Wu Chong

Life and career

His father was Wu Daiwen, and his elder brothers included Wu Jing and Wu Fang. Wu Yu was also his elder brother.

His wife was a woman of the Li family, whose father was Li You. His sons were Wu Anshi and Wu Anchi; his sons-in-law included Lü Xiji, Pei Lun, Xia Boqing, Ouyang Fa, and Wen Jifu.

Under Emperor Renzong, he passed the jinshi examination. The year is given as either the first year of Baoyuan or the fifth year of Jingyou (1038), and one account says that he attained a high jinshi rank before reaching adulthood. He began as registrar of Gushu and then entered the Directorate of Education as an instructor.

He also served as tutor in the Palace of Prince Wu. His strictness inspired fear, and he presented the Six Admonitions.

In the eighth year of Qingli, he was appointed a collator at Jixian Academy, and later became a Taichang boshi and associate director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the first year of Zhihe, he became military governor of Gaoyou.

The following year he returned as a Herd Directorate judge, Kaifeng prefectural judicial officer, and Household Section judge; he later governed Shan Prefecture and served successively as transport commissioner for the Jingxi, Huainan, and Hedong circuits. Other recorded appointments include 判吏部南曹事, 諸王宮大小學教授, 皇侄皇孫教授, 侍中, 司空, and 宮觀使.

On Emperor Yingzong's accession, Wu Chong became acting Salt and Iron Vice Commissioner. In the first year of Xining (1068), he became drafter of imperial edicts, then director of Judicial Review, acting commissioner of the Three Departments, and Hanlin Academician; his office in the Remonstrance Bureau is given as either 知諫院 or 同知諫院.

During floods and an earthquake in Hebei, he served as pacification commissioner and was promoted to jianxiao taifu; another account gives jianxiao taiwei. In the third year of Xining he became Right Remonstrant Counselor and Vice Commissioner of the Privy Council; in the eighth year he became Privy Commissioner, and his recorded offices also include associate director of the Privy Council and Commissioner of the Herd Directorate.

Related by marriage to Wang Anshi, he nevertheless disagreed with Wang's reforms and urged the recall of Sima Guang and more than ten others. In the ninth year of Xining, he replaced Wang Anshi as Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi and supervised the compilation of the national history, but was later attacked by Wang Gui and Cai Que.

In the third year of Yuanfeng, in the third month, he was removed from office and appointed Minister of Personnel, Grand Academician of the Palace of Literary Brilliance, and Commissioner of Xitaiyi Palace; he died in the fourth month at the age of sixty.

Works and posthumous reputation

His works include the five-juan Xining xiangding junma chi (熙寧詳定軍馬敕) and the fifteen-juan Shumi yuan shizheng ji (樞密院時政記); eight poems are recorded. He also wrote a biography of Ouyang Xiu and was Shen Liao's patron.

After his death, Li Qingchen wrote his epitaph; Wang Anli and Wang Anshi composed sacrificial texts, Liu Kezhuang, Wei Liaoweng, and Zhen Dexiu wrote colophons, and a member of the Zhu family praised his moral conduct.