Qian Weidao

Who was Qian Weidao?

Qian Weidao was twice briefly a chancellor of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, during the first reign of Emperor Ruizong.

Little is known about Qian Weidao's career before his first stint as chancellor, as, atypical for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the Book of Tang or the New Book of Tang. It is, however, known that his family was from Jincheng. As of 684, he was serving as imperial censor reviewing central government affairs, when he and his subordinate, Yu Chengye, was put in charge by Emperor Ruizong's powerful mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu of investigating and interrogating the chancellor Pei Yan after accusations of treason, as Pei had angered her by suggesting that she return imperial authority to Emperor Ruizong. Many officials spoke on Pei's behalf, but Empress Dowager Wu reacted by arresting and demoting them, while promoting Qian and an official who had testified that Pei had committed treason, Li Jingchen, to be chancellors—in Qian's case, with the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Sanpin, a greater designation than Li's Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi designation. She also made him acting Neishi -- the head of the legislative bureau of government and a post considered one for a chancellor.