Fu Yauwei (傅遊藝) (died August 24, 691), known as
Wu Youyi (武遊藝) during the reign of
Wu Zetian, was an official of the
Chinese dynasty
Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a
chancellor briefly after she took the throne in 690. He was known for being the first official to publicly petition her to take the throne and establish her own dynasty, and was awarded for his public stance by being promoted within a year from a low level official to the upper echelon of the imperial administration. In 691, however, he was accused of having even greater ambitions and arrested; he committed suicide.
It is not known when Fu Youyi was born, but it is known that he was from Ji County (汲縣, in modern
Xinxiang,
Henan). As of 690, when Wu Zetian was serving as
empress dowager and
regent over her son
Emperor Ruizong, he was serving as an assistant imperial censor (侍御史), when he led a group of some 900 people from the
Guanzhong region to publicly petition, outside the palace, the abolition of Tang Dynasty and the establishment of a new Zhou Dynasty with her as "emperor." Empress Dowager Wu initially publicly declined, but promoted him. As a result, waves of petitions requesting the same thing came, and eventually Emperor Ruizong also submitted such a petition. Empress Dowager Wu eventually accepted and took the throne as emperor, establishing Zhou and interrupting Tang. After she took the throne, she made Fu
Luantai......
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