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Zheng Chong 鄭崇

Feb 18, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Zheng Chong 鄭崇 (d. 2 BCE), courtesy name Ziyou 子游, was an official of the late Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE).

He hailed from Gaomi 高密 (modern Gaomi, Shandong) but later moved to Pingling 平陵 (near modern Xianyang 咸陽, Shaanxi), where he was employed as a scribe in the local commandery. Zheng Chong came soon into the transport department of the Counsellor-in-chief (chengxiang 丞相), where he was as a honest person, so that Minister of War (dasima 大司馬) Fu Xi 傅喜 recommended him to the emperor, and Zheng Chong was appointed Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat (shangshu puye 尚書僕射).

Emperor Ai 漢哀帝 (r. 7-1 BCE) in the beginning estimated his honest and direct advices but became estranged when Zheng Chong criticised the interference into government affairs of the emperor's favourite Dong Xian 董賢. Later on he was slandered by the Director of the Imperial Secretariat (shangshu ling 尚書令) Zhao Chang 趙昌, was put into jail and executed.

Source:
Cang Xiuliang 倉修良, ed. (1996). Hanshu cidian 漢書辭典 (Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe), 990.