Shangguan Yi

Also known as Zi Youshao

Shangguan Yi, courtesy name Youshao, came from Shan county in Shanzhou; after his father was killed at Jiangdu at the end of the Sui he survived in hiding and for a time lived as a Buddhist monk. He passed the jinshi examination early in the Zhenguan era, joined the Hongwen Institute, revised Emperor Taizong's compositions and helped compile the *Book of Jin* (*Jinshu*). In 662 he gained chief-minister rank as vice director of the Western Terrace. His poems, mostly written to imperial command, were ornate and graceful, and their imitators spoke of a Shangguan style; he is also credited with classifying parallelism into six and eight types. In 664, when Emperor Gaozong chafed at Empress Wu's control, he advised deposing her and drafted the edict, but the empress found out and Gaozong blamed him. In January 665 Xu Jingzong accused him of plotting with the deposed heir Li Zhong; he and his son Tingzhi died in prison, and his granddaughter Shangguan Wan'er was taken into the palace as a bondservant.