang (; postal: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province in Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe to the southeast, and Pi ...

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 ...

.) According to the table of chancellors in the ''New Book of Tang'', his father was Guo Chufan (郭處範), who at one point served as the secretary general of Zhucheng County (諸城, in modern

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the ...

, Shandong).''New Book of Tang'', vol. 74.1 As of 682, late in the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Guo was ''Huangmen Shilang'' (黃門侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (門下省, ''Menxia Sheng''), when he was given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingchangshi'' (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. However, nothing was recorded about his acts as chancellor, and the next reference to him was in 684, by which time Emperor Gaozong had died and been succeeded by his son Emperor Zhongzong—who was then deposed by Empress Wu, then empress dowager and

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, for disobeying her—and then by Emperor Zhongzong's brother Emperor Ruizong. In 684, there had been a rebellion by

Li Jingye Li Jingye (李敬業) (died December 29, 684), also known as Xu Jingye (徐敬業), was a Chinese military general and politician who was a grandson of the Tang Dynasty general Li Shiji who, after Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife Empress Wu (late ...

the Duke of Ying against Empress Dowager Wu's rule, and while Li Jingye's rebellion was quickly defeated, the chancellor

Pei Yan Pei Yan (裴炎) (died November 30, 684), courtesy name Zilong (子隆), was a Chinese politician during the Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong That dominated by Empress Wu, as well Later alone regency by his ...

was executed on suspicion that he sympathized with Li Jingye's rebellion. After Pei's death, there were a series of official movements involving officials who had tried to defend Pei, and as part of these movements, Guo was stripped of his status as chancellor and made a member of the staff of Emperor Ruizong's

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 wi ...

Li Chengqi Li Chengqi () (679 – January 5, 742), known as Wu Chengqi () during the reign of his grandmother Wu Zetian and as Li Xian () after 716, formally Emperor Rang (, literally, "the emperor who yielded"), was an imperial prince of the Tang Dynasty ...

, but just a month later, he was further demoted to the post of prefect of Yue Prefecture (岳州, roughly modern

Yueyang Yueyang, formerly known as Yuezhou or Yochow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake and Yangtze in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative area of a ...

). Nothing further about him was recorded in history, although the table of chancellors in the ''New Book of Tang'' indicated his grandsons Guo Run (郭潤) and Guo Na (郭納) later served as imperial officials.

Notes

References

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song (960–1127), Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959&n ...

'', vol. 203. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guo, Daiju Chancellors under Emperor Gaozong of Tang Chancellors under Emperor Ruizong of Tang Chancellors under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang