Zhao Sun (趙損) (died 941) 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 ...

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...

state

Southern Han Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. The ...

, serving for about a year 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 ...

Background

Traditional histories did not provide information on when or where Zhao Sun was born. He was from a prominent aristocratic family, with his grandfather

Zhao Yin Zhao Yin (, died 881),''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 19, part 2. courtesy name Dayin (大隱), formally the Count of Tianshui (天水伯), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Yizong and Emp ...

's having served as a

during the reign of the late

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

emperor

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 ...

. Zhao Sun's father

Zhao Guangyi Zhao Jiong (20 November 939 – 8 May 997), known as Zhao Guangyi from 960 to 977 and Zhao Kuangyi before 960, also known by his temple name Taizong after his death, was the second emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 976 to h ...

, as well as his uncles

Zhao Guangfeng Zhao Guangfeng (趙光逢) (died January 20, 928? Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter), courtesy name Yanji (延吉), formally the Duke of Qi (齊公), was an official in the late Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and the succeeding Lat ...

and

Zhao Guangyin Zhao Guangyin (; died May 23, 925''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 273.Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter) was an official during China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He was the chancellor during Later Tang. He was a son of ...

all served in the imperial government in the very late Tang times, as well as during Tang's successor state

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 ...

.''

Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms The ''Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese title ''Shiguo Chunqiu'' (), is a history of the Ten Kingdoms that existed in southern China after the fall of the Tang Dynasty and before the reunification of China ...

''
vol. 62
In 908, Later Liang's emperor

Zhu Quanzhong Emperor Taizu of Later Liang (), personal name Zhu Quanzhong () (December 5, 852 – July 18, 912), né Zhu Wen (), name later changed to Zhu Huang (), nickname Zhu San (朱三, literally, "the third Zhu"), was a Chinese military general, mona ...

sent Zhao Guangyi and another official, Li Yinheng, to bestow the Later Liang vassal, the warlord Liu Yin, the titles of 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 Qinghai (清海, 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 Jinghai (靜海, headquartered in modern

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

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 ...

) Circuits. After the ceremony, however, Liu Yin did not allow Zhao or Li to return to the Later Liang court, but kept them to serve on his staff. In 917, when Liu Yin's brother and successor Liu Yan declared himself emperor of a new state of Yue — whose name was shortly after changed to Han and therefore became historically known as

— Zhao, Li, and another official, Yang Dongqian, were made chancellors. Despite Zhao's service as Southern Han's chancellor, he had long longed to return to central China, as he felt that, as a member of a prominent Central Plains aristocratic family, it was shameful to serve for a regional state. Knowing this, Liu Yan wanted to comfort him, and therefore forged a letter in his handwriting style and sent a secret messenger to Luoyang to summon Zhao Sun and another son (Zhao Sun's brother) Zhao Yi (趙益) to Southern Han, and Zhao Sun and Zhao Yi subsequently took their families and went to Southern Han. Their arrivals was a pleasant surprise for Zhao Guangyi, and it was said that thereafter he wholeheartedly served Liu Yan.

Service in Southern Han

Zhao Sun himself rose in the ranks of the Southern Han imperial government, eventually becoming chief imperial scholar (翰林學士承旨, ''Hanlin Xueshi Chengzhi'') and ''Shangshu Zuocheng'' (尚書左丞), one of the secretaries general at the executive bureau of government (尚書省, ''Shangshu Sheng''). Zhao Guangyi died in 940.''

Book of Southern Han A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many page (paper), pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bookbinding, bound together and protected by a book cover, cover. Th ...

'' (南漢書)
vol. 9
After Zhao Guangyi's death, Liu Yan commissioned Zhao Sun as chancellor (with the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事)) as well as ''Menxia Shilang'' (門下侍郎, deputy head of the examination bureau (門下省)). Zhao Sun himself died in 941, while still serving as chancellor.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 282.

Notes and references

* ''

''
vol. 62
* ''

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. 282. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Sun 941 deaths Southern Han chancellors Year of birth missing