Wu Youji (Chinese: 武攸暨) (died July 17, 712[1]), posthumous name Prince Zhongjian of Ding (定忠簡王), was an imperial prince of the Wu Zhou dynasty and an official of the Tang dynasty.
Empress Dowager Wu's only daughter Princess Taiping had been widowed since 688, when her husband Xue Shao (薛紹) was executed for participating in the rebellion of her cousin Li Chong, the Prince of Langye, against Empress Dowager Wu's authority.
An exception was in 699, when Wu Zetian, in fear that after her death that her son Li Xian the Crown Prince (formerly emperor after Emperor Gaozong's death in 683 but who was quickly removed by her for disobedience in 684 in favor of Emperor Ruizong) and the Wu clan princes would not be able to coexist peacefully, had Li Xian, Li Dan (the former Emperor Ruizong), Princess Taiping, Wu Youji, and the other Wu clan princes swear an oath to each other and read the oaths to the gods.
In 705, a coup led by the officials Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Jing Hui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji killed Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, overthrew Wu Zetian, and restored Li Xian to the throne (as Emperor Zhongzong).
Emperor Zhongzong, believing that 16 officials, including Wu Youji, Wu Sansi, and the officials who actually carried out the coup, were contributors to his reign, granted them iron certificates that were supposed to guarantee that, except for treason, they would be pardoned from death 10 times.
In 710, Emperor Zhongzong suddenly died — a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by his wife Empress Wei and daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, as Empress Wei wanted to be emperor and Li Guo'er wanted to be crown princess.
After the coup, many Wu clan members who had supported Empress Wei were killed, and the survivors had their ranks reduced.
Emperor Xuanzong, suspecting Princess Taiping to be plotting to overthrow him, acted against her first, and, after he killed a number of her associates, he forced her to commit suicide.