Xiao Qing
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Xiao Qing (蕭頃; 862[1] – 19 June 930?[2][3][4]), courtesy name Zicheng (子澄), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and its successor states Later Liang and Later Tang of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, serving as a chancellor during Later Liang.
Xiao Qing was born in 862, during the reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang. His family was from Wannian (萬年), one of the two counties making up the Tang dynasty capital Chang'an.[1] His line was a prominent one—having produced a number of chancellors and other important officials, including his grandfather Xiao Fang, who served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang.[1][5] His father Xiao Lin (蕭廩) served as the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an area). Xiao Qing himself was said to be intelligent and capable in literary matters.[1]
Service during the Tang dynasty
During the reign of Emperor Yizong's son Emperor Zhaozong, Xiao Qing passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class, and subsequently entered governmental service. He served successively as a surveyor for the treasury (度支巡官, Duzhi Xunguan); scholar at the ministry of ceremonies (太常博士, Taichang Boshi); and low-level consultant (右補闕, You Bujue) at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng). While serving as You Bujue, there were times when a number of warlords requested that they be allowed to build temples dedicated to their ancestors. Xiao submitted a petition to Emperor Zhaozong, discussing why such requests were inappropriate, so those requests were rejected.[1]
Later, while Xiao was serving as Libu Yuanwailang (吏部員外郎), a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Libu), there was a time when the former chancellor Zhang Jun, was serving as one of the Puye (僕射, the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng), which the ministry of civil service belonged to).[1][6] At that time, Zhang's ally, the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), had sent his attendant Gao Shao (高邵) to demand that one of his (Zhu's) sons be given an official post based on Zhu's own prominence. The agencies responsible for such commissions rejected the request, finding it to be without precedent. Zhang, however, to please Zhu, insisted on the commission's approval, and went to the agencies himself to demand so. Xiao wrote (apparently to Zhang, but may be to Emperor Zhaozong): "It is not the customs of the southern palace [(i.e., the part of the governmental complex where the imperial officials worked)] that a Puye, without gathering his subordinate officials to consult with them, personally go to the agencies to issue orders." When Zhang became aware of what Xiao wrote, he apologized profusely. Xiao thus became well known after that, and this also impressed Zhu.[1]