Xue Juzheng ( – 12 July 981;

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 ...

Ziping) was a

scholar-official The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...

who successively served the Later Jin, Later Han,

Later Zhou Zhou, known as the Later Zhou (; ) in historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty and the last of the Five Dynasties that controlled most of northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Founded by Guo Wei ...

and

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

dynasties. He was one of the

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

s of the Song dynasty from 973 until his death. Xue is best known today for being the lead author of the monumental history book ''

Old History of the Five Dynasties The ''Old History of the Five Dynasties'' (''Jiù Wǔdài Shǐ'') was an official history mainly focus on Five Dynasties era (907–960), which controlled much of northern China. And it also includes some history of other south states during th ...

'' (974).

During the Five Dynasties

Born during the

Later Liang Later Liang may refer to the following states in Chinese history: * Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (後涼; 386–403), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Western Liang (555–587), also known as Later Liang (後梁), a state during the Southern and Nor ...

, Xue Juzheng was said to be studious and ambitious from a young age. In 934 during the

Later Tang Tang, known in historiography as the Later Tang, was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China and the second of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The first three of the Later Tang's four ...

Xue failed 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 ...

and wrote "An Essay to Dispel Sorrows" (), which was much praised. He passed the imperial examination the following year. After the Later Jin destroyed the Later Tang in 937, Xue served on the staff of Liu Suining (), the military governor of Hua Prefecture. In 941, he was recommended by Liu Suining's older cousin Liu Suiqing () and became a patrolling inspector for the

Salt Monopoly Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantit ...

. In 944, he served as a judge in the

Bureau of General Accounts Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...

. When Li Song became the director for the Salt Monopoly, Xue served on his staff. Xue also received a position in the Court of Judicial Review, and subsequently he was made a reminder official in the Secretariat. In 946, when Sang Weihan was made the prefect of

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 ...

, Xue joined him as an administrative assistant. During the Later Han, Xue once saved a commoner from execution. The man was accused of violating salt laws, but Xue found the evidence unconvincing. After further questioning he discovered bad blood between the defendant and the accuser, a minor government functionary who eventually admitted to making false accusations. After

's founding in 951, Xue was made vice director of the Bureau of Review, also in charge of all judges in the State Finance Commission.

During the Song dynasty

When the Song Dynasty replaced the Later Zhou in 960, Xue took service with the new

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

as he had with dynasties prior to the new rulers of northern China. During the first two decades of the Song, Xue set about to compiling a history of the Five Dynasties. Entitled ''Five Dynasties History'', the main purpose of the work was to reinforce the claim of the Song to the Mandate of Heaven from 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 ...

through the Five Dynasties to the reigning Song.

Death and legacy

Xue did not live much longer than after compilation of the ''Five Dynasties History'' in 974, dying in 981. However, his legacy of writing a history of a previous era of

Chinese history The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

for the purpose of bolstering the current patron dynasty would be repeated later in Chinese history, notably with the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongols, Mongol-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Division of the M ...

’s writing of the '' History of Liao''.

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xue, Juzheng 910s births 981 deaths Song dynasty historians 10th-century Chinese historians Later Zhou politicians Later Han (Five Dynasties) politicians Later Jin (Five Dynasties) politicians Song dynasty politicians from Henan Song dynasty chancellors Politicians from Kaifeng Writers from Kaifeng Historians from Henan