Su Ting

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Su Ting was born into an official family of Wugong in Jingzhao. His father Su Gui rose to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and was enfeoffed as Duke of Xu, becoming an important minister from the period of Empress Wu through the reign of Emperor Zhongzong. Su Ting was extraordinarily intelligent from childhood. He could read several lines at a glance and was said not to forget what he had seen. He passed the jinshi examination while still young and first served as county lieutenant of Wucheng, beginning his official career. Under Empress Wu he also took the examination for worthy and upright men, performed outstandingly, and was appointed to a military administrative post in the Left Guard of the Heir Apparent, later rising to Investigating Censor.

In 702, the second year of the Chang'an era, Su Ting was ordered to review cases handled by Lai Junchen and other notoriously cruel officials. Lai Junchen had created many wrongful prosecutions during the reign of Empress Wu, often implicating large numbers of people. Su Ting examined the evidence carefully and discovered that many confessions had been extracted under coercion. He cleared the wrongfully accused and enabled many people to receive posthumous or formal redress. The episode demonstrated his uprightness and close attention to evidence as a censorial official.

Service as Drafter in the Secretariat

In 706, the second year of the Shenlong era, Su Ting was promoted to Supervising Secretary and additionally made an Academician of the Xiuwen Institute. Soon afterward he became Drafter in the Secretariat, specializing in imperial edicts and state documents. His father Su Gui was then serving as a chief councillor, so father and son simultaneously handled important central affairs, which contemporaries regarded as an honor. According to the Old Book of Tang, the court's administrative workload was heavy and numerous edicts and proclamations were drafted by Su Ting.

After the Tanglong Coup, edicts accumulated in great numbers. Su Ting was on duty alone in a rear chamber of the Taiji Palace and dictated edicts while clerks copied them. He spoke rapidly yet selected precise wording and appropriate degrees of emphasis. The clerks repeatedly asked him to dictate more slowly because they could not keep up and feared exhausting their wrists. Li Jiao, then head of the Secretariat, exclaimed that Su Ting's thoughts flowed like a spring and that he himself could not match him.

In 710, the first year of the Jingyun era, Su Gui died. Emperor Ruizong ordered Su Ting to end mourning early and return to office as Vice Minister of Works. Su Ting submitted a firm refusal and requested permission to complete mourning for his father. Emperor Ruizong sent Li Rizhi to deliver the order and persuade him. Seeing Su Ting emaciated and overwhelmed with grief, Li Rizhi could not bring himself to press the matter and reported that he feared something might happen if Su Ting were forced back into service. Emperor Ruizong therefore allowed Su Ting to observe the full three years of mourning.

Chief Councillorship

In 713, the first year of the Kaiyuan era, Su Ting completed the mourning period and took office as Vice Minister of Works. Emperor Xuanzong asked whether there was a precedent for promoting a Vice Minister of Works directly to Vice Director of the Secretariat. The chief councillors replied that when the emperor employed talent, seniority need not be decisive. Xuanzong accordingly appointed Su Ting Vice Director of the Secretariat and imperial edict drafter and allowed him to inherit the title Duke of Xu. Su Ting and Li Yi simultaneously served as vice directors and shared responsibility for state documents. Xuanzong once told Su Ting that under Empress Wu there had been Li Jiao and Su Weidao, collectively known as “Su and Li,” whose talent led their age, and that Su Ting and Li Yi were no less capable.

In 716, Su Ting was promoted to Vice Director of the Purple Tenuity Secretariat and appointed a chief councillor, governing together with Song Jing. Song Jing was upright and decisive in administrative affairs. Su Ting generally supported what he regarded as Song's good judgments and, when Song overlooked a point or could not immediately answer the emperor, stepped forward to assist. Their cooperation was harmonious. Song Jing said that he had served in the chief councillorship with both Su father and son: Su Gui was a generous elder and a pillar of the state, but in offering policy advice and handling administration with precision, Su Ting surpassed his father.

In 718, Emperor Xuanzong ordered strict suppression of debased coinage, seizure of privately cast coins, and their recasting into standard currency. The measure unsettled the capital and nearly halted commerce. Su Ting and Song Jing proposed that the Court of the Imperial Treasury provide twenty thousand strings of cash to purchase unsold goods useful to the government at fair prices and that officials in the two capitals be allowed to receive salary advances, bringing good coin back into circulation. Xuanzong adopted the proposal and market order recovered.

In 719, Wang Renjiao, father of Empress Wang, died. His son Wang Shouyi asked to follow a precedent associated with Dou Xiaochen and build a tomb mound five zhang and one chi high. Xuanzong had already agreed, but Su Ting and Song Jing strongly opposed the plan. They argued that ritual prescribed a mound only one zhang and nine chi high for a first-rank official and that even those buried near an imperial mausoleum were not to exceed three zhang. A previous oversized tomb had already attracted criticism and should not be imitated. Su Ting said that their repeated remonstrance was intended only to preserve the empress's good reputation. Xuanzong was pleased and rewarded each of them with four hundred bolts of silk.

Removal from Office and Administration of Sichuan

In 720, the eighth year of the Kaiyuan era, Su Ting was removed from the chief councillorship and appointed Acting Minister of Rites. Soon afterward he became Chief Secretary of the Yizhou Metropolitan Command and was charged with inspecting and administering the prefectures of Jiannan. Livelihoods in Sichuan were then badly damaged and many people had been displaced. Su Ting recruited garrison soldiers, opened salt wells, and developed ironworking. He used profits from salt and iron to purchase grain and replenish state granaries. He favored simple, quiet administration and avoided unnecessary corvée, allowing the people of Sichuan time to recover.

While Su Ting was in Yizhou, the military official Huangfu Xun was sent to Sichuan and demanded treasury funds to purchase luxury goods such as brocade half-sleeves, decorative plectrums, and ornate whips. Su Ting refused. When someone warned that he was far from the capital and should not offend the emperor, Su Ting replied that an enlightened ruler would not seize public resources for private pleasures and that distance from the capital could not make him abandon the integrity of a loyal minister.

The tribal leader Juyuan of Xizhou allied with the Tibetan Empire and planned an incursion into Tang territory. Su Ting captured a spy, and officials repeatedly requested military action. Su Ting refused. He wrote Juyuan a brief letter telling him not to do it and sent the spy back. Juyuan was ashamed after receiving the letter and thereafter did not dare to pursue the invasion.

In 725, the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, Su Ting accompanied Emperor Xuanzong to the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai and composed a court-audience stele inscription. In the twelfth month of that year, Xuanzong adopted a proposal by the censor Yuwen Rong to divide the Ministry of Personnel's selection work into ten selection offices and appointed Su Ting and nine others to preside over the process.

Su Ting died of illness in 727 at the age of fifty-eight. Emperor Xuanzong mourned him at the southern gate of Luoyang, suspended court for two days, posthumously awarded him the office of Right Chief Minister, and granted the posthumous name Wenxian. On the day of Su Ting's funeral, Xuanzong was at Xianyi Palace and intended to go hunting. When he heard that Su Ting was being buried that day, he said that he could not bear to go out for pleasure and returned to the palace.

Major Activities

Literary Contributions

Su Ting was a celebrated writer at the transition into the High Tang. He and Zhang Shuo, Duke of Yan, were collectively known as the “Yan-Xu Great Masters of State Prose.” He excelled in drafting imperial edicts and proclamations, combining clear narration with polished literary style. The later chief councillor Li Deyu remarked that among recent edicts, only Su Ting's writing created literature beyond merely narrating affairs. Su Ting had a collected works in thirty juan and also participated in revising the Kaiyuan Houge, Kaiyuan Houling, and Kaiyuan Houshi. The Complete Tang Poems preserves ninety-nine poems attributed to him, while the Complete Tang Prose collects his writings in nine juan, including decrees, memorials, and stele inscriptions.

His literary talent was already fully visible while he served as Drafter in the Secretariat. After the Tanglong Coup, when edicts accumulated in great numbers, he dictated them so rapidly that scribes could not keep up, leading Li Jiao to praise his thoughts as “flowing like a spring.” Emperor Xuanzong also compared Su Ting and Li Yi with Su Weidao and Li Jiao of the preceding age, showing the high contemporary assessment of his literary ability.

Political Activities

Su Ting's political career spanned the reigns from Empress Wu through Emperor Xuanzong. As an Investigating Censor, he reviewed wrongful cases created by Lai Junchen and other cruel officials and cleared many unjustly accused people. After entering the chief councillorship in the Kaiyuan era, he governed in cooperation with Song Jing and contributed to policies concerning debased coinage, restraint of extravagance, and observance of ritual regulations. In the coinage crisis of 718, his proposal to use government funds to purchase unsold goods and allow officials salary advances helped stabilize the capital's market. His strong remonstrance in 719 against the oversized tomb of Wang Renjiao likewise demonstrated his adherence to ritual and willingness to advise the ruler directly.

After leaving the chief councillorship to administer Yizhou, Su Ting opened salt wells and developed iron production, using the proceeds to build grain reserves while avoiding unnecessary labor demands. He refused Huangfu Xun's improper request to use treasury funds for luxury purchases. When Juyuan of Xizhou allied with the Tibetan Empire, he resolved the danger through a written warning rather than military action, avoiding an unnecessary war.

Travels and Places of Service

Su Ting spent much of his life between Jingzhao, Luoyang, and Sichuan. In his earlier central-government career he was largely based in the two capitals. After being sent to Yizhou in 720, he served for several years in Sichuan. In 725 he accompanied Emperor Xuanzong eastward to Mount Tai for the Feng and Shan sacrifices and composed a court-audience stele inscription.

The source also records that when Su Ting had served as a county magistrate in Luoyang, his administration was remembered fondly by local people after his transfer. Residents hired craftsmen to carve a life-sized stone image of Guanyin on Longmen Mountain modeled on his appearance. Zhang Shuo wrote an inscription for the image, describing it as taking the form of an official while manifesting the auspicious features of a wheel-turning king.

Relations with Contemporaries

Su Ting and Song Jing served together as chief councillors and had a harmonious relationship. Song Jing was upright and decisive, while Su Ting was modest and supportive, and Song praised him for correcting policy, rejecting what was improper, and handling administration with precision, saying that in these respects he surpassed his father Su Gui. Su Ting and Zhang Shuo were leading literary figures of the High Tang and were paired as the “Yan-Xu Great Masters of State Prose”; Zhang Shuo also composed the inscription for Su Ting's Longmen image. Li Jiao greatly admired Su Ting's literary talent, saying that his thoughts flowed like a spring. Emperor Xuanzong likewise valued him and compared him and Li Yi with Su Weidao and Li Jiao of the earlier period.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: Su Gui, Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Duke of Xu
• Brother: Su Shen, Inspector of Xuzhou
• Brother: Su Bing, Director in the Bureau of Works
• Brother: Su Yi, official in the Ministry of War
• Son: Su Shan
• Grandsons: Su Yi, Inspector of Huangzhou; Su Xiang
• Great-grandson: Su Xi, Inspector of Chuzhou
• Great-great-grandson: Su Zan, courtesy name Yanqing

Friends and Colleagues

• Song Jing: fellow chief councillor; worked harmoniously with Su Ting, who often deferred to and assisted him
• Zhang Shuo: paired with Su Ting as one of the “Yan-Xu Great Masters of State Prose”
• Li Jiao: senior Secretariat official who admired Su Ting's writing talent
• Li Yi: shared responsibility for state documents with Su Ting and was paired with him as the contemporary “Su and Li”

Rulers

• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang: entrusted Su Ting with the chief councillorship and valued his literary ability and administrative achievements
• Emperor Ruizong of Tang: attempted to recall Su Ting early from mourning but ultimately permitted him to complete the mourning period

Historical Assessment

Tang / Contemporary

• Ma Zai: “The ancients spoke of traveling a thousand li in a single day; Su is such a man.”
• Li Jiao: “The Drafter's thoughts flow like a spring; I cannot equal him.”
• Song Jing: “I served in the chief councillorship with both Su father and son. The Vice Director was generous and indeed a vessel of the state, but in offering good counsel, rejecting what was improper, and handling administration with precision, the Yellow-Gate official surpassed his father.”
• Liu Fang, on worthy ministers under Emperor Xuanzong: “Yao Chong, Song Jing, Su Ting, and others were all upright ministers who maintained government through purity and quiet; the court had settled standards and those below had no illicit hopes.”
• Li Deyu: “Among recent edicts and proclamations, only Su Ting went beyond narrating affairs to create literature of his own.”

Song and Yuan Periods

• Cui Qun: “At the beginning Emperor Xuanzong obtained Yao Chong, Song Jing, Lu Huaishen, Su Ting, Han Xiu, and Zhang Jiuling, and there was good government; when he employed Yuwen Rong, Li Linfu, and Yang Guozhong, there was disorder. Therefore success or failure in employing men is no light matter.”
• Yuan Zhen: “Our Emperor Xuanzong obtained Yao Yuanchong and Song Jing and had them set out the great laws to harmonize men and spirits; he further strengthened them with Zhang Shuo, Su Ting, Jia Zhen, Jiuling, and others, all of whom could maintain and complete affairs from beginning to end without losing order.”
• Xu Jun praised him in verse for the harmonious cooperation of two chief councillors and for Su Ting's especially strong role in supplementing and completing policy.

Ming and Qing Periods

• The historian of the Old Book of Tang wrote that Su Ting served publicly as chief councillor and sustained his family through frugality; Li Jiao praised his “flowing spring” of thought and Song Jing said he surpassed his father. In difficult circumstances his integrity did not turn, and he began and ended his career well. The same work records that he was frugal and incorrupt, gave his salary to his brothers or distributed it among relatives, and left no surplus wealth at home.

Modern and Contemporary

Modern scholarship evaluates Su Ting from both literary and political perspectives. As one of the “Yan-Xu Great Masters of State Prose,” his edicts are regarded as an important stage in the development of Tang parallel prose and as influential on later official writing. Politically, his cooperation with Song Jing is often treated as a model of the early Kaiyuan era's administration by worthy chief councillors, while his uprightness and personal frugality have also been praised by later generations.