Zhou She (周捨) (469–524),

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 ...

Shengyi (昇逸), formally Viscount Jian (簡子, literally "the undiscriminating viscount"), 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 ...

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 ...

. He was never titular prime minister, and never held an office of high rank, but was largely considered a de facto prime minister and was well regarded by his contemporaries. Zhou She was an eighth-generation descendant of the famed Jin official Zhou Yi (周顗). His father Zhou Yong (周顒) was a

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeede ...

official. When Zhou She was young, he became known for his skills in

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

, and he was retained by Wang Liang (王亮), then the mayor of the capital

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

, to serve as his secretary. When

Emperor Wu of Liang Emperor Wu of Liang () (464 – 12 June 549), personal name Xiao Yan (蕭衍), courtesy name Shuda (叔達), childhood name Lian'er (練兒), was the founding emperor of the Chinese Liang dynasty, during the Northern and Southern dynasties perio ...

seized the throne from

Emperor He of Southern Qi Emperor He of Southern Qi () (488–2 May 502; r. 14 April 501– 20 April 502), personal name Xiao Baorong (), courtesy name Zhizhao (), was the last emperor of the Chinese Southern Qi dynasty. He was put on the throne by the generals Xiao Yingz ...

in 502, he sought out people with talent to serve in his administration. His prime minister

Fan Yun Fàn Yun (451–15 June 503According to Xiao Yan's biography in ''Book of Liang'', Fan Yun died on the ''dingsi'' day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of the ''Tianjian'' era of his reign. This corresponds to 15 Jun 503 in the Julian calendar. 天 ...

was friendly with Zhou She's father Zhou Yong, and he recommended Zhou She, whom Emperor Wu made a low-level official and gradually promoted. In 503, Fan died, and Emperor Wu entrusted the important matters of state to Zhou She and

Xu Mian Xu Mian (徐勉) (466–535), courtesy name Xiuren (脩仁), formally Duke Jiansu (簡肅公, literally "the undiscriminating and solemn duke"), was an official of the Chinese Liang dynasty. He was never titular prime minister, but was largely con ...

, effectively making them co-prime ministers, even though neither carried the title and neither received particularly high rank. For the next 20 years, Zhou and Xu served together in this key capacity. Zhou was considered capable and honest and particularly frugal in his living. In 524, a letter was from Bai Wo (白渦), a commandery governor, was uncovered, in which Bai promised Zhou a large bribe. While there was no evidence showing that Zhou actually received the letter or acted on Bai's behalf, Emperor Wu relieved Zhou from his post. Zhou died later that year, and Emperor Wu, regretting relieving Zhou of his post, issued two edicts greatly praising Zhou for his service and personally attended his wake. He also gave Zhou the posthumous name of Viscount Jian—although there was no record in history indicating that Emperor Wu ever created Zhou a viscount while he was alive or posthumously.

References

* ''

Book of Liang The ''Book of Liang'' (''Liáng Shū''), was compiled under Yao Silian and completed in 635. Yao heavily relied on an original manuscript by his father Yao Cha, which has not independently survived, although Yao Cha's comments are quoted in seve ...

''. * ''

History of Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang dyn ...

''. * ''

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. 145. {{DEFAULTSORT:She, Zhou Liang dynasty politicians 469 births 524 deaths