Li Youdao

Who is Li Youdao?

Li Youdao was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, briefly serving as chancellor.

Despite Li's high status, little is firmly established about his career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the Book of Tang or the New Book of Tang. It is known that his clan was a prominent one, from what was one point Zhao Commandery, that traced its ancestry all the way back to the great Warring States period Zhao general Li Mu. Li Youdao's ancestors later served as officials through Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Cao Wei, Jin Dynasty, Former Yan and/or Later Yan, Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty. His father Li Shushen served as a deputy minister during Tang.

As of 692, Li Youdao was serving as the chief judge of the supreme court and the acting prefect of Shan Prefecture, when Wu Zetian made him the minister of public works. She also gave him the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor de facto. Eight months later, however, he, along with other chancellors Wang Xuan, Yuan Zhihong, Cui Shenji, Li Yuansu, and other officials Kong Siyuan, and Ren Linghui, were falsely accused of crimes by Wu Zetian's secret police official Wang Hongyi. They were relieved from their posts and exiled to the Lingnan region. That was the last historical reference to Li Youdao, and it is not known when he died, although it is known that his son Li Jingxuan later served as a prefectural prefect.