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Liang Chu

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Liang Chu
梁儲
Senior Grand Secretary
In office
1515–1517
MonarchZhengde
Preceded byYang Tinghe
Succeeded byYang Tinghe
Grand Secretary
In office
1510–1521
Serving with Fei Hong, Jin Gui, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, and Yang Yiqing
MonarchsZhengde
Jiajing
Chancellor of the Hanlin Academy
In office
1500–1509
MonarchZhengde
Personal details
Born8 August 1451
Died25 April 1527(1527-04-25) (aged 75)
Educationjinshi degree (1478)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese梁儲
Simplified Chinese梁储
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLiáng Chǔ

Liang Chu[a] (8 August 1451 – 25 April 1527) was a Chinese scholar-official during the Ming dynasty. During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor in the early 16th century, he held senior positions in the central government, including serving as a grand secretary from 1510 to 1521. From 1515 to 1517, he served as the senior grand secretary, the head of the Grand Secretariat. He was from the area around Guangzhou in southern China. In 1478, he passed the highest level of the imperial examination and obtained the jinshi degree. He subsequently served at the Hanlin Academy for two decades, becoming its chancellor in 1500.

Early life

[edit]

Liang Chu was born during China's Ming dynasty on 8 August 1451 in Shunde County,[1] located near Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province in southern China. He studied Confucian teachings and was a disciple of the Confucian philosopher Chen Xianzhang (also known as Chen Baisha), who lived in neighboring Xinhui County.[2]

In 1474, he successfully passed the provincial civil service examinations. Four years later, he passed the metropolitan and palace examinations in Beijing, the Ming capital, and obtained the jinshi degree. He distinguished himself by placing first in the metropolitan examinations and fourth in the palace examinations among the 350 successful candidates.[1]

Early career

[edit]

After passing the examinations, Liang Chu was appointed to the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor (shujishi). Two years later, he was promoted to junior compiler (bianxiu). From 1486 to 1487 and again from 1496 to 1505, he served as a tutor to the heir apparent—in the 1480s, the future Hongzhi Emperor (r. 1487–1505), and from 1496, the future Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–1521). He participated in the administration of the civil service examinations as an assistant chief examiner of the metropolitan examination in 1487 and as chief examiner of the provincial examinations in 1492 and 1501 in Beijing and in 1498 in Nanjing, as well as of the metropolitan examinations in 1508 and 1514. In 1498, he was sent to Đại Việt (present-day northern Vietnam) to confirm the accession of the new Viet ruler.[1]

At the Hanlin Academy, he gradually rose through the ranks, serving as a lecturer (shidu) and Hanlin academician (xueshi), and headed the academy from 1500. At the same time, he served as administrator of the heir apparent's household and as vice minister of personnel from 1503 to 1506. From 1507 to 1509, he held the title of minister of personnel, with responsibility for drafting imperial proclamations and edicts. In 1509, he was removed from his position as head of the academy and transferred to Nanjing, where he became minister of personnel.[1]

Grand Secretary

[edit]

During the early years of the Zhengde Emperor's reign, Liu Jin, one of the most powerful eunuchs in Ming history, seized control of the government.[3] Following the political changes after Liu Jin was deposed and executed in 1510, his ally, Grand Secretary Jiao Fang (焦芳), was also dismissed.[4][3] Liang Chu was summoned from Nanjing to fill the vacant position in the Grand Secretariat, and upon his appointment as grand secretary, he was also granted the titles of minister of personnel and junior preceptor.[1]

In the Grand Secretariat, Liang was subordinate to the Senior Grand Secretary Li Dongyang and, after Li's retirement in 1513, to Yang Tinghe.[1] He and Yang had both passed the metropolitan examination in 1478 and had served for many years at the Hanlin Academy.[5] His fellow grand secretaries were Fei Hong, Jin Gui (靳貴), Jiang Mian (蔣冕), Mao Ji (毛紀),[6] and Yang Yiqing.[7] In April 1515, Liang Chu took over leadership of the Grand Secretariat for two and a half years after Yang Tinghe resigned to mourn his deceased father. Yang returned as senior grand secretary in early December 1517, whereupon Liang Chu handed over the leadership of the Secretariat and continued to serve as an ordinary grand secretary.[8]

While Yang Tinghe was widely respected and popular as a statesman,[1][9] Liang was criticized for incompetence and nepotism.[5][10] A major case cited by his critics was that of his eldest son, Liang Cishu, a captain in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. In 1514, Liang Cishu was accused of murdering a rival with whom he was competing to acquire a large tract of land in their home region. A subsequent investigation found that he had had more than 200 people from thirty families killed in connection with the case. With the support of his colleagues in the Grand Secretariat and the Emperor's leniency, Liang Chu managed to have the punishment for these crimes reduced to mere transfer to the frontier troops.[10]

Politically, Liang Chu largely shared the conservative outlook of Yang Tinghe and his colleagues in the Grand Secretariat, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji.[9] Together, the grand secretaries opposed the Zhengde Emperor's approach to governance, for example protesting against his journeys to the northern frontier and his proposed journey to Nanjing. In August 1518, in protest against the Emperor's intention to leave Beijing, they even jointly requested permission to resign, but the Emperor rejected their resignations.[11] The Secretariat's stance toward the Emperor remained unchanged during Yang Tinghe's absence from 1515 to 1517, although Liang Chu was not as powerful or charismatic a politician as Yang. Recognizing this, he repeatedly asked the Emperor to allow Yang to return to office early.[12]

Liang Chu, however, was also a bitter rival of Yang Tinghe.[13] While Yang insisted on maintaining the ban on private foreign trade,[14] Liang favored a more liberal policy and in 1517 approved a proposal by the Guangdong provincial authorities to legalize maritime foreign trade.[15] In Guangdong, the provincial authorities had not prevented maritime trade conducted by foreign ships since the 1470s,[16] taxing such trade at a rate of 30 percent from 1509.[17] In 1514, Yang and Minister of Rites Liu Chun (劉春) secured a ban on this practice, and reiterated it in 1515, but the Guangdong authorities ignored the orders from Beijing.[18] The changes in policy were accompanied by personnel changes: after Liang Chu assumed leadership of the Grand Secretariat in 1515, several opponents of the legalization of foreign trade, including Liu Chun, were removed from office, while determined supporters of the opposite approach were appointed to leading positions in the Guangdong administration.[15]

In 1518, the Zhengde Emperor decided to appoint himself field marshal, despite the protests of Liang Chu and the other grand secretaries. In the following year, he proceeded south to suppress the Prince of Ning rebellion, overruling their objections even after receiving news that Wang Yangming, the governor of southern Jiangxi, had already defeated the rebels and captured the prince.[10] Liang Chu and Jiang Mian accompanied the Emperor as members of his entourage, while Yang Tinghe and Mao Ji remained in Beijing to oversee the government in the capital.[19] In September 1520, the two grand secretaries reportedly knelt and wept for hours before the palace gate in Nanjing, pleading with the Emperor to return to Beijing rather than continue farther south.[10]

In April 1521, the Zhengde Emperor died after falling ill following a boating accident while fishing in October 1520, on his return to the capital.[20] Yang Tinghe selected Zhu Houcong, the Zhengde Emperor's closest male relative, as his successor and, with the support of his colleagues in the Grand Secretariat, including Liang Chu, secured the backing of the leading imperial eunuchs. With their knowledge and the consent of Empress Dowager Zhang, the late emperor's mother, Yang, with the assistance of his colleagues, drafted two edicts: the Zhengde Emperor's will and a subsequent edict from the Empress Dowager. The Emperor's will designated Zhu Houcong as his successor, while the empress dowager's edict summoned Zhu Houcong to Beijing to ascend the throne.[21] Liang was one of the senior officials in the delegation that subsequently travelled to Anlu in Huguang, central China, where Zhu Houcong resided, to invite him to ascend the throne.[22] Zhu Houcong accepted the imperial title, travelled to Beijing, and formally ascended the throne as the Jiajing Emperor on 27 May 1521.[23]

Later life

[edit]

A few days after the Jiajing Emperor's accession to the throne, a group of censors accused Liang of incompetence and poor personnel administration. During the ensuing debate, it was suggested that the confiscation of Liang's property would yield an amount equivalent to half of the state's annual revenue. The seventy-year-old Liang responded to the accusations by requesting permission to resign from his offices, and the Emperor accepted his resignation.[10]

After leaving office, Liang Chu returned to his native region. He continued to enjoy the ruler's favor and received honors for his past services.[10] He died on 25 April 1527.[1]

After Liang Chu's death, Gui E, then vice minister of personnel and responsible for matters concerning posthumous honors and titles for deceased officials, argued that Liang did not deserve such honors. He based his view on a series of critical assessments of Liang's personal conduct and official career by censors. The Emperor, however, regarded Liang as an outstanding statesman and posthumously bestowed upon him the name Wenkang (文康) and the title of grand preceptor.[10] At the same time, Huo Tao, a high-ranking official who was close to the Emperor and had placed first in the 1514 metropolitan examination, over which Liang had presided and was therefore indebted to him, compiled a biography of Liang. In it, he portrayed Liang favorably, through manipulation and distortion of events and facts, as a selfless statesman who had shown no interest in accumulating either silver or land. He also proposed the promotion of Liang Cishu.[24]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Huo Tao used the courtesy name Shuhou (叔厚) and the art name Houzhai (厚齋).[1]

References

[edit]

Citations

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Goodrich & Fang (1976), p. 894.
  2. ↑ Yao (2003), p. 24.
  3. 1 2 Fujitani (2026), p. 23.
  4. ↑ Throness (2024), pp. 66–67.
  5. 1 2 Throness (2024), p. 78.
  6. ↑ Fujitani (2026), pp. 23–24.
  7. ↑ Goodrich & Fang (1976), p. 1517.
  8. ↑ Throness (2024), pp. 81–83.
  9. 1 2 Throness (2024), p. 83.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Goodrich & Fang (1976), p. 895.
  11. ↑ Throness (2024), pp. 79, 87, 93.
  12. ↑ Throness (2024), p. 81.
  13. ↑ Fujitani (2026), p. 24.
  14. ↑ Fujitani (2026), pp. 35–37.
  15. 1 2 Fujitani (2026), p. 38.
  16. ↑ Fujitani (2026), p. 31.
  17. ↑ Fujitani (2026), p. 35.
  18. ↑ Fujitani (2026), pp. 36–37.
  19. ↑ Throness (2024), p. 112.
  20. ↑ Throness (2024), pp. 114–116.
  21. ↑ Throness (2024), pp. 118–121.
  22. ↑ Dardess (2016), p. 7.
  23. ↑ Goodrich & Fang (1976), p. 316.
  24. ↑ Goodrich & Fang (1976), p. 896.

Works cited

[edit]
  • Dardess, John W (2016). Four Seasons: A Ming Emperor and His Grand Secretaries in Sixteenth-Century China. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442265608.
  • Fujitani, James Masaki (2026). Strangers at the Heavenly Court: The 1517 Portuguese Embassy to China. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore. ISBN 978-981-95-2700-7.
  • Goodrich, L. Carington; Fang, Chaoying (1976). Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03801-1.
  • Throness, Aaron (2024). Yang Tinghe: A Political Life in the Mid-Ming Court. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-68237-5.
  • Yao, Xinzhong (2003). The Encyclopedia of Confucianism. Abington, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9781317793496.
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