Lu Jingchu was born in 665, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. His father Lu Yuanfang would eventually serve as chancellor twice during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian. It was said that in his youth, Lu Jingchu was both capable and modest, and after he passed the imperial examinations, was made an officer at Yang Prefecture (揚州, roughly modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu). After his term was complete, he was set to be promoted. At that time, both Ji Xu and his father Lu Yuanfang were deputy ministers of civil service affairs in charge of selecting officials. Ji selected Lu Jingchu to be the sheriff of Luoyang County—not formally a particularly highly placed post but in actuality a highly regarded one, as Luoyang was the capital at the time—and Lu Yuanfang, out of modesty, initially tried to decline on Lu Jingchu's behalf. Ji responded, "It is fair to select officials who are capable. Lu Jingchu is capable and elegant, and common people cannot compare to him. I am not recommending him out of the fact that he is the son of a deputy minister of civil service affairs." Ji went ahead with the recommendation, and Lu Jingchu was made the sheriff of Luoyang County.As Ji Xu served as deputy minister of civil service affairs from 699 to 700, this must have happened during that duration. See Old Book of Tang, vol. 186, part 1 and New Book of Tang, vol. 117 . Lu Jingchu later served as an imperial censor, and then Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng).
