(b Fenyang, Shanxi Province, AD 649; d Wannian County, 713). Chinese calligrapher and scholar-official. Born into a family of high officials from north China, he rose to important positions at the courts of the usurping Empress Wu Zetian (reg AD 690-705) and Emperor Zhongzong (reg 705-10). After the second accession of Emperor Ruizong (reg 684-90, 710-12), he was made a scholar at the Zhaowen Academy and given various other royal appointments. When Emperor Xuanzong (reg 712-56) came to power, however, Xue became involved in the princess Taiping's plot to poison the new emperor and was forced to commit suicide.
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