Yuan Zhihong (袁智弘) was an official of

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

's Zhou Dynasty, briefly serving as

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 ...

. Despite Yuan high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either 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 Kingd ...

'' or 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 ...

''.See the Table of Contents for the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the Table of Contents for the ''New Book of Tang''. It is also known that his family was from Hedong (河東, in modern

Yuncheng Yuncheng is the southernmost prefecture-level city in Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jincheng municipalities to the north and east, and Henan (Luoyang and Jiyuan to the east, Sanmenxia to the south) and Shaan ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...

), but nothing else is known about his ancestors.''

'', vol. 74, part

/ref> As of 692, Yuan was serving as the minister of justice (秋官尚書, ''Qiuguan Shangshu''), when Wu Zetian gave him the designation ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. Seven months later, however, he, along with other chancellors Li Youdao,

Wang Xuan Wang Xuan (; February 5, 1937 – February 13, 2006), born in Wuxi, Jiangsu, was a Chinese computer scientist. He was a computer application specialist and innovator of the Chinese printing industry, as well as an academician at both the Chinese ...

Cui Shenji Cui Shenji (崔神基), formally the Duke of Qingqiu (清丘公), was a Chinese official of the Tang dynasty and the Wu Zhou dynasty, briefly serving as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign. It is not known when Cui was born, but it is known that hi ...

Li Yuansu Li Yuansu (李元素) (died October 26, 696) was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving twice as chancellor. Li Yuansu was the younger brother of Li Jingxuan, who served as chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian's husband Emperor Gaozo ...

, and other officials Kong Siyuan (孔思元), and Ren Linghui (任令輝), were falsely accused of crimes by Wu Zetian's secret police official

Wang Hongyi Wang Hongyi () (died 694) was a secret police official during the History of China, Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty. It is not known when Wang Hongyi was born, but it is known that he was from Hengshui. He was known as a ...

. They were relieved from their posts and exiled to the

Lingnan Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern northe ...

region. That was the last historical reference to Yuan, and it is not known when he died, although it is known that his grandson Yuan Huan (袁澣) later served as a prefectural prefect.

Notes and references

* ''

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. 205. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan Zhihong Chancellors under Wu Zetian Chinese judges