Liu Yizhi (劉禕之; 631 – June 22, 687[1]), courtesy name Ximei (希美), was a Chinese politician of the Tang dynasty, serving as chancellor during the first reign of Emperor Ruizong.
Liu Yizhi himself was said to be literarily talented, and his reputation was compared to contemporaries Meng Lizhen (孟利貞), Gao Zhizhou, and Guo Zhengyi.
During Emperor Gaozong's Shangyuan 上元 era (674–676), Liu Yizhi was made an imperial chronicler, and a scholar at Hongwen Pavilion (弘文館).
He and several colleagues also known for literary talent—Yuan Wanqing (元萬頃), Fan Lübing, Miao Chuke (苗楚客), Zhou Simao (周思茂), and Han Chubin (韓楚賓)—were asked to serve as advisors to Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), and they wrote a number of works on her behalf, including the Biographies of Notable Women (列女傳), Guidelines for Imperial Subjects (臣軌), and New Teachings for Official Staff Members (百僚新誡).
Liu was involved in the planning for this, and he was, in return, given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin (同中書門下三品), making him a chancellor de facto.
He had secretly told his subordinate Jia Dayin (賈大隱), "Given that the Empress Dowager had deposed an incompetent emperor and replaced him with an intelligent one, why does she still need to serve as regent?
As a result, false accusations were made that Liu had received bribes from the Khitan chieftain Sun Wanrong, and that he had carried out an adulterous relationship with the concubine of the deceased chancellor Xu Jingzong.
Empress Dowager Wu ordered Wang Benli the prefect of Su Prefecture (肅州, roughly modern Jiuquan, Gansu) investigate this.
After his death, everyone who read the submission was deeply touched, and junior officials Guo Han (郭翰) and Zhou Sijun (周思均) particularly were complimentary of the writing—displeasing Empress Dowager Wu so much that she exiled both of them.
After Emperor Ruizong returned to the throne in 710, he remembered Liu, and he posthumously honored him as Zhongshu Ling (中書令, head of the legislative bureau).