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Yang Yiqing

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Yang Yiqing
Minister of Revenue
In office
1510–1511
Preceded byLiu Ji
Succeeded bySun Jiao
Minister of Personnel
In office
1511–1515
Preceded byLiu Ji
Succeeded byLu Wan
Senior Grand Secretary
In office
1526–1526
Preceded byFei Hong
Succeeded byFei Hong
In office
1527–1529
Preceded byFei Hong
Succeeded byZhang Cong
Personal details
Born(1454-12-24)24 December 1454
Jingtai 12, 6th day of the 12th month
(景泰十二年十二月六日)
Died5 September 1530(1530-09-05) (aged 75)
Jiajing 9, 14th day of the 8th month
(嘉靖九年八月十四日)
NationalityChinese

Yang Yiqing (simplified Chinese: 杨一清; traditional Chinese: 楊一清; pinyin: Yáng Yīqīng; Wade–Giles: Yang I-ch'ing; 24 December 1454 – 5 September 1530), courtesy name Yingning (應寧), pseudonym Sui'an (邃庵) or Shizong (石淙), was a Chinese scholar-official of the Ming dynasty.[1]

History

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Yang's ancestral home was located in Yunnan, Yiqing followed his father Jing to Yuezhou, since the latter moved to there in 1460. He was considered a child prodigy at the age of six, and given a privilege to enter the Hanlin Academy for studying. He passed the metropolitan examination of 1468, and the palace examination of 1472 later. He settled in Dantu, where his father was buried, in the next year. After his mourning, he served as a drafter in the Grand Secretariat since 1476, then assistant surveillance commissioner of Shanxi some year later. He was appointed as commissioner of education in Shaanxi, and had been conversant with the frontier affairs the eight-year term expired.[2]

Yang held the posts of vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, then minister of its counterpart in Nanjing successively. He became vice censor-in-chief and attended to Shaanxi to supervise imperial horse ranches. When Dayan Khan assaulted the frontier, Yang assumed the responsibility of the governor of Shaanxi. He submitted his suggestion to renovate the Great Wall around Ordos, which was approved later.

He was a colleague of Liu Jin. On the pretext of corruption, he was imprisoned until being rescued by and Wang Jin, but had to leave his job then.[2]

When the Prince of Anhua revolted in 1510, the Zhengde Emperor summoned Yang and delegated him to suppress the revolt with a eunuch Zhang Yong. He used the contradictions between Zhang and Liu to remove the latter. He was promoted to the minister of revenue in autumn of the year and gained the title of the junior protector of the heir apparent. Liu Jin was executed prior to his promotion. He was moved sideways, as the minister of Personnel several months later. He gained the title of the Junior Mentor in 1514. He took over as the Chief Grand Secretary, when Yang Tinghe was obliged to leave for mourning in 1515. He blamed the anomalies emerged recently to the incompetent administration in 1516, which annoyed officials Qian Ning and Jiang Bin who were satirized. They undermined Yang, thus the latter resigned returned to Dantu. Still, the emperor favored Yang, he stayed at Yang's home for two days, on his inspection to the southern.[2]

Yang was appointed as the supreme commander of the three frontiers of Shaanxi in 1525, which set a precedent for appointing the retired grand secretary as the frontier supreme commander. Prior to enthroning, the Jiajing Emperor had admired Yang, who endorsed Zhang Cong's actions in the Great Rites Controversy. Thus the latter gained the title of Junior Preceptor. Yang became the Chief Grand Secretary again in 1527. Suffered factional strifes, he left in later 1529. His titles and privilege were deprived, with Cong's accusation. Then he died in the autumn of 1530. The court restored his titles in 1548, besides, he was given the posthumous title "Wenxiang".[2]

Yang and Wang Shouren were close friends supposedly. Yang wrote the tombstone epitaph for Wang's father and endeavored to free imprisoned Wang, meanwhile Wang prefaced for Yang's collection, he also felt compassion when Yang was marginalized in the reign of Jiajing.[3]

References

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  1. ^ 中国历史大辞典·明史卷 [The Great Encyclopaedia of Chinese history, Volume on History of Ming] (in Chinese). Shanghai Cishu Press. 1995. p. 207. ISBN 9787532603008.
  2. ^ a b c d Goodrich, Fang, Luther Carrington, Chaoying (1976). Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Columbia University Press. pp. 570–576. ISBN 0-231-03801-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Zhao, Xianhai (2010). "楊一清的政治生涯:嘉靖初年在野正德舊臣與「大禮議」關係" [The Political Career of Yang Yiqing: A Study on the Relations between the Zhengde Emperor Regin Grand Secretarist Officials and Their Shizong Reign Counterparts Involved in the "Great Rites Controversy" during the Early Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty]. Journal of Chinese Studies (in Chinese). 50: 105–127.