Zu Xiaosun was a Chinese temperament expert of Sui

Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....

 and Tang

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

 period. During the Kaihuang period (581 - 600) he was appointed as Xielülang (协律郎), joined the melodizing of ritual music, and received orders to learn the Jingfang Temperament (京房律法) from Mao Shuang (毛爽). After the founding of Tang Dynasty, Zu served as zhuzuolang (著作郎), libulang (吏部郎) and taichangshaoqing (太常少卿).

From 626 to 628, Zu composed music for Emperor Gaozu of Tang

Emperor Gaozu of Tang

Emperor Gāozǔ of Táng , born Lǐ Yuān , courtesy name Shūdé , was the founder of the Tang Dynasty of China, and the first emperor of this dynasty from 618 to 626. Under the Sui dynasty, Li Yuan was the governor in the area of modern-day Shanxi, and was based in Taiyuan.In 615, Li Yuan was assigned...

. Zu cooperated with Zhang Wenshou (张文收), solved the problem of turning (调律) and change of keys of twelve temperament (十二律旋宫).

All Zu's works about music temperament had already been lost, only some summaries of his theory were recorded by Annals of Music (《音乐志》) and Annals of Rites and Nusic (《礼乐志》).