Background
Pei Du was born in 765, during the reign of Emperor Daizong. His family was from Hedong (河東, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi) and traced its ancestry to a line of officials of Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty (265-420), Former Yan, Later Qin, and Northern Wei, although Pei Du's direct ancestors was not listed with governmental offices for several generations until his grandfather Pei Youlin (裴有鄰), who served as a county magistrate, and his father Pei Xu (裴漵) served as a county secretary general.
In 789, during the reign of Emperor Daizong's son Emperor Dezong, Pei Du passed the imperial examinations and the special examination for grand speech. He later further passed special examinations for those who could properly criticize the government. He was thereafter made the sheriff of Heyin County (河陰, in modern Luoyang, Henan), and thereafter was made an imperial censor with the title Jiancha Yushi (監察御史). At one point, he submitted a secret petition that criticized those who were powerful due to their associations with Emperor Dezong, and thus was sent out of the capital Chang'an to serve as an administrator at the Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region) government. He later became an imperial archiver (起居舍人, Qiju Sheren).
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