Ge Fuyuan

Ge Fuyuan (; died November 7, 691 ) was a Chinese politician of the Tang dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign.

It is not known when Ge Fuyuan was born, but it is known that he was from Bian Prefecture (, roughly modern Kaifeng, Henan). Nothing is known about his father Ge Churen , but his uncle Ge Deren was known for scholarship during Tang's predecessor Sui dynasty. Ge Fuyuan's brother Ge Xiyuan served on the staff of Wu Zetian's son Li Xian and participated in Li Xian's project to write commentaries for the Book of Later Han.

Ge Fuyuan passed the imperial examination when he was young, and served in successively higher offices. As of 691, when Wu Zetian had already claimed the title of "emperor," establishing Zhou and interrupting Tang, Ge was serving as the imperial censor in charge of reviewing central government affairs (, Zuo Suzheng Daifu) when Wu Zetian made him the minister of finance (, Diguan Shangshu) and gave him the designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi , making him a chancellor de facto.

Just four months later, however, Ge offended Wu Zetian, as there had been a movement led by one Wang Qingzhi to have Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Chengsi made crown prince, displacing Wu Zetian's son Li Dan (formerly emperor until Wu Zetian took the throne in 690). Ge's senior colleague Cen Changqian opposed the movement and advocated that Wang's group of petitioners be disbanded, and Ge supported Cen. In late 691, Ge, Cen, and another chancellor Ouyang Tong were arrested by Wu Zetian's secret police official Lai Junchen and executed.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 70. New Book of Tang, vol. 102. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 204.