Xu Shang

Xu Shang , courtesy name Yisheng (義聲) or Qiuqing (秋卿), formally Viscount of Dongguan (東莞子), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang.

Background It is not known when Xu Shang was born. He was a fifth-generation descendant of Xu Yougong (徐有功), a famed judge during the reign of Wu Zetian. His family claimed to be originally descended from mythical Xia dynasty judge Gao Yao and traced its ancestry through a line of officials of the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty, the state Cao Wei, the Jin dynasty (266–420), the Liu Song dynasty, the Southern Qi dynasty, the Liang dynasty, the Chen dynasty, and the Tang dynasty. His father Xu Zai (徐宰) served as a judge at the supreme court (大理寺, Dali Si). Xu Shang had at least one younger brother, Xu Gong (徐宮). By Xu Zai's time, the family was living in Xinzheng (新鄭, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan). In Xu Shang's youth, he was a hermit in the Zhongtiao Mountains (中條山), but he later came out of the hermit living and passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class.

During Emperor Yizong's reign Early in the Xiantong era (860–874) of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, Xu Shang was recalled to the capital Chang'an to serve as the minister of justice (刑部尚書, Xingbu Shangshu) and the director of the salt and iron monopolies; he was also created the Viscount of Dongguan In 869, he was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), continuing to carry the Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi as an honorary title. He died while serving there, although the date is not known. His son Xu Yanruo later served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Yizong's son Emperor Zhaozong.

Notes and references

New Book of Tang, vol. 113. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 249, 250, 251.