Han Zhaoyin

Han Zhaoyin (韓昭胤) was an official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period states Later Tang and Later Jin, serving as the chief of staff (Shumishi) for Later Tang's last emperor Li Congke.

During Later Tang Despite the high position Han Zhaoyin eventually achieved, virtually nothing is known about his personal background, as there was no biography of his in either the Old History of the Five Dynasties or the New History of the Five Dynasties. The first historical reference to him was in 934, as of which time he was serving as Li Congke's secretary in Li Congke's role as military governor (Jiedushi) of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi). In spring of that year, Li Congke overthrew his adoptive brother Li Conghou, who was then emperor, and took the throne as emperor. After doing so, he commissioned Han as an imperial scholar at Duanming Hall (端明殿), and also gave him the title of Zuo Jianyi Daifu (左諫議大夫, a high-level consultant at the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng)).

In summer of that year, Li Congke made Han his chief of staff (Shumishi). At that time, an important decision for Li Congke to make was what to do with his brother-in-law Shi Jingtang (the husband of his adoptive sister the Princess of Wei), who was then the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) but who at that time was at the capital Luoyang. (Li Congke and Shi had long not liked each other even when they both served as officers under Li Congke's adoptive father Li Siyuan, and Shi had initially postured supporting Li Conghou in the civil war between Li Congke and Li Conghou, before submitting to Li Congke and being forced to go to Luoyang to confirm that submission.) Most of Li Congke's followers from Fengxiang advocated detaining Shi at Luoyang and not return him to Hedong. However, Li Siyuan's wife Empress Dowager Cao and the Princess of Wei were both begging on Shi's behalf. Han and another advisor, Li Zhuanmei (李專美), believed that detaining Shi would cause apprehension for another brother-in-law of Li Congke's, Zhao Yanshou the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), and Zhao's adoptive father Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing). Li Congke ultimately decided to allow Shi to return to Hedong.

In 939, Shi, apparently viewed his punishment of Ma, Fang, Han, and Li Zhuanmei to be too harsh (as he pitied them for being in poverty), commissioned them various offices — in Han's case, minister of defense (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) — but then immediately ordered them into retirement (i.e., to allow them to draw pensions without allowing them to return to the government). That was the last historical reference to Han, and it is not known when he died.

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