Wei Cong (韋琮),

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, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Liyu (禮玉), 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 va ...

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, serving briefly 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 ...

(reigned 846 – 859).

Background and early career

It is not known when Wei Cong was born, and little is known about his background — as there was no biography of his in the ''

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 ...

'', and his biography in the ''

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 ...

'' merely stated that he came from a line of prominent officials,''

'', vol. 182. while omitting his ancestry entirely in its table of the chancellors' family trees, not listing him among the other chancellors of the Wei clan. According to the ''New Book of Tang'', Wei Cong 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, and eventually served as an imperial censor with the title ''Dianzhong Shiyushi'' (殿中侍御史). While serving in that post, he was considered to have made incorrect conclusions in criminal investigations, and was instead made ''Taichang Boshi'' (太常博士), a scholar at the ministry of worship (太常寺, ''Taichang Si''). After several promotions, he was eventually made the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, ''Hubu Shilang'') and chief imperial scholar (翰林學士承旨, ''Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi'').

Chancellorship and aftermaths

In 847, during the reign of

, Wei Cong was made ''Zhongshu Shilang'' (中書侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government (中書省, ''Zhongshu Sheng''), and chancellor ''de facto'' with the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事).''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 248. He was not a capable chancellor, however, and because of that, later in the year, he was removed from his chancellor position and made an 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 wif ...

,However, as there was no crown prince at the time, the post was entirely honorary. with his office at the eastern capital

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

. He died while serving there.

Notes and references

* ''

'', vol. 182. * ''

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 dynast ...

'', vol. 248. 9th-century deaths Chancellors under Emperor Xuānzong of Tang Year of birth unknown {{china-politician-stub