Cui Shi

Cui Shi (崔湜; 671–713), courtesy name Chenglan (澄瀾), was a Chinese writer and politician. He served as an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian's sons Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong and grandsons Emperor Shang and Emperor Xuanzong. In 713, with Emperor Xuanzong locked in a rivalry with his aunt Princess Taiping, Cui chose to side with Princess Taiping, and after Emperor Xuanzong suppressed Princess Taiping's party, Cui was exiled and ordered to commit suicide in exile. Life Early life Cui Shi was born in 671, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. Cui Shi's grandfather Cui Renshi briefly served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's father Emperor Taizong, and Cui Shi's father Cui Yi (崔挹) later served as the principal of the imperial university. Cui Shi himself was said to be literarily talented and ambitious in his youth. He passed the imperial examinations in his youth and was made Zuo Bujue (左補闕), a low level official at the examination bureau of government (鸞臺, Luantai). He participated in the editing of a work known as the Essence of Pearls from the Three Religions (三教珠英, Sanjiao Zhuying) -- a compilation of various poetry about Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism—a project headed by Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong and the imperial scholar Li Jiao. After the work was complete, he was made Dianzhong Shi Yushi (殿中侍御史), a low level imperial censor. Under Zhongzhong In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and her son and crown prince Li Xian, formerly emperor, was restored to the throne (as Emperor Zhongzong). Around this time, Cui Shi became Kaogong Yuanwai Lang (考功員外郎), a low level official at the ministry of civil service affairs. Upon Emperor Zhongzong's restoration, initially, five officials who were instrumental in the coup that overthrew Wu Zetian and restored him, Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jing Hui, and Yuan Shuji, were powerful chancellors, but Emperor Zhongzong's cousin (Wu Zetian's nephew) Wu Sansi the Prince of Dejing, who was also the lover of Emperor Zhongzong's wife Empress Wei, soon became a trusted and powerful advisor to Emperor Zhongzong.