Jiājìng yǐlái shǒufǔ zhuàn 嘉靖以來首輔傳
Biographies of the Chief Grand Secretaries from the Jiā-jìng Period Onwards by 王世貞 (撰)
About the work
An eight-juàn collective biography of the Míng shǒufǔ 首輔 (chief Grand Secretaries) of the Shìzōng 世宗 (Jiājìng), Mùzōng 穆宗 (Lóngqìng), and Shénzōng 神宗 (Wànlì) reigns, by Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞 (zì Yuánměi 元美, hào Fèngzhōu 鳳洲 / Yánzhōu 弇州, 1526–1590), the leading mid-late-Míng historian-literary critic, member of the Hòu qīzǐ (Latter Seven Masters). The work begins with Yáng Tínghé 楊廷和 (the Zhèngdé-end shǒufǔ who managed the Jiājìng accession crisis) — though Yáng strictly speaking pre-dates the Jiājìng reign, the title is understood as YángTínghé and onwards — and ends with Shēn Shíxíng 申時行 (Wànlì shǒufǔ 1583–1591). The work is structured around the named shǒufǔ, with their colleagues’ affairs woven into each chapter as appropriate. The peculiar institutional argument of the work, set out in Wáng’s preface, is that the shǒufǔ office crystallized into political importance only from Jiājìng on, when the Nèigé (Inner Cabinet) was first given concentrated power and the shǒufǔ (head Grand Secretary) became the de facto chief minister. Wáng is explicit that the bǎiguān biǎo (table of officials) of his Yǎnshāntáng biéjí 弇山堂別集 already tracks the géchén by year; the present work goes deeper into the qízhòng (relative weight) of each.
Tiyao
Jiājìng yǐlái shǒufǔ zhuàn in eight juàn, by Wáng Shìzhēn of the Míng. Shìzhēn made historical scholarship his vocation and produced much; his Yǎnshāntáng biéjí and other works are listed elsewhere. This compilation records the affairs of the Cabinet ministers of the Shìzōng, Mùzōng, and Shénzōng reigns. Examination: from the time Tàizǔ abolished the chancellorship and divided its powers among the Six Ministries, until Chéngzǔ first commanded scholarly officials to enter the Wényuāngé and participate in confidential affairs — they were called géchén but did not bear the chancellor title. Later, with the rise of yǎnxìng (eunuch favouritism) interfering in government, géchén were largely figureheads; only from Jiājìng on was real authority entrusted to the Nèigé, and the man at its head took on a particular charge — hence the rise of the title shǒufǔ. From this time on, the gain or loss of governance often rested on the shǒufǔ; therefore Shìzhēn made this book, beginning with Jiājìng to show the gradual growth of the institution. The general preface speaks of “the lineage and weight of the Cabinet ministers’ beginnings and ends, already given in the year-table” — i.e., the bǎiguān biǎo of the Yǎnshāntáng biéjí. The book runs from Yáng Tínghé to Shēn Shíxíng, with each chief at the head and his colleagues attached. On the rights and wrongs of contemporary government and on the rise and fall of the various ministers, the order is detailed and largely follows historical method. Shìzhēn was from the same county as Wáng Xījué 王錫爵; Xījué’s family had falsely circulated a story that his daughter had achieved the Way and become an immortal; Shìzhēn took it for fact and wrote a biography. When Xījué was impeached, some included Shìzhēn in the indictment; Shìzhēn, in writing this book, recorded the immortal-girl story as if true — this can only be called fanciful. The rest of his account, however, is largely accurate and may be set alongside the regular history for verification. Reverently presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Chief Editors: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Jiājìng yǐlái shǒufǔ zhuàn is the principal mid-Míng documentary source for the careers of the Nèigé shǒufǔ of the central Míng — including such figures as Yán Sōng 嚴嵩, Xú Jiē 徐階, Gāo Gǒng 高拱, Zhāng Jūzhèng 張居正, and the others whose Cabinet politics defined sixteenth-century Míng governance. Wáng Shìzhēn (CBDB id 34717, 1526–1590) was uniquely placed to write the work: a Wàn-lì-period official who had personally known many of the shǒufǔ, with access to court records and private correspondence; a leading historian (his Yǎnshāntáng biéjí is one of the principal mid-Míng historiographical works); and a major literary critic. The work was probably begun in his late 1570s retirement and completed shortly before his death in 1590; date bracket here 1580–1590. The Wáng Xījué xiānnǚ episode noted by the Sìkù editors is a real Wànlì-period scandal and reflects the partisan tensions of late-Míng court life. The work has remained one of the foundational sources for late-Míng Cabinet historiography.
Translations and research
- Charles O. Hucker, The Censorial System of Ming China (Stanford UP, 1966), uses the work for Wàn-lì-period prosopography.
- Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (Yale UP, 1981), draws on the work for the Zhāng Jū-zhèng / Shēn Shí-xíng transition.
- Tilemann Grimm, “Ming Historians and the Ming-Qing Transition,” in Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed., The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism (Columbia UP, 1975).
- The Sì-kù tíyào notice is in 史部·傳記類三·總錄之屬.
Other points of interest
The institutional argument of Wáng’s preface — that the shǒufǔ crystallized as a real office only from the Jiājìng — has been accepted by modern Míng scholarship and shapes the standard chronology of the Cabinet’s evolution.
Links
- Wilkinson 2018, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.
- CBDB person id 34717 (Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞).