Zong Qinke (宗秦客) (died 691?) was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign. Among other things, he is particularly noted for his role in developing certain innovative Chinese characters of Empress Wu; that is, as part of Wu Zetian's acquisition and consolidation of power by means of literature and religious practices, Zong Qinke worked on developing modified characters to replace the regular forms of characters with particular symbolic importance with newly invented characters intended to support this process, such as the characters for her personal name (Zhao) and the characters for "Heaven" (tian) and "Earth" (dì).

It is not known when Zong Qinke was born, but it is known that he was from Hedong (河东, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), and that his mother was a cousin of Wu Zetian's. As of 689, when Wu Zetian was empress dowager and regent over her son Emperor Ruizong, Zong was Fengge Shilang (凤阁侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government (凤阁, Fengge), and he submitted 12 new characters to substitute for common characters such as Tian (天, heaven) and Di (地, earth). Around the new year 690, she adopted and promulgated the new characters, which were used until at least 705.

Later in 690, Empress Dowager Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, establishing Zhou as its "emperor" and interrupting Tang. She made Zong acting Neishi (内史) -- the head of the legislative bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor. About a month later, however, on September 28, 690, Zong was accused of corruption, and his younger brother Zong Chuke was accused of rape and corruption as well. Wu Zetian stripped Zong Qinke of his chancellor authorities and demoted him to be the sheriff of Zunhua County (遵化, in modern Qinzhou, Guangxi), and Zong Chuke and another brother, Zong Jinqing (宗晋卿), were also exiled to the same region. Zong Qinke died about a year after his exile.

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宗秦客（？ - 691年），唐朝河东（今山西省运城市）人，在武则天在位期间，690年担任宰相（内史）。

宗秦客的母亲是武则天的堂姐，外祖母诸葛芬是武则天三叔武士逸的侧室。宗秦客主持《圣母神皇实录》。689年，在武则天的授意下，时任凤阁侍郎（中书侍郎）的宗秦客，制作了12个新字，包括「照」、「天」、「地」、「日」、「月」、「星」、「君」、「臣」、「载」、「初」、「年」、「正」，即所谓则天文字。在690年—705年的武周王朝使用。690年九月十二，武则天迫使儿子唐睿宗退位，自称圣神皇帝，建立武周，以凤阁侍郎宗秦客检校内史，宗秦客私下请武则天改换朝代，所以首先任内史（中书令）。十月廿一，宗秦客因贪赃获罪，贬为遵化县尉，他弟弟宗楚客、宗晋卿被流放岭外。一年后宗秦客死在流放地。