ĭu You's own civil service career started from a position that he was given on account of his heritage - the military advisor to the governor of Ji'nan Commandery (濟南, in modern Jinan, Shandong). Du You's great-grandfather Du Xingmin ( 杜行敏), grandfather Du Que ( 杜愨), and father Du Xiwang ( 杜希望) all served as officials in Tang governments. His family, the Du clan of Jingzhao, was from the Tang dynasty capital Chang'an and traced its ancestry to a line of officials of Chu, Qin dynasty, Han dynasty, Cao Wei, Jin dynasty (266–420), Northern Zhou, and Tang. Background ĭu You was born in 735, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. The work became popular and a key source of information on rites, music, criminal law, and governance for the people of the time, and it was said that it was so detailed that the information from the last thousand years could be accessible easily. Emperor Dezong issued an edict greatly praising the work. In 801, while he was still at Huainan, he had his subordinates carry the work to Chang'an to offer it to Emperor Dezong. However, Du considered the Zhengdian to be incomplete, so he expanded on the coverage of the Zhengdian and added writings about the rites, music, and written works of Emperor Xuanzong's time, into a 200-volume work. Writing of the Tongdian ĭu You had been impressed by a 35-volume work by Liu Zhi during Emperor Xuanzong's reign known as the Zhengdian, which was a compendium of philosophies, rites, and principles of governance. As a character he has often been regarded as antithetical to the more Confucian Lu Zhi, but in reality they seemed to agree on a number of points and Lu didn't have any problem recommending Du for his abilities.

Du favored the light taxation system of the Confucians and the recommendation system of the Han dynasty as a replacement for the examination system. However, despite expending little effort on rectifying imperial conduct, along the lines of Xun Kuang he still believed in the possibility of moral transformation, and considers rites essential to government (which in Xun Kuang's view encompass all government regulations and institutions). John Keay calls him 'enamored' of Shang Yang. A legal specialist and authority over state finances, he became Commissioner for Public Revenue and Salt and Iron, and has been called a 'Legalist' for his appreciation of political planners, dismissal of antiquity and concepts like fate, and strong interest in the Xunzi. While considering Confucian teachings on the relationship between father and son essential, Du stated that he didn't believe that they provided relevant information for government policy. Hoyland considers him a 'political thinker on a grand scale,' comparable to Ibn Khaldun, but he is most often remembered for his thirty-six year compilation of the Tongdian, a historical encyclopedia of 200 sections (volumes) collecting laws, regulations, and general events from ancient times to his own. Du was born to an eminent aristocratic family in what is now Xi'an, Shaanxi, almost eighteen years before the abrupt rebellion of An Lushan, and received office for the privilege as administrator of Chi-nan commandery (modernly Licheng District). He served as chancellor of the Tang dynasty. In this Chinese name, the family name is Du.ĭu You ( Chinese: 杜佑 pinyin: Dù Yòu Wade–Giles: Tu Yu) (735 – December 23, 812 ), courtesy name Junqing ( 君卿), formally Duke Anjian of Qi ( 岐安簡公), was a Chinese historian, military general, and politician.

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