Shen Song
Shen Song(Thẩm tung) (863–938),courtesy nameJifu(Cát phủ), was a chancellor of theChineseFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms PeriodstateWuyue.
Background
[edit]Shen Song was born in 863, during the reign ofEmperor Yizong of Tang.He was said to be from the Min region (i.e., the region of modernFujian). His grandfather Shen Lu (Thẩm lộ) was a judge atTang's supreme court ( đại lý tự,Dali Si). His father Shen Chao (Thẩm siêu) served as the magistrate of Changxi County ( trường khê, in modernNingde,Fujian), and Shen Song might have been born there.[1]
In 895, during the reign of Emperor Yizong's sonEmperor Zhaozong,Shen Song went to then-capitalChang'anto submit himself for theimperial examinationsin theJinshiclass. The minister of justice Cui Ning (Thôi ngưng) was in charge of the imperial examinations that year, and he chose 25 examinees as having passed the examination, and Shen was one of them. However, for reasons unclear, Emperor Zhaozong then had the imperial scholarLu Yiand the director of the archival bureau Feng Wo (Phùng ác) conduct a second-round examination, which eliminated 10 examinees — but Shen survived this round as well.[1]
However, Shen then headed home toward the Min region rather than remain to serve in the imperial examination — perhaps because at that time, the Tang state was overrun with various disturbances. As he went through Huainan Circuit ( hoài nam, headquartered in modernYangzhou,Jiangsu), the military governor of Huainan[1](should be referring toYang Xingmi[2]) invited him to serve on staff, but he declined. He proceeded to Hang Prefecture ( hàng châu, in modernHangzhou,Zhejiang), which was then under the rule ofQian Liuthe military governor of Zhenhai Circuit ( trấn hải, headquartered at Hang). Qian kept Shen on staff to serve as secretary in his role as military governor of Zhenhai.[1]
Service under Qian Liu
[edit]In addition to being Qian Liu's secretary, Shen Song was later also made Qian's deputy in Qian's role as the circuit's agricultural director. It was said that most of Qian's public declarations and communiques with other circuits were written by Shen.[1]
Tang fell in 907 and was, as to the central part of the empire, succeeded byLater Liang,which Qian's realm, which became the state ofWuyue,became a vassal to.[3]In 923, whenLi Cunxu,the prince of Later Liang's archivalJin,declared himself emperor of a new state ofLater Tang(which Wuyue would become a vassal to after Later Tang destroyed Later Liang later that year),[4]Qian asked for Shen's thoughts about Li'sera nameTongguang(Đồng quang). Shen responded, "Looking at this era name, the state would not be completed, as it only had one mouth" (referring to thatTong(Đồng) lacked the enclosure of the character for "state" (Quốc) and contained the characters of "one" (Nhất) and "mouth" (Khẩu) inside it).[1]
Service under Qian Yuanguan
[edit]Qian Liu died in 932, and was succeeded by his son Qian Chuanguan (who then changed his name toQian Yuanguan). Qian Yuanguan established a Zeneng Institute (Trạch năng viện) to select members of the intelligentsia to serve in the Wuyue state government, and he put Shen Song in charge of the institute.[5]In 937 (by which time Later Tang had fallen and Wuyue was a vassal of its successor stateLater Jin), Qian Yuanguan took the title of King of Wuyue (a title that his father Qian Liu had been bestowed but which he himself had not used up to this point), and he commissioned Shen, as well asCao ZhongdaandPi Guangye,chancellors.[6]
Shen Song died in 938 and was given theposthumous nameWenxian( văn hiến, "civil and wise" ). He left a 20-volume collection of his work.[1]