Song Jing

Song Jing (宋璟) (663 – November 21, 737), formally Duke Wenzhen of Guangping (廣平文貞公), was a Chinese politician during the Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as the chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Ruizong and Emperor Xuanzong. He was praised by historians for his insistence on being morally upright, and for being a just administrator of the law during his time as Xuanzong's senior chancellor. Background Song Jing was born in 663, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. His clan was originally from Guangping (廣平, in modern Handan, Hebei), but by the time of Song Jing's birth, his family had relocated to Xing Prefecture (邢州, roughly modern Xingtai, Hebei). The clan traced its ancestor to the Northern Wei official Song Bian, although Song Jing's grandfather Song Wuben and father Song Xuanfu served only as local officials. Song Jing was said to be upright in his character from youth. He was also said to be learned and capable in writing, and passed the imperial examinations when he was young. During Wu Zetian's reign During the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, Song Jing became Fengge Sheren (鳳閣舍人, Fengge Sheren), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Fengge). It was said that he acting properly while in office and was respected by Wu Zetian. In 703, when Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong tried to falsely accuse the chancellor Wei Yuanzhong by persuading Song's colleague Zhang Shuo to provide corroboration of their accusation that Wei wanted to pledge loyalty to Wu Zetian's son and crown prince Li Xian instead of Wu Zetian herself, it was Song, along with Zhang Tinggui and Liu Zhiji who persuaded Zhang Shuo that historical reputation was more important than political expediency, which led Zhang Shuo to change his testimony and instead corroborate Wei's innocence. As a result, Wei (and Zhang Shuo) were exiled, but escaped death. Meanwhile, Song himself refused to yield to Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, despite their honored status. At one feast, Zhang Yizhi tried to placate Song by offering the most honored position on the table to Song, which Song declined—and subsequently, publicly showed disapproval when another official, Zheng Gao, used an endearing epithet toward Zhang Yizhi. It was said that Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong later tried to attack Song before Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian favored Song and therefore took no action.