Yang Tinghe : : A Political Life in the Mid-Ming Court / / Aaron Throness.

• VerfasserIn: Throness, Aaron,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden : : BRILL,, 2023.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Sinica Leidensia Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (219 pages).

AbstractThis book is organized in five chapters. The first, which takes as its bookends the years 1459-1478, reconstructs Yang Tinghe's earliest years as a child in Sichuan, his rapid ascent through the civil service examinations, and his entry into the Ming bureaucracy. Yang was during these years a bright youth. His academic gifts and determination allowed him to vault from Si-chuan into the cynosure of Ming China, the cosmopolitan capital of Beijing; and even in the face of disappointment Yang persisted in his quest for a bu-reaucratic life. His tenacity yielded generous returns. In 1478 he joined the court as a jinshi while still a teenager, an exceptional achievement mirrored by only a handful of others throughout the Ming.The second chapter examines the three decades spanning 1478-1507. He spent these years serving in steadily higher academic posts. It was through his excellent work ethic and avoidance of open conflict that Yang was able to ascend the bureaucratic ranks. Gradually politics blended into academics as Yang inched closer and closer to the throne. The chapter thus delves into the projects that kept him and his brush occupied, the contacts he had with his many colleagues, and how he navigated the treacherous minefield of factional politics. Indeed, predators lurked in the darkened corridors of the court, and as Yang was fully aware, a single misstep could spell the end of one's career. Or worse.The third chapter explores Yang's entry into and subsequent career in the Grand Secretariat between 1507-1521. These were distressing years for Yang, both politically and emotionally. Despite serving first as grand secretary and then as chief, he found himself unable to implement his vision for good government owing to the aloofness of his emperor and the tyranny of his favorites. Yang suffered in this miasma, surviving, but just barely. The offi-cial's usual recourse to frustration - retirement from office - remained elu-sive as his requests for dismissal were time and again refused. Yang was too important an official to let go. Faced with these circumstances, all he could do was persist. The chapter concludes with his sudden emergence as leader of the court when the reigning emperor died without an heir. Through deci-sive leadership and close collaboration with fellow grand secretaries, eu-nuch staff, and the palace, Yang salvaged the sinking dynasty by appointing a young prince from the provinces as the Ming's next ruler. Thereafter he finally gave free rein to his vision for restorative Confucian government.The fourth chapter considers the zenith of Yang Tinghe's career as chief grand secretary between 1521 and 1524. Yang's power was unparalleled by all except the emperor he appointed (and, even then, the impressionable monarch was initially awed by him). For a time he was able to exercise this power: Yang instituted reforms, inspired renewed optimism in the court, and ousted those whose influence he considered inimical to both the state's and his interests. He established and relied on connections in the outer court and inner palace in his statecraft project - as powerful as he was, Yang understood the necessity and benefits of cooperation. On this we are af-forded, particularly in his memoirs, new insights into the mechanics of col-laboration in the Ming court as well as the contingent nature of Yang's power. While influential, it was often through the support and sanction of his colleagues that Yang was able to exercise his will. Still, political power was more often than not temporary. The prince-cum-emperor's growing insistence on ritually elevating his natural parents above his imperial pre-decessors, Yang's stubborn refusal to comply, and the appearance of a mi-nority opposition steadily eroded Yang's grip on power. In the spring of 1524 he had no other choice but to bow out of the political arena. Five years later in 1529 he died in disgrace, having been stripped of all honors for his role in the Great Ritual Controversy.The fifth and final chapter is concerned with Yang Tinghe's afterlives - that is, the ways in which he and his legacy continued to 'live' in the late imperial political scene and commentarial tradition. Indeed, Yang and his memory remained subjects of intense interest among his contemporaries and suc-cessors. In 1567 a great reversal in Beijing witnessed the rise to power of a new emperor and officials sympathetic to those who had suffered under the previous reign - this reversal of (mis)fortunes brought about Yang's re-demption. As the years faded into decades and the decades into centuries, Yang's memory inspired enthusiastic praise and, on the odd occasion, harsh condemnation. Overall, he was apotheosized as a paragon of perfect loyalty. The chapter concludes with my own assessment of Yang Tinghe.

Table of Contents

Family background and formative years, 1459-1478 -- Yang Tinghe's rise, 1478-1507 -- Turbulence in the Grand Secretariat, 1507-1521 -- From the heights to the depths, 1521-1529 -- The afterlives of Yang Tinghe, 1567-1781.