Yáng Tínghé 楊廷和 (1459–1529), zì Jièfū 介夫, hào Shízhāi 石齋, posthumous Wénzhōng 文忠, was the foremost Míng official of the Zhèngdé and early-Jiājìng transition (c. 1505–1524) and one of the most celebrated Senior Grand Secretaries of the dynasty. From Xīndū 新都 (modern Sìchuān), he passed the jìnshì in Chénghuà wùxū 成化戊戌 (1478, aged only 19) — the youngest jìnshì of his generation. He served the Zhèngdé court as Lǐbù shàngshū and Wényuāngé dàxuéshì, then as Senior Grand Secretary (Huágàidiàn dàxuéshì) from 1513 to 1524. Father of the great Jiājìng-period prose-stylist Yáng Shèn 楊慎 (1488–1559).
Yáng’s two great political acts were:
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The post-Wǔ-zōng succession (1521): on Wǔzōng’s death without an heir, Yáng — as Senior Grand Secretary in charge during the interregnum — orchestrated the selection of the cousin Zhū Hòucōng 朱厚熜 (the Jiājìng emperor) and personally drafted the yízhào 遺詔 (Wǔzōng’s posthumous edict) that announced thirty-two reforms in a single document, including the dissolution of Wǔzōng’s Tibetan-Buddhist establishments and the dismissal of the imperial-marriage favourites Qián Níng 錢寧 and Jiāng Bīn 江彬.
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The Great Ritual Controversy (Dàlǐ yì, 1521–24): Yáng led the senior officialdom in opposing the new Jiājìng emperor’s wish to elevate his biological father Zhū Yòuyuán 朱祐杬 (Xīngxiànwáng) to the Imperial Temple. Yáng resigned in 1524 in protest, refusing the emperor’s demand; his son Yáng Shèn was beaten and exiled to Yúnnán in the same year (the famous Zuǒshùnmén incident). Yáng died in 1529 still officially in disgrace but was rehabilitated under the Long-qìng emperor with the Wénzhōng posthumous title.
His memorials and political writings are preserved in the KR2f0022 Yáng Wénzhōng sānlù 楊文忠三錄 in 8 juàn (covering Zhèngdé and Jiājìng periods through 1523), with the Cíxiè lù 辭謝錄 in 4 juàn appended (resignation and gratitude memorials). Additional materials are in his collected works Yáng Wénzhōng gōng quánjí 楊文忠公全集. Míng shǐ j. 190 has his biography. CBDB id 68092 (1459–1529).