Su Ting

Su Ting (蘇頲; 680 – July 31, 737), courtesy name Tingshuo (廷碩), formally Duke Wenxian of Xu (許文憲公), 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 ("Immense pen-brushes from Yan and Xu").

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 the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, Su Ting passed the imperial examinations and was made the magistrate of Wucheng County (烏程, in modern Huzhou, Jiangsu). He eventually became an imperial censor with the title Jiancha Yushi (監察御史). Late in her reign, during the Chang'an era (701-705), 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.

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and her son and crown prince Li Xian, a former emperor, returned to the throne (as Emperor Zhongzong). Su Ting was made an imperial attendant (給事中, Jishizhong) and an imperial scholar at Xiuwen Pavilion (修文館). He was soon made Zhongshu Sheren (中書舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng). 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.

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