Cen Changqian
Encyclopedia
Cen Changqian (died November 7, 691), briefly known as Wu Changqian (武長倩) during the reign of Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
, formally the Duke of Deng (鄧公), was an official of the Chinese
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
dynasty Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong
Emperor Gaozong of Tang
Emperor Gaozong of Tang , personal name Li Zhi , was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683...
, as well as Wu Zetian's reign and her earlier regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
over her sons Emperor Zhongzong
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Xiǎn , at times during his life Li Zhe and Wu Xian , was the fourth Emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling briefly in 684 and again from 705 to 710.Emperor Zhongzong was the son of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu...
and Emperor Ruizong
Emperor Ruizong of Tang
Emperor Ruizong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Dàn , known at times during his life as Li Xulun , Li Lun , Wu Lun , and Wu Dan , was the fifth and ninth emperor of Tang Dynasty...
. In 691, he offended Wu Zetian by opposing the movement to declare her nephew Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi , formally Prince Xuan of Wei , was a nephew of Chinese sovereign Wu Zetian and an imperial prince during her Zhou Dynasty...
crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
(thus displacing the former Emperor Ruizong, whom she demoted to crown prince status in 690 after taking the throne herself), and he, along with his fellow chancellors Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign....
and Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong , formally the Viscount of Bohai , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign.- Background :...
, were accused of treason and executed.
Background
It is not known when Cen Changqian was born. His father was Cen Wenshu (岑文叔), an older brother of Cen WenbenCen Wenben
Cen Wenben , courtesy name Jingren , formally Viscount Xian of Jiangling , was a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang. He was an assistant editor of the Book of Zhou, the official history of Northern Zhou.- Background :Cen Wenben was born in 595, during the reign of Emperor Wen...
, who served as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang
Emperor Taizong of Tang
Emperor Taizong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Shìmín , was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649...
. Cen Wenshu died early, so Cen Wenben raised Cen Changqian as his own son.
During Emperor Gaozong's reign
As of 682, late in the reign of Emperor GaozongEmperor Gaozong of Tang
Emperor Gaozong of Tang , personal name Li Zhi , was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683...
, Cen Changqian was serving as the deputy minister of defense, when he was given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto.
During Empress Dowager Wu's regency
Emperor Gaozong died in 683, and while his son Li ZheEmperor Zhongzong of Tang
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Xiǎn , at times during his life Li Zhe and Wu Xian , was the fourth Emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling briefly in 684 and again from 705 to 710.Emperor Zhongzong was the son of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu...
succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), his powerful wife Empress Wu
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
(later known as Wu Zetian) took over power as regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
and empress dowager
Empress Dowager
Empress Dowager was the title given to the mother of a Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese emperor.The title was also given occasionally to another woman of the same generation, while a woman from the previous generation was sometimes given the title of Grand empress dowager. Numerous empress...
. In spring 684, when Emperor Zhongzong displayed signs of independence, Empress Dowager Wu deposed him and replaced him with his younger brother Li Dan
Emperor Ruizong of Tang
Emperor Ruizong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Dàn , known at times during his life as Li Xulun , Li Lun , Wu Lun , and Wu Dan , was the fifth and ninth emperor of Tang Dynasty...
the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong). However, Empress Dowager Wu held onto power even more firmly thereafter.
in 686, Cen, who was by that point minister of defense, was made Neishi (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Feng Ge) and a post considered one for a chancellor; he also continued to serve as minister of defense. In 688, when Emperor Gaozong's brother Li Zhen
Li Zhen (Tang Dynasty)
Li Zhen , formally Prince Jing of Yue , posthumously known during Wu Zetian's reign as Hui Zhen , was an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty who, along with his son Li Chong rose against Wu Zetian, then empress dowager and regent, as they feared that she was about to slaughter the...
, the Prince of Yue, and Li Zhen's son Li Chong (李沖), the Prince of Langye, suspecting that Empress Dowager Wu was set on seizing the throne herself, rose in rebellion, Cen was one of the generals that Empress Dowager Wu sent against Li Zhen. Li Zhen was quickly defeated, and it is not clear whether Cen participated in Li Zhen's defeat.
In 690, Cen was made Wenchang Youxiang (文昌右相), one of the heads of the executive bureau of government (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai), and also carried the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Sanpin (同鳳閣鸞臺三品), signifying that he was still a chancellor.
During Wu Zetian's reign
Later in 690, Empress Dowager Wu took the throne herself (and was thereafter known as Wu Zetian) and took the title of "emperor," demoting Emperor Ruizong to be crown princeCrown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
, but with the unusual title of Huang Si (皇嗣) rather than the usual title of Huang Taizi (皇太子), and she changed the name of the state from Tang to Zhou (周). She encouraged people to submit signs of fortune and of Zhou's rise, and it was said that Cen Changqian, apprehensive of his situation, submitted a proposal to have Crown Prince Dan's surname changed from Li
Li (surname)
Li is a common transliteration of several Chinese family names, including 李 , the most common Chinese family name, and the Korean family name Lee...
to Wu
Wu (surname)
Wu is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳 , 吴 , which is the tenth most common surname in Mainland China. Several other, less common Chinese surnames with different pronunciations are also transliterated into English as "Wu": 武, 伍, 仵, 烏, 鄔 and 巫...
, which Wu Zetian accepted. To reward Cen, she created him the Duke of Deng, and further bestowed on him the surname of Wu as well as the honorific title Tejin (特進).
However, Cen would soon offend Wu Zetian and her Wu clan members. There had been a movement started by the official Zhang Jiafu
Zhang Jiafu
Zhang Jiafu was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, briefly serving as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Shang....
and the commoner Wang Qingzhi (王慶之) to have Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi , formally Prince Xuan of Wei , was a nephew of Chinese sovereign Wu Zetian and an imperial prince during her Zhou Dynasty...
made crown prince—under the theory that given that Wu Zetian was now emperor, she should be succeeded by a member of the Wu clan rather than her husband's Li clan. They circulated a petition among officials, and Cen refused to sign—and further suggested to Wu Zetian that, as Wu Dan was already crown prince, this proposal should be firmly rejected and that the group of people that Zhang and Wang had gathered before the palace to petition Wu Zetian should be disbanded. He was supported in this by fellow chancellor Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign....
. Cen and Ge's actions offended both Wu Zetian and her Wu clan members.
At that time Buddhist monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s from He Prefecture (和州, roughly modern Chaohu, Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
) submitted a sutra, the Dayun Sutra (大雲經), which purportedly foretold Wu Zetian's rise to power. Wu Zetian issued an edict that this find be commemorated by the construction of the impressive Dayun Temple (大雲寺). Cen opposed this as well, further drawing her displeasure. To remove Cen from the capital Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
, in late 690, she ordered him lead an army against the Tufan, but even before his army could reach the front, she recalled him to Luoyang and imprisoned him. One of Wu Zetian's favored secret police officials, Lai Junchen
Lai Junchen
Lai Junchen was a secret police official during the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, whose ability to interrogate and falsely implicate officials of crimes made him a subject of fear and hatred...
, then tortured Cen's son who was serving as Magistrate of Lingyuan (靈源) and obtained a confession implicating Ge and fellow chancellor Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong , formally the Viscount of Bohai , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign.- Background :...
, as well as a large group of other officials. In winter 691, Cen Changqian, Ge, and Ouyang were all executed. Cen Changqian's five sons were forced to commit suicide, and his ancestral tombs were destroyed. After Emperor Ruizong was eventually restored to the throne in 710, he restored Cen's titles and reburied him with honor. His nephew (actually son of his cousin i.e. a grandson of Cen Wenben) Cen Xi
Cen Xi
Cen Xi , courtesy name Bohua , was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Shang, Emperor Ruizong, and Emperor Xuanzong...
later also served as a chancellor during Emperor Ruizong's and Emperor Xuanzong
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang , also commonly known as Emperor Ming of Tang , personal name Li Longji , known as Wu Longji from 690 to 705, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756. His reign of 43 years was the longest during the Tang Dynasty...
's reigns.