Su Wei

Also known as Zi Wuwei

Su Wei, courtesy name Wuwei, came from Wugong near the capital and was the son of Su Chuo, finance minister of Western Wei. When the Northern Zhou regent Yuwen Hu chose him as a son-in-law, Su fled to the hills to avoid the overbearing regent. His father had once sighed that his heavy tax laws were like a drawn bow that a later man should slacken, and Su Wei took this as his task: recommended by Gao Jiong in 581, he became tutor to the heir and head of the revenue ministry, cut corvee and taxes, and helped draft the Kaihuang code. A right vice director from 589, he was briefly dismissed in 592 on charges of faction. Under Emperor Yang he was one of the Five Nobles who ran the court until slander had him struck from the rolls in 616. He served Yuwen Huaji, Li Mi and Wang Shichong in turn, and died in Chang'an in 623 aged eighty-two.