Yao Chong

Yao Chong (Chinese: 姚崇; pinyin: Yáo Chóng) (650 – September 28, 721), né Yao Yuanchong (姚元崇), known 700s-713 by the courtesy name of Yuanzhi (元之), formally Duke Wenxian of Liang (梁文獻公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as chancellor under four sovereigns—Wu Zetian, her sons Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong, and her grandson Emperor Xuanzong. After his resignation in 716, he still had great influence inside the imperial government, and his opinions often influenced the decisions of Emperor Xuanzong and the succeeding chancellors.

Yao Chong was born in 650, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. His father Yao Shanyi (姚善意) served Emperor Gaozong's father Emperor Taizong as the commandant at Xi Prefecture (巂州, roughly modern Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan).

Yao Chong himself started his civil service career serving as an attendant to Emperor Gaozong's son and crown prince Li Hong, and was known for being able to write quickly. He later served as the food supply officer at Pu Prefecture (濮州, roughly modern Heze, Shandong). He was then moved in his office five times and eventually became Xiaguan Langzhong (夏官郎中), a low-level official at the ministry of defense.

During the Khitan invasion of 696-697, Yao Chong was serving at the ministry of defense, when there was much emergency paperwork due to the Khitan invasion. Yao conducted the official business with efficiency and gave much useful comments when he processed the paperwork. This impressed Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, then "emperor" (the only woman with that title in Chinese history) of her Zhou Dynasty, and she gave him an unusually steep promotion to be the deputy minister of defense (夏官侍郎, Xiaguan Shilang).

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