A Study On The Wu Family Of Taiyuan In The Northern Song Dynasty

The Wu family in Taiyuan belonged to the elder family of the Later Zhou Dynasty.Wu Tingzuo,the second-generation member of his family,served as the auxiliary minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty,and was reused in the early Song Dynasty and become the prime minister.His family has also begun to rank among high-ranking bureaucratic families.The third generation members,Wu Tingzuo’s six sons,all entered the court as officials.Among them,Wu Yuanyi was the Duwei of emperor’s son-in-law.During his official period,he had made great achievements.Song Zhenzong praised him as " the emperor’s son-in-law is the only one to be called a virtuous man",and his family became a famous family in the early Northern Song Dynasty.In the fourth and fifth generations,although many family members are still employed as officials,but the rank is low,and the family has gradually declined to become an ordinary bureaucratic family.Since then,this family has been rough and not wonderful.Until the end of the Northern Song Dynasty,It is only in the historical books that the deeds of Wu Ge and Wu Zhu,the descendants of the Wu family in Taiyuan,appear again.As an important clan in the end of Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty,to a certain extent,the Wu family in Taiyuan had an important influence on the changes in the situation in the early Song Dynasty.Based on the smooth transition of the regime,Song Taizong appeased Wu tingzuo and other important officials of Later Zhou Dynasty.After entering the Northern Song Dynasty,his family members made certain contributions in politics,military affairs and diplomacy.It not only promoted the development of his family,but also promoted the stability of the political situation in the early Northern Song Dynasty.In order to protect the safety and interests of the family,the Wu family in Taiyuan chose to marry with the aristocratic families,and carried out strict family education to maintain the family inheritance.The huge in-law relationship and the inheritance of their own family traditions have contributed to the development of the family.However,with the implementation of national policies of "valuing culture over martial arts" and the lack of stamina of his family members,Taiyuan Wu family gradually declined.As a relatively complete family in the early Song Dynasty,the development of the Wu family in Taiyuan has a close relationship with the political situation in the early Song Dynasty.On the basis of discussing the origin,lineage,official achievements,marriage and family tradition of the Wu family in Taiyuan,this paper further analyzes the decline of the Wu family and its relationship with the political situation in the Song Dynasty.