Cui Renshi (c. 580s–650s) was a Chinese official of the Tang dynasty who briefly served as a chancellor late in the reign of Emperor Taizong.
Early in the reign of Emperor Gaozu (r. 618–626), the founder of the Tang dynasty, Cui Renshi passed an imperial examination and was made the military advisor to the prefect of Guan Prefecture (管州, part of modern Zhengzhou, Henan).
In 627, there was an alleged treasonous plot that occurred in Qing Prefecture (青州, roughly modern Qingzhou, Shandong), and Cui was sent to investigate.
After he returned to the capital Chang'an, Emperor Taizong sent an imperial messenger to Qing Prefecture to carry out the executions, and the assistant chief judge at the supreme court, Sun Fuqie (孫伏伽), who was friendly with him, warned him that if he released too many people, he might be accused by those sentenced to death of unfairness.
Cui responded, "I have heard that an official in charge of criminal law should be kind and forgiving, and therefore, even if he were going to execute people or cut off their feet, he needed to do so with respect.
At a later point, when Cui served as assistant minister of census, there was a time when he was reporting a number of expenditures—more than 1,000 items—to Emperor Taizong, and he recited them without having his books with him.
Emperor Taizong found this odd and unbelievable, and he had the assistant head of the examination bureau of government, Du Zhenglun, fetch the books, and then had Cui re-recite his expenditures.
Cui, however, disapproved of Wang's commentaries, finding them to rely on unreliable interpretations, and so he wrote a submission rejecting Xu's and Li Xiaogong's suggestions.
At that time, the ministry of justice had submitted a proposal to increase the penalty for brothers of treasonous individuals, from removal from official posts to death.
During the preparations for Emperor Taizong's campaign against Goguryeo in 644, Wei Ting (韋挺) the minister of imperial shrines was made in charge of shipping troop supplies over the Bohai Sea, and Cui assisted him; Cui also had the additional responsibilities of shipping troop supplies in the Henan region.