Zheng Qi

Zheng Qi (Chinese: 鄭綮; died 899), courtesy name Yunwu (蘊武), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor in 894 during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong. He was known for writing poems filled with puns (xiehouyu) that satirized the political scene that impressed Emperor Zhaozong, leading to his brief term as chancellor despite his own misgivings.

Little is known about Zheng Qi's background, as his family was not included in the table of the chancellors' family trees in the New Book of Tang. After he passed the imperial examinations, he initially served as an imperial censor with the title Jiancha Yushi (監察御史) then as Dianzhong Shi Yushi (殿中侍御史). He then served as a low-level official at the ministry of census (戶部, Hubu), initially as Cangbu Yuanwailang (倉部員外郎) then as Hubu Yuanwailang (戶部員外郎). He then served as a supervisory official at the ministry of census as Jinbu Langzhong (金部郎中), then at the ministry of justice (刑部, Xingbu) as Xingbu Langzhong (刑部郎中), then at the executive bureau of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng) as Yousi Langzhong (右司郎中).

Although these posts carried prestige as imperial official posts, they lacked sufficient salary, and Zheng, because his family was poor, sought an assignment out of the capital Chang'an, and thereafter was made the prefect of Lu Prefecture (廬州, in modern Hefei, Anhui). As the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao advanced north in 880, Zheng wrote him a declaration ordering him not to invade Lu Prefecture — a declaration that amused Huang who thereafter skipped past Lu Prefecture. When Zheng later left the post as prefect, he had accumulated some savings, but he left in the care of the prefectural treasury, which was not plundered even later when other agrarian rebels overran Lu Prefecture. Yet later, when Yang Xingmi served as the prefect, he had messengers deliver the money to Zheng.

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