Sui and Tang · Military Officer and Official

Du Ya 杜亞

Dù Yà

Attested AD 756 - AD 805

Passages: 13
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Du Ya as a military officer and official. This record brings together 13 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Du Ya	杜亞	Dù Yà
Courtesy	Cigong	次公	Cigong
Personal name	Du Ya	杜亞	Dù Yà
Personal	Du Ya	杜亞	Du Ya

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · xintangshu:052:s0165
Sex: male
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0187

Roles

Military Officer
Official

Life and dates

Death

Statement: died at seventy-four
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0225

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 淮南節度使杜亞 · Western Interval: Start: AD 785 · End: AD 805
Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:052:s0165
Source Date: Text: 肅宗在靈武 · Western Year: AD 756
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0187

Career and standing

Label: adjutant / 判官 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0191
Label: collation secretary / 校書郎 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0188
Label: Huaixi military governor / 淮西節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0206
Label: Jiangxi observation commissioner / 江西觀察使 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0197
Label: military governor of Huainan / 淮南節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:052:s0165
Label: Junior Tutor to Heir Apparent / 太子少傅 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0225

Places and affiliations

Place: Jingzhao / 京兆 · Relation: native-of
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0187

Events and relationships

Kind: administrative · Role: presenter · Action: converted regular levies into surplus tribute for favor
Explicit · xintangshu:052:s0165
Kind: luxury · Action: staged lavish dragon-boat races and drained the treasury
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0210
Kind: memorial · Action: submitted memorial while Suzong was at Lingwu
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0188

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: ambitious, extravagant, and negligent · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0209

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · xintangshu:172:s0187

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 52Volume 52 Treatises 48: Finance and Economics 2 · 1 passage

劍南西川節度使韋皋有「日進」，江西觀察使李兼有「月進」，淮南節度使杜亞、宣歙觀察使劉贊、鎮海節度使王緯李錡皆徼射恩澤，以常賦入貢，名為「羨餘」。 Wei Gao in Jiannan sent "daily tribute," Li Jian in Jiangxi "monthly tribute"; Du Ya, Liu Zan, Wang Wei, and Li Qian converted regular taxes into "surplus" gifts for favor.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 172Volume 172 Biographies 97: Yu, Wang, Two Du's, Fan · 12 passages

杜亞，字次公，自雲本京兆人。 Du Ya, styled Cigong, traced his family to Jingzhao.

鴻漸為山南、劍南副元帥，亞與楊炎並為判官。 When Hongjian became deputy supreme commander for Shannan and Jiannan, Ya and Yang Yan served jointly as his adjutants.

亞自以當衡柄，悒悒不悅。 Ya believed himself destined for the chancellorship and brooded in dissatisfaction.

李棲筠風望高，時謂當宰相，故亞厚結納。 Li Qiyun commanded high esteem and was widely tipped for the chancellery—Ya drew him into a warm alliance.

元載得罪，亞與劉晏等劾治。 When Yuan Zai was brought down, Ya stood with Liu Yan and others to impeach and try him.

亞意必任臺宰，倍道進。 Convinced he would be named chief minister, Ya hastened toward the capital at breakneck pace.

劉晏抵罪，貶睦州刺史。 When Liu Yan fell, Ya was demoted to prefect of Muzhou.

然承陳少遊後，裒率煩重，用度無藝，人冀有所矯革，而亞雅意丞弼，厭外官，往往不親事，日夜召賓客言噱流連。 Yet he inherited Chen Shaoyou's heavy levies and reckless spending; people hoped for reform, but Ya secretly coveted the chancellorship, disdained provincial office, neglected his duties, and spent day and night entertaining guests with banter and feasting.

方春，南民為競度戲，亞欲輕駛，乃髹船底，使篙人衣油彩衣，沒水不濡，觀沼華邃，費皆千萬。 In spring, when southerners held dragon-boat races, Ya wanted a swift spectacle: he lacquered the hulls and dressed the boatmen in oil-painted clothes that stayed dry underwater; the pageantry on the ponds was lavish, costing millions.

亞大慚。 Ya was deeply embarrassed.

亞計窘，更舉軍帑錢與甸人，至秋取菽粟償息輸軍中，貧不能償者發囷窖略盡，流亡過半。 Ya's scheme backfired: he lent military funds to local farmers at interest payable in grain each autumn; those who could not repay had their stores seized, and more than half the population fled.

帝審其妄，使禮部尚書董晉代之，賜亞還。 The emperor saw through his pretensions, sent Minister of Rites Dong Jin to replace him, and ordered Ya home.