Du You

Life

Through his father's hereditary privilege, Du You entered government as a military assistant in Jinan in 756. He subsequently served as a judicial assistant in Runzhou and deputy magistrate of Shan County, and held staff posts as deputy commissioner for Zhejiang West and as an aide in the Huainan military command. In 771 he became a langzhong in the Ministry of Works and Commissioner for the Green Sprouts program. He later served as prefect of Fuzhou, Puning, Poyang, and Nanhai, and as commissioner of the Rongguan military command and a langzhong in the Ministry of Revenue.

Between 780 and 781, he served as Water-and-Land Transport Commissioner, langzhong of the duzhi bureau, Vice Minister of Revenue, and Director of duzhi, while also holding the commission for government grain purchases; during wartime, responsibility for provisioning transport was entrusted entirely to him. At the beginning of the Jianzhong era under Emperor Dezong, when tax revenues had failed, he memorialized that the remedy lay in reducing expenditure and therefore reducing the number of offices. Disliked by Lu Qi, he was sent out as prefect of Suzhou but did not take up the post, and was transferred to Raozhou; he later served successively as military governor of Lingnan and Huainan.

In the third year of Zhenyuan (787), he was repeatedly appointed Left Vice Director of the Shangshu Department and then Minister of Justice; an office title for the same year also appears as Right Chancellor of the Shangshu Department. In 788 he administered Shan Prefecture and held its prefecture governorship; in 789 he became prefect of Yangzhou and also served as a staff member of the Eastern Capital garrison command. In 803, the nineteenth year of Zhenyuan, he was appointed to the posts of jianjiao sikong and tong Zhongshu Menxia pingzhangshi, and also served as Commissioner of the Taiching Palace.

In 805, the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan, Wang Shuwen pursued a political reform, and Du You concurrently took charge of duzhi and the Salt and Iron Transport Commission for the circuits, with Wang serving as his deputy; after Wang's defeat, Du You was also relieved of his commission. After Dezong and Shunzong died, he twice served as acting head of the chief-ministerial office. In 806, the first year of Yuanhe, he was formally appointed Situ and ennobled as Duke of Qi; he eventually retired as Grand Protector of the Heir Apparent. He died in 812, aged 78, at Wannian; he was posthumously awarded Grand Tutor and given the posthumous name Anjian.

Family and associations

His father was Du Xiwang and his father-in-law was Liang Youmu. His sons included Du Shifang, Du Xianxiang, Du Shaozi, Du Shisun, an unnamed Du, and Du Congyu; Du Shifang is identified as the second son and Du Congyu as the third. His son-in-law was Zhang Shiling, his grandson was Du Mu, and Du Nian was a fourth-generation descendant.

Du You was a patron of Liu Yuxi, was recommended by Wei Yuanfu, and was recruited by Liu Bochu; Li Han wrote a preface for one of his works. Luo Yin, Xu Hun, Dou Xiang, Dou Chang, and Wei Gu all sent him poems or prose.

Scholarship and works

Du You was broadly learned in ancient and contemporary matters and made techniques for enriching the state and securing the people the guiding aim of his learning. He authored *Tongdian* (《通典》); *Lidao yaojue* (《理道要訣》) is also listed among his authored works, while the relationship of *Guanshi zhilue* (《管氏指略》) and *Binzuo ji* (《賓佐記》) to him is unspecified.