Zheng Qi (鄭綮) | 24 Histories

Overview

Zheng Qi was an official, Poet, and Statesman.

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Yunwu	蘊武	Yunwu
Nickname	Fifth Zheng	鄭五	Zheng Wu

Life and dates

Death

AD 896 乾寧
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 142

Attested activity

AD 896 乾寧
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 183, passages 134, 142
AD 873 to AD 888 僖宗
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 126
AD 891 to AD 896 大順後
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 133
AD 888 to AD 904 昭宗
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 134
AD 888 to AD 904 昭宗朝
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 50
AD 878 to AD 879 黃巢掠淮南
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 125

Family

Ancestor of Zheng Jue (鄭玨)
grand-nephew 侄孫 · 2 generations
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 50
Sibling of Sibling of Zheng Qi (鄭綮之兄弟)
Uncertain siblings
Strongly inferred · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 50

Kinship Role clansmen · Quantity unspecified
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 139

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Crown Prince Junior Tutor 太子少保
Appointed on retirement
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 142
Vice Minister of Rites and Co-Director of the Secretariat-Chancellery 禮部侍郎、同中書門下平章事
AD 888 to AD 904 昭宗 · Appointed · Authority Emperor Zhaozong (昭宗)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passages 134, 138
Military Department director in charge of miscellaneous matters 兵部郎中…知雜事
Appointed · Authority Wang Hui (王徽)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 130
prefect of Lu Prefecture 廬州刺史
Appointed · At Lu Prefecture 廬州
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 124
chief minister 宰相
AD 888 to AD 904 昭宗朝 · Held
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 50
Director of the Left Bureau 左司郎中
Held
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 123

Show 9 more source-backed claims

investigating censor 監察御史
Held
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 123
drafting attendant 給事中
Promoted
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 130
Regular Cavalier Attendant 常侍
Restored
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 132
Right Regular Cavalier Attendant 右散騎常侍
Summoned
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 132
rector of the Imperial University 國子祭酒
Transferred
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 132
crimson robe and fish insignia 緋魚
AD 873 to AD 888 僖宗 · Granted · Authority Emperor Xizong (僖宗)
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 126
Claimed illness and left
Resignation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 131
Requested on grounds of illness
Retirement · after only three months in the chancellorship
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 142
desperately poor
Poverty
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 124

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 58, passage 50; New Book of Tang 183, passages 123, 126, 134
At Lu Prefecture 廬州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passages 124-125

Learning and skills

Earned
Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 123
Skill poetry 詩 · Level renowned · humorous trailing-rhyme style
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passages 133, 135

Works and attributed material

Fifth Zheng's trailing-rhyme verse 鄭五歇後體
Relation Eponymous style
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 135
歇後鄭五作宰相，事可知矣。
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 139
萬一然，笑殺天下人！
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 138
諸君誤矣，人皆不識字，宰相亦不及我。
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 136

Events and relationships

Assumed chancellorship
Political · Appointee
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 139
Firmly declined chancellorship
Political · Appointee · Outcome Plea not accepted
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 140
Left surplus cash in prefectural treasury
Administrative · Outgoing prefect · Quantity a thousand strings of cash 錢千緡
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passages 127-128
Returned appointment edict
Political · Objector · With Du Hongwei (杜弘徽) · Outcome No response; claimed illness and resigned
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 131
Sent proclamation asking prefecture be spared
AD 878 to AD 879 黃巢掠淮南 · Military · Prefect · With Huang Chao (黃巢) · At Huainan 淮南 · Outcome Lu Prefecture remained intact
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 125
Singled out governmental failures
Political · Critic
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 132

Show 2 more source-backed claims

Used songs and ballads as veiled criticism
AD 891 to AD 896 大順後 · Literary · Author
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 183, passage 133
Relation Objected to appointment of · Person Du Hongwei (杜弘徽) · because Rangneng was assisting in government
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 131

Assessments and attributes

Assessment in court he conducted himself with grave propriety and showed none of his former manner · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 141
Assessment skilled at humorous offbeat poetry; the age called his manner Fifth Zheng's trailing-rhyme verse · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 135
Item a thousand strings of cash 錢千緡 · Relation Left in treasury · At Lu Prefecture treasury 州庫
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passages 127-129

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 183, passage 122

References in the histories

Search passages

History

12 passages

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 58Volume 58 Book of Later Tang 34: Biographies 10: Zhao Guangfeng, Zheng Jue, Cui Xie, Li Qi, Xiao Qing · 1 passage

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鄭玨，昭宗朝宰相綮之侄孫。 Zheng Jue was the grand-nephew of Zheng Qi, a chief minister under Emperor Zhaozong.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 183Volume 183 Biographies 108: Bi, Cui, Liu, Lu, Zheng, Zhu, Han · 11 passages

Open chapter

鄭綮，字蘊武。 Zheng Qi, whose courtesy name was Yunwu.

黃巢掠淮南，綮移檄請無犯州境，巢笑，為斂兵，州獨完。 When Huang Chao ravaged Huainan, Qi sent out a proclamation asking that his prefecture be left untouched. Chao laughed, but he restrained his troops, and Lu Prefecture alone remained intact.

後它盜至，終不犯鄭使君錢。 Later, when other bandits arrived, they never touched the money left by Prefect Zheng.

及楊行密為刺史，送都還綮。 When Yang Xingmi became prefect, he sent the money to the capital and returned it to Qi.

王徽為御史大夫，以兵部郎中表知雜事，遷給事中。 When Wang Hui served as censor-in-chief, he nominated Qi, a Military Department director, to take charge of miscellaneous matters, and Qi was later promoted to drafting attendant.

杜弘徽任中書舍人，綮以其兄讓能輔政，不宜處禁要，上還制書，不報，輒移病去。 When Du Hongwei was appointed Secretariat drafter, Qi argued that because Hongwei's elder brother Rangneng was assisting in government, he ought not hold so sensitive an inner-court post. Qi returned the appointment edict to the throne, and when no answer came, he promptly claimed illness and resigned.

大順後，王政微，綮每以詩謠托諷，中人有誦之天子前者。 After the Dashun era, royal administration grew weak. Qi often used songs and ballads to offer veiled criticism, and palace eunuchs would recite them before the emperor.

昭宗意其有所蘊未盡，因有司上班簿，遂署其側曰：「可禮部侍郎、同中書門下平章事。」 Emperor Zhaozong suspected that Qi had more to offer than he had yet shown. When the relevant office presented the roster of officials on duty, the emperor wrote beside Qi's name, "May serve as Vice Minister of Rites and Co-Director of the Secretariat-Chancellery."

綮本善詩，其語多俳諧，故使落調，世共號「鄭五歇後體」。 Qi had long been skilled at poetry, and his language was often humorous and offbeat. For this reason his verses frequently ended with an unexpected trailing rhyme, and the age together called his style "Fifth Zheng's trailing-rhyme verse."

至是，省史走其家上謁，綮笑曰：「諸君誤矣，人皆不識字，宰相亦不及我。」 At this point the provincial clerks hurried to his house to pay their respects. Qi laughed and said, "You gentlemen are mistaken. The people cannot even read, and the chancellor is no match for me either."

既視事，宗戚詣慶，搔首曰：「歇後鄭五作宰相，事可知矣。」 Once he assumed office, his clansmen came to congratulate him. He scratched his head and said, "If trailing-rhyme Fifth Zheng has become chancellor, the state of affairs can already be guessed."