Feng Dao

Also known as Zi Kedao · Ying Wang · Shi Wenyi · Hao Changlelao

Feng Dao, courtesy name Kedao, came from Jingcheng in Yingzhou. He first served Liu Shouguang of Yan and then Li Cunxu, Prince of Jin, as a secretary. Under Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang he became a chief minister, and in 932 he and Li Yu proposed carving woodblocks of the Nine Classics from the Tang stone-classic texts, a printing completed in 953 under the Later Zhou. He was chief minister again under the Later Jin, was taken north by the Khitan emperor after the Jin fell, and then held the highest ranks under the Later Han and Later Zhou. Late in life he wrote an account of himself as the Old Man of Lasting Joy, listing every title he had held under each house. He died in 954 aged seventy-three and was named Prince of Ying, with the posthumous name Wenyi. Ouyang Xiu placed him among the miscellaneous biographies of his New History of the Five Dynasties and condemned him as a man without shame.