Zheng Yuqing

Zheng Yuqing (鄭餘慶) (746 – January 2, 821), courtesy name Juye (居業), formally Duke Zhen of Yingyang (滎陽貞公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Dezong and Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong.

Zheng Yuqing was born in 777, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan) and claimed ancestry from the royal house of the Spring and Autumn period state Zheng. It also traced its ancestry to a line of officials of Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty (265-420), Former Yan or Later Yan, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and Tang Dynasty. His grandfather Zheng Changyu (鄭長裕) served as the deputy principal of the imperial university and later a prefectural prefect, while his father Zheng Ciming (鄭慈明) served as a staff member of the crown prince. Zheng Yuqing himself was said to be studious and diligent in his youth. In the middle of the Dali era (766-779) era of Emperor Xuanzong's grandson Emperor Daizong, he passed the imperial examinations.

Toward the end of the Jianzhong era (780-783) of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, Yan Zhen (嚴震) the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) invited Zheng Yuqing to serve as an assistant. Zheng later left governmental service to observe a period of mourning when his father died. Early in Emperor Dezong's Zhenyuan era (785-805), Zheng was recalled to the capital Chang'an and served successively as Bingbu Yuanwailang (兵部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of defense (兵部, Bingbu); and Kubu Langzhong (庫部郎中), a supervisorial official at the ministry of census (戶部, Hubu). In 792, he was made an imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi). In 797, he was made the deputy minister of public works (工部侍郎, Gongbu Shilang) but was also put in charge of selecting officials at the ministry of civil service (吏部, Libu). While he was serving there, there was an incident where a Buddhist monk by the dharma name of Facou (法湊), who had been ordered back into civilian life by the county magistrate Lu Boda (盧伯達) after he was accused of misconduct by the other monks, became a monk again despite that order. When Lu reported this to Emperor Dezong, Emperor Dezong ordered that a tribunal be convened that would include the deputy chief imperial censor Yuwen Miao (宇文邈), the deputy minister of justice Zhang Yu (張彧), the chief judge of the supreme court Zheng Yunkui (鄭雲逵), and a supervisor from the ministry of Buddhist and Taoist affairs, Zhuge Shu (諸葛述). Zheng found this tribunal to be inappropriate — as Zhuge was a low-level official who lacked the standing of the three key officials and, in Zheng's opinion, should not share places on the same tribunal — and he submitted a written opposition. This caused Zheng to gain a good reputation.

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