Ministers › Chief Ministers
Linghu Chu
Mid-Tang official and master of parallel prose, once chief councillor, compiler of the Yulan Shi and early patron of Li Shangyin.
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 Keshi
Linghu Chu, courtesy name Keshi, came from Huayuan in Yizhou (modern Yaozhou, Shaanxi) and was born in 766. He took the jinshi in 791 and served as secretary to a military governor, remonstrator, Hanlin academician and eventually chief councillor as vice director of the Secretariat; later he was military governor of Tianping and of Shannan West, minister of personnel, and finally left vice director of the Department of State Affairs. A master of ancient-style and parallel prose, he compiled the poetry anthology Yulan Shi and took the young Li Shangyin under his wing. He died in 837 with the posthumous name Wen and was posthumously named Minister of Works.
Life and times
Dates 766 CE–837 CE