Cui Youfu (崔祐甫) (721 – July 7, 780), courtesy name Yisun (貽孫), was a Chinese politician. He served as a chancellor briefly early during the reign of Emperor Dezong. He was credited for governing in an effective manner and guiding Emperor Dezong to correct decisions that, for some time, evoked comparisons between Emperor Dezong and his well-regarded ancestors Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong.
Background
Cui Youfu was born in 721, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from "the second house of Boling" of the prominent Cui clan of Boling. His grandfather, whose name was either Cui Zhi (崔晊) or Cui Hao (崔皓), was a prefectural secretary general and carried the title of Duke of Anping. His father Cui Mian (崔沔) served as Huangmen Shilang (黃門侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng) and carried the title of Duke of Qinghe. His household was said to prize its honesty, frugality, and rituals.
At some point, Cui Youfu passed the imperial examinations, and he later served as the sheriff of Shou'an County (壽安, in modern Luoyang, Henan). When the rebel general An Lushan, in 755, captured Luoyang, then the Tang eastern capital, both officials and commoners fled Luoyang in earnest, but Cui, before doing so, risked being harmed during the battle and went back to his ancestral shrine to take the spirit tablets with him. He later successively served an imperial archiver and a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Libu). Later, he served as a commander at Yongping Circuit (永平, then headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) and then Yongping Circuit's liaison officer at the Tang capital Chang'an. He was known for his integrity and bluntness.
During Emperor Daizong's reign
Sometime before 777, Cui Youfu became a Zhongshu Sheren (中書舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng). Later, as there was no Zhongshu Ling (中書令, head of the legislative bureau) or Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎, deputy head of the legislative bureau) at the time, Cui Youfu, as the senior Zhongshu Sheren effectively ran the legislative bureau. After Chang Gun became chancellor in 777, however, Chang, pointing out that his responsibility as chancellor included responsibility to oversee the legislative bureau as well, took over the responsibilities from Cui and removed Cui's desk, drawing Cui's resentment. Chang tried to defuse it by putting Cui in charge of selecting officials at the ministry of civil service affairs, but they often ran into disputes as to which officials to select. In 778, there was an incident when the general Zhu Ci submitted what he thought to be a sign of fortune — a mouse living peacefully with a cat and her kittens. Chang considered this a sign of fortune and congratulated Emperor Daizong, but Cui, argued that this was against the cat's nature and was a sign that officials were not carrying out their responsibilities. Emperor Daizong agreed, but this agreement further drew anger from Chang.
During Emperor Dezong's reign
Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Dezong. During Emperor Daizong's mourning period, Chang Gun and Cui Youfu got into a serious conflict over how many days the officials should wear mourning clothes. Chang advocated that because, by custom, Emperor Dezong was to wear mourning clothes for 27 days, so should the officials. Cui advocated that, because Emperor Daizong's will specified three days, the officials should wear the mourning clothes for three days. Chang got sufficiently angry over the argument that he submitted an accusation against Cui, stating that Cui had frivolously changed the proper regulation of the rites and requesting that Cui be demoted to be the prefect of Chao Prefecture (潮州, in modern Chaozhou, Guangdong). Emperor Dezong, believing the demotion to be too severe, only ordered that Cui be demoted to be the deputy mayor of Henan Municipality (河南), encompassing the eastern capital Luoyang.