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 a Chinese politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Dezong and Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong. Background 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 the Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty (266–420), Former Yan or Later Yan, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and the Tang Dynasty. His grandfather Zheng Changyu served as the deputy principal of the imperial university and later a prefectural prefect, while his father Zheng Ciming 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. During Emperor Dezong's reign Toward the end of the Jianzhong era (780-783) of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, Yan Zhen 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, a low-level official at the ministry of defense (兵部, Bingbu); and Kubu Langzhong, 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, who had been ordered back into civilian life by the county magistrate Lu Boda after he was accused of misconduct by the other monks, became a monk again despite that order.