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Du Ruhui
Chief minister to Emperor Taizong of Tang who headed the prince's Eighteen Scholars and, paired with Fang Xuanling, was remembered as the one who made decisions
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zi Keming · Laiguo Gong · Cheng Gong
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Du Ruhui, courtesy name Keming, came from Duling. Under the Sui the personnel official Gao Xiaoji noticed his quick judgement and made him sheriff of Fuyang. When Li Shimin took the capital, Du joined the Prince of Qin's household; Fang Xuanling told the prince that other staff could go but Du was fit to help a ruler, and he followed the prince's campaigns and headed the Eighteen Scholars of his literary institute. Under Emperor Taizong he became minister of war and Duke of Cai, and in 629 replaced Zhangsun Wuji as vice director of the Department of State Affairs, sharing the government with Fang. The Old Tang History (Jiu Tang shu) says each knew the other's gift, Fang for planning and Du for decisions, a pairing later summed up as Fang plans and Du decides. He died in 630 aged forty-six, was posthumously made Duke of Lai with the name Cheng, and in 643 his portrait joined the twenty-four in the Lingyan Pavilion.
Life and times
Dates 585 CE–630 CE