Sui and Tang · Statesman and Official

Wei Jiansu 韋見素

c. AD 687 - AD 762

Passages
30
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Wei Jiansu was a statesman and Official.

IdentityHistorical · Male

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Huiwei 會微 Huiwei
Posthumous name Loyal and Upright 忠貞

Life and dates

Death

Age

Attested activity

Show 8 more source-backed claims

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Career and standing

Show 32 more source-backed claims

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Show 11 more source-backed claims

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment alone upheld what was right through the crisis; few finish such trials with honor · Mode historian-judgment
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passages 211, 227
  • Assessment contemporaries said he curried favor with Guozhong and failed to speak on great matters · Mode hearsay
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 212
  • Assessment grateful to Yang Guozhong; made no judgment between Yang and An Lushan and offered no protest when rebellion began · Mode historian-judgment
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passages 21-22
  • Assessment kindly and forbearing; fair in selections; widely praised · Mode historian-judgment
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 13
  • Assessment served as chief minister more than a year; counsel unheeded and catastrophe followed; even Zhou/Confucius talents could not have saved the dynasty · Mode historian-judgment
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 214
  • Assessment too upright and independent to have been permitted merely to flatter Guozhong · Mode historian-judgment
    Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 213
Show 3 more source-backed claims

Source notes

References in the histories

30 passages

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 112Volume 108 Biographies 58: Wei Jiansu, Cui Yuan, Cui Huan, Du Hongjian · 30 passages
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史臣曰：祿山狂悖已顯，玄宗寵任無疑，見素知國危，陳廟算，直言極諫，而君不從，獨正犯難，而人不咎，出生入死，善始令終者鮮矣。 The historian writes: An Lushan's treachery was already plain, and Xuanzong's favor was beyond question. Jiansu saw the danger, laid out plans for the dynasty, and remonstrated boldly, yet the emperor would not listen. He alone upheld what was right through the crisis, and men did not blame him. Few pass through such trials with honor from beginning to end.