Lu Xie (盧攜) (died January 8, 881), courtesy name Zisheng (子升), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving two terms as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xizong. Traditional historians often blamed his blind trust in the general Gao Pian's ability to suppress Huang Chao's rebellion for the eventual fall of the Tang capital Chang'an to Huang and the subsequent disintegration of the Tang state. Background and early career It is not known when Lu Xie was born. His family claimed to be originally from Fanyang, but had settled at Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan) by Lu Xi's time, and his family was not otherwise traceable to the bloodlines of the other chancellors named Lu. His grandfather Lu Sun (盧損) was not listed with any offices in the table of the chancellors' family trees in the New Book of Tang, and while his biography in the Old Book of Tang referred to his father Lu Qiu (盧求) as having passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class, having served on regional governor staffs, and having served as a prefectural prefect, the table of the chancellors' family trees did not mention any of the titles. However, given that Lu Xie's mother was a daughter of the official Li Ao (李翱), it would appear likely that his father was, in fact, an official. Lu Xie himself passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class in 853, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong. He thereafter was made an assistant scholar at the Jixian Institute (集賢院), and subsequently served on regional governors' staffs. In the middle of the Xiantong era (860-874) of Emperor Xuānzong's son Emperor Yizong, he was recalled to the capital Chang'an to serve as You Shiyi (右拾遺), a low-level advisory official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng), and then an imperial censor with the title Dianzhong Shiyushi (殿中侍御史). He later went through positions at the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng), and then served as the magistrate of Chang'an County (i.e., one of the two counties making up Chang'an proper), then the prefect of Zheng Prefecture. He was later recalled to Chang'an to serve as a mid-level advisory official (諫議大夫, Jianyi Daifu). Early in the reign of Emperor Yizong's son Emperor Xizong, he was made an imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi) as well as Zhongshu Sheren (中書舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau.