Su Ting


Su Ting, courtesy name Tingshuo, formally Duke Wenxian of Xu, was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. He was a capable supporting chancellor to Song Jing, and he was also immensely gifted literarily, ranking with Zhang Yue as the two great literary figures of their time. They were known in unison as 燕许大手笔.

Background

Su Ting was born in 680, near the end of the reign of Emperor Gaozong. At that time, his father Su Gui was serving on the staff of Emperor Gaozong's son Li Dan the Prince of Yu. It was said that Su Ting was intelligent and handsome in his youth, and was able to remember and recite texts with 1,000 characters.

During Wu Zetian's reign

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, Su Ting passed the imperial examinations and was made the magistrate of Wucheng County. He eventually became an imperial censor with the title Jiancha Yushi. Late in her reign, during the Chang'an era, she had Su review the cases that her secret police official Lai Junchen had handled early in her reign which had resulted in many executions. Su was able to uncover many wrongful convictions and get people's honors posthumously restored.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and her son and crown prince Li Xian, a former emperor, returned to the throne. Su Ting was made an imperial attendant and an imperial scholar at Xiuwen Pavilion. He was soon made Zhongshu Sheren, a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government. Soon thereafter, Su Ting's father Su Gui was made chancellor, and the family was considered an exceedingly honored one. At that time, most official commissions were drafted by Su, and his language was considered very beautiful.

During Emperor Shang's reign and Emperor Ruizong's second reign

In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly—a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by his powerful wife Empress Wei and her daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, so that Empress Wei could become "emperor" like Wu Zetian and Li Guo'er could be crown princess. Meanwhile, Emperor Zhongzong's son Li Chongmao the Prince of Wen was named emperor, but Empress Wei retained power as empress dowager and regent. Less than a month later, Empress Wei and Li Guo'er were killed in a coup led by Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and nephew Li Longji the Prince of Linzi. Li Longji's father Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, himself a former emperor, was initially named regent, and in the aftermaths of the coup, there were many commission and demotion orders to be written, with Su Ting in charge of drafting them. He was reading them so quickly to his scribe that the scribe commented, "Lord, please be slower. Otherwise, my wrist would be dislocated." The chancellor Li Jiao, who was Su Ting's superior and who was himself known for great literary talent, commented, "The Sheren thinks as fast as a gushing spring. I, Li Jiao, cannot compare to him." Soon, under the urging of Princess Taiping, Li Longji, and Li Longji's brother Li Chengqi, Li Dan took the throne himself, displacing Emperor Shang. Sometime thereafter, Su Ting was made the deputy minister of worship.
Later in 710, Su Gui died. Su Ting inherited the title of Duke of Xu and left government service to observe a mourning period for his father. Soon thereafter, Emperor Ruizong tried to recall him to government service as the deputy minister of public works, which he declined—and when Emperor Ruizong sent the official Li Rizhi to visit Su Ting to urge him to return to government service, Li Rizhi saw that Su Ting's mourning was deep and genuine. Emperor Ruizong thus allowed Su Ting to serve out the traditional three-year mourning period.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

In 712, Emperor Ruizong passed the throne to Li Longji, who took the throne as Emperor Xuanzong. Once Su Ting's mourning period was over, Emperor Xuanzong began considering where he could place Su. He considered making Su Zhongshu Shilang, the deputy head of the legislative bureau, but was unsure whether there was a precedent, and so he asked the chancellors, "Is there precedent for someone to become Zhongshu Shilang from being Gongbu Shilang?" He received a response of, "Your Imperial Majesty should care about whether he is suitable, not precedent." Emperor Xuanzong thus made Su Zhongshu Shilang—and gave him the unprecedented honor of sharing the food normally served only to chancellors. At that time, Li Ai, who was also a capable writer, was also Zhongshu Shilang. Emperor Xuanzong thus commented to Su:
This started a precedent for officials who draft imperial edicts to also leave their names on the edicts for posterity. Subsequently, after Emperor Ruizong died in 716, Emperor Xuanzong wanted to build a stele at Emperor Ruizong's tomb Jingling. Su opposed, pointing out that not only was it not fitting with tradition, but that if he did so, all of the prior emperors' tombs needed to be retroactively given steles. Emperor Xuanzong thus stopped the project.
Around the new year 717, Su, whose title had been changed to Ziwei Shilang by that point due to a number of name changes in offices that Emperor Xuanzong instituted, was given the designation Tong Ziwei Huangmen Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor de facto. He worked well with the more senior chancellor Song Jing. It was said that Song was strict and often made the decisions that Su obeyed. Whenever Song made reports to Emperor Xuanzong, Su would make reports that supplemented Song's. Song once commented:
Later in 717, there was a controversy over whether Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, as brothers, could both be worshipped at the ancestral temple. The officials in charge of worship, Chen Zhenjie, Feng Zong, and Su Ting's cousin Su Xian, advocated moving Emperor Zhongzong's cult out of the imperial temple and having him worshipped at a separate temple, as they believed that the traditional requirement that the emperor worship seven ancestors referred to seven generations of ancestors, and that Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, of the same generation, thus constituted only one of the seven ancestors together. Sun Pingzi, however, believed that this violated the principle that past emperors should all be worshipped. Because Su Xian was Su Ting's cousin, Su Ting advocated for him, and eventually his suggestion was accepted.
Over the next few years, Su concurred with Song on many matters of morality and governmental cleanliness, including:
By 720, however, Song's strictness would eventually bring his and Su's removal. Song had ordered that individuals who had repeatedly appealed their cases without cause be detained by the imperial censors, until they were willing to drop their appeals. This drew much anger from people. At that time, there happened to be a drought, which, according to popular beliefs at the time, would be accompanied by the appearance of a spirit known as the Hanba. One day, while Emperor Xuanzong was watching a play, an actor dressed as the Hanba, and stated:
Meanwhile, further, Song and Su were strictly prohibiting the use of damaged coins, which they had tried to replace with newly minted coins. However, the damaged coins were still in circulation despite the prohibition, particularly in the region between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. Song sent the imperial censor Xiao Yinzhi to the region to be in charge of collecting the damaged coins and taking them out of circulation. Xiao was strict in his behavior, drawing much resentment. Emperor Xuanzong, when he heard this, demoted Xiao, and in spring 720 removed Song and Su from their chancellor posts, making Su the minister of rites instead. He replaced Song and Su with Yuan Qianyao and Zhang Jiazhen.
In 725, when Emperor Xuanzong suspected that the civil service selections were not done properly, he commissioned 10 officials, including Su, to reexamine the official commissions of that year, against advice that doing so undermined the authority of the civil service affairs ministry, although he stopped doing this in 726. Also in 725, when Emperor Xuanzong offered sacrifices to heaven and earthat Mount Tai, he had Su draft the text of the monument there.
It was said that Su was frugal and did not care about money—and that he shared his salaries with his younger brothers and family members, with no savings left. He died in 727. Initially, there was no posthumous honors given to him. The official Wei Shu submitted a petition pointing out Su's contributions, and Emperor Xuanzong, in response, bestowed posthumous honors on Su.