Pei Yan
Little is known about Qian Weidao's career before his first stint as chancellor, as, atypical for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the "Old Book of Tang" or the "New Book of Tang". It is, however, known that his family was from Jincheng (金城, in modern Lanzhou, Gansu). As of 684, he was serving as imperial censor reviewing central government affairs (左肅政大夫), when he and his subordinate, Yu Chengye (魚承曄), was put in charge by Emperor Ruizong's powerful mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) of investigating and interrogating the chancellor Pei Yan after accusations of treason, as Pei had angered her by suggesting that she return imperial authority to Emperor Ruizong. Many officials spoke on Pei's behalf, but Empress Dowager Wu reacted by arresting and demoting them, while promoting Qian and an official who had testified that Pei had committed treason, Li Jingchen, to be chancellors—in Qian's case, with the designation "Tong Fengge Luantai Sanpin" (同鳳閣鸞臺三品), a greater designation than Li's "Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi" (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事) designation. She also made him acting "Neishi" (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, "Fengge") and a post considered one for a chancellor.