Xiao Fang (; 796–875),

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 ...

Sidao (思道), formally the Marquess of Lanling (蘭陵侯), was a Chinese politician during the

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 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 Xizong.

Background

Xiao Fang was born in 796, during the reign of Emperor Dezong.''

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. 101.''

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. 252. He came from a prominent clan, descended from the imperial line of

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 ...

. Xiao Fang's great-grandfather

Xiao Song Xiao Song (; died 749), formally the Duke of Xu (), was a Chinese historian, military general, and politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. Background It is not known when Xiao Song was b ...

and grandfather Xiao Hua both served as

s, as did his cousin

Xiao Mian Xiao Mian (; died March 16, 842''Old Book of Tang'', :zh:s:舊唐書/卷18上, vol. 18, part 1.), courtesy name Siqian (思謙), formally the Duke of Xu (徐公), was a Chinese politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor of the Tan ...

. Xiao Fang's father Xiao Wu (蕭悟) served as a judge at the supreme court. Xiao Fang 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 827, during the reign of Emperor Dezong's great-great-grandson Emperor Wenzong, and he entered governmental service thereafter.''

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. 172.

During Emperor Xuānzong's reign

During the ''Dazhong'' era (847-860) of Emperor Wenzong's uncle Emperor Xuānzong, Xiao Fang served successively as ''Jianyi Daifu'' (諫議大夫, an imperial consultant) and imperial attendant (給事中, ''Jishizhong''). In 858, there was an occasion when Emperor Xuānzong was set to commission the imperial guard general Li Sui (李燧) as 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 Lingnan Circuit (嶺南, headquartered in modern

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

), and had already sent an

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been 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 2nd millennium ...

to Li Sui's mansion to bestow Li Sui with a staff signifying imperial authority. However, when Xiao received the edict commissioning Li Sui, he, per his authority as imperial attendant, sealed and returned the edict to Emperor Xuānzong, signifying his disagreement. (The reason for Xiao's disagreement is not stated in historical accounts.) Emperor Xuānzong, when he received the returned edict, was watching a play, but respecting Xiao's disagreement with the commission, he tried to send another eunuch to intercept the eunuch sent to Li Sui's mansion; he could not find one, so instead he sent a performer in the performance that he was watching, and the performer was able to stop the eunuch right in front of Li Sui's mansion. Instead of Li Sui, Emperor Xuānzong ultimately commissioned another general, Li Chengxun (李承勳), and Li Chengxun was able to suppress the rebellions that were then affecting Lingnan.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 249. However, on a later occasion, Xiao Fang was accused of having improperly returned an edict to Emperor Xuānzong and was set to be punished. The assistant imperial scholar Kong Wenyu (孔溫裕) argued that Xiao should be encouraged for his review of edicts, and should not be punished; Emperor Xuānzong agreed and did not punish Xiao. Subsequently, there was a time when the powerful chancellor

Linghu Tao Linghu Tao (), courtesy name Zizhi (), formally the Duke of Zhao (), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. He was the leading chancellor during the last nine years of the reign of Emperor Xuānzong, but was removed from his chancel ...

recommended Li Zhuo (李涿) as the commandant of Annan (安南, i.e., modern northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

). Li Zhuo was subsequently removed for harshness, and Linghu then wanted to commission Li Zhuo as the governor (觀察使, ''Guanchashi'') of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, headquartered in modern

Xuancheng Xuancheng () is a city in the southeast of Anhui province. Archeological digs suggest that the city has been settled for over 4,000 years, and has been under formal administration since the Qin dynasty. Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

). Xiao, not afraid of offending Linghu, submitted a petition opposing Li Zhuo's commission, and thus was much admired for his honesty. Later, Xiao was himself commissioned to be the military governor of Lingnan, and it was said that while there were many opportunities to collect valuable objects due to Lingnan being a key post for commerce, he refused to do so. On one occasion, when a family member was ill, and the physician ordered that

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...

be used in the medication; Xiao's attendants took plums that were in the government storage for this purpose, but when Xiao found out, he ordered that the plums be returned.

During Emperor Yizong's reign

Early in the ''Xiantong'' era (860-874) of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, Xiao Fang 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 Shi ...

to serve as ''Zuo Sanqi Changshi'' (左散騎常侍), a high-level advisory official at the examination bureau of government (門下省, ''Menxia Sheng''). As he considered Emperor Yizong overly devout in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, in 862, he submitted a petition urging Emperor Yizong to cut back on his display of devotion. Emperor Yizong praised him for his advice, but did not follow it.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 250. In 863, he was put in charge of the imperial examinations for that year, and subsequently served successively as the deputy minister of rites (禮部侍郎, ''Libu Shilang'') and deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, ''Hubu Shilang''). He later served for four years as the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

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 the prefect of Yicheng's capital Hua Prefecture (滑州). As Hua Prefecture was situated on the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

, it often suffered from flooding. Xiao carried out a major project moving the course of the Yellow River to an old, more stable course. Emperor Yizong praised him for the project. He was then recalled to be the minister of defense (兵部尚書, ''Bingbu Shangshu'') and the director of finances. He then served some time as the minister of civil service affairs (吏部尚書, ''Libu Shangshu'') and in that capacity selected officials for commissions; he was said to be fair and capable in that capacity. At the end of the ''Xiantong'' era, he again became minister of defense and director of finances.

During Emperor Xizong's reign

In 874, by which time Emperor Yizong had died and been succeeded by his young son Emperor Xizong, Xiao Fang, who was then referred to as ''Zuo Pushe'' (左僕射), one of the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, ''Shangshu Sheng''), was made ''Menxia Shilang'' (門下侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau, and given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. He was subsequently given the honorific title of ''Sikong'' (司空, one of the

Three Excellencies The Three Ducal Ministers (), also translated as the Three Dukes, Three Excellencies, or the Three Lords, was the collective name for the three highest officials in Ancient China and Imperial China. These posts were abolished by Cao Cao in 208 AD a ...

) and created the Marquess of Lanling. He died in 875.

Notes and references

* ''

'', vol. 172. * ''

'', vol. 101. * ''

'', vols. 249, 250, 252. {{DEFAULTSORT:Xiao, Fang 796 births 875 deaths Chancellors under Emperor Xizong of Tang Tang dynasty jiedushi of Lingnan Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Yicheng Circuit