# Yu Zhining
**Yu Zhining** (于志宁) was a chancellor of the [Tang dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/tang-dynasty) under Emperor Gaozong, serving as 尚书左仆射 (left supervisor of the Department of State Affairs) and later as grand tutor to the crown prince (太子太师), in each case with the policy rank 同中书门下三品.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003) • [2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) He was also a scholar-official who took part in compiling the dynasty's pharmacological canon, ritual code, and legal statutes, and who wrote a collected work in forty juan and a book of remonstrances titled Jianyuan (谏苑).[3](https://www.lishirenwu.com/tangchaorenwu/yuzhining.html) • [4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊唐書/卷47)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 588[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) |
| Died | 665, aged 78[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) • [3](https://www.lishirenwu.com/tangchaorenwu/yuzhining.html) |
| Principal office | 尚书左仆射, 同中书门下三品, under Emperor Gaozong[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003) |
| Later office | 太子太师, 同中书门下三品; dismissed from office when 长孙无忌 was banished to 黔州[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003) |
| Post under Gaozong | 荥州刺史[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) |
| Works | Jianyuan (谏苑); collected works in 40 juan; co-compiler of the Bencao with its charts, in 54 pian[3](https://www.lishirenwu.com/tangchaorenwu/yuzhining.html) • [5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html) |
| Posthumous name | Ding (定)[3](https://www.lishirenwu.com/tangchaorenwu/yuzhining.html) |
## Career
Yu's earliest recorded post places him inside a military headquarters as a staff writer: he served as 记室 (secretary for documents) in the 渭北道行军元帅府, the field-marshal's office of the 渭北 route.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) The basic annals of Gaozong in the New History of the Tang then record his rise to the head of the civil administration: on the day jisi in the eighth month of a second year, Yu was appointed 尚书左仆射 with the rank 同中书门下三品, in the same reshuffle that made 高季辅 侍中 and 张行成 右仆射.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003)
The turning point of his career came with the attempt to depose Empress Wang and install Consort Wu. According to the New History's account, when 长孙无忌 and 褚遂良 argued firmly against the deposition and were not heeded, Yu did not dare to speak; Consort Wu resented him for having failed to back her, and after 无忌 was killed, Yu was dismissed from office and sent out as governor (刺史) of 荥州, later transferred to 华州 and permitted to retire.[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html) The annals record the fall in official sequence: on the day bingchen in the fourth month of a fourth year, Yu was made 太子太师, 同中书门下三品; days later, in the same entry, 无忌 is recorded as banished to 黔州 and Yu as dismissed.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003) The biography records that Yu, pleading age, asked to surrender his post and was instead named 太子太师 while keeping his policy rank.[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html) The CBDB record also lists a governorship of 荣州.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485)
## Political influence
Yu sat at the center of Gaozong's government as a chancellor (宰相) of the reign.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) His influence on the succession question was passive rather than active: summoned among the senior ministers consulted on replacing Empress Wang, he held his silence while 无忌 and 遂良 fought the measure, and the silence cost him his position once Wu was empress.[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html)
His durable institutional work lay in compilation. The New History states that the dynasty's regulations (格式), statutes (律令), and ritual canons (礼典) were all drafted with his participation, and that his rewards for this work ran to enormous sums (赏赐以巨万).[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html) With the state councilor 李勣 he revised the Bencao (本草) together with its charts, combining them into 54 pian; asked by the emperor what a new edition could add, he answered that [陶弘景](https://www.edgepedia.org/tao-hong-jing) had annotated the Shennong classic by mixing in miscellaneous writers' separate records, and that the southern regional tradition did not fully understand drugs and minerals, so errors were frequent.[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html) • [6](https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/book/SK0724/chapter/1l9yzpcvdui3r)
## Military style
The record connects Yu with the army only through staff service: his post as 记室 in the 渭北道行军元帅府 was a secretarial office in a field-marshal's headquarters, drafting documents rather than commanding troops.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485) According to the CBDB Person Database, no source describes him leading forces in the field, and no tactics, supply arrangements, or discipline of his own can be attributed to him.
## Death, titles, and honors
The New History's biography records the grant of 幽州都督 with the posthumous name Ding (定), and a later restoration of 左光禄大夫 and 太子太师.[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html)
## Assessment
The New History's biography is cooler: it credits Yu with loving guests and delighting in bringing forward younger men, but adds that he was full of misgivings and fears, could not actually recommend anyone, and was rated poorly by scholarly opinion (为士议所少).[5](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html)
## Legacy
His writings kept him in the Tang literary record: the Old History's bibliographic treatise lists a Jianyuan in thirty juan under his name and a Collected Works of Yu Zhining (《于志宁集》) in forty juan.[4](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊唐書/卷47)
## References
1. [《新唐书》卷三 (passages naming the subject, Wikisource transcription)](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/新唐書/卷003)
2. [CBDB Person Database - 31485](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0031485)
3. [于志宁简介-鲜卑族，唐朝宰相_历史人物网](https://www.lishirenwu.com/tangchaorenwu/yuzhining.html)
4. [《旧唐书》卷四十七 (passages naming the subject, Wikisource transcription)](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/舊唐書/卷47)
5. [《新唐书》卷一百四 列传第二十九](https://www.yuwenmi.com/guoxue/xintangshu/5971.html)
6. [唐书卷一百四-新唐书全文原文及译文-识典古籍](https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/book/SK0724/chapter/1l9yzpcvdui3r)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Early Tang (618 to 755) › Officials and chancellors*
*Initially written Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license