Tao Xie

Life

He took first place in the provincial examination (鄉試), becoming jieyuan; the next year, in 1496, he passed the jinshi examination of the bingchen (丙辰) cycle, ranking 165th in the third class. He was then made a bachelor (庶吉士) of the Hanlin Academy and appointed supervising secretary of the Ministry of Works (工科給事中); he later served as right supervising secretary (工部右給事中).

In the first year of the Zhengde reign (1506) he memorialized for the punishment of Liu Jin and was imprisoned for it, but was released; he afterwards supervised frontier stores and, the seal-holder's post being vacant, served as acting chief supervising secretary (署工科都給事中). Liu Jin then had him impeached: he was sent to the imperial prison, stripped of office and listed among the treacherous faction; on the charge of failing to report a cloth shortage found in his inspection of the ten treasuries, he was flogged before the palace gates and exiled to Suzhou (肅州). He was released and sent home only after Liu Jin's execution.

In 1522, the first year of the Jiajing reign, he was restored to office, serving as right supervising secretary of the Ministry of Works; he then became assistant commissioner of Jiangxi and in 1524 vice-commissioner of Henan in charge of river affairs, going on to serve as right counsellor, right administration commissioner and left administration commissioner of Henan. In 1531 he was promoted to right assistant censor-in-chief of the Censorate, with command of the military affairs of Nan'gan; from 1532 to 1534 he held the offices of left assistant censor-in-chief and left vice-minister of War while exercising general command of military affairs (總督軍務).

From 1539 to 1541 he was right vice-minister of War and governor-general of the Two Guangs, where he helped repel the sea raiders Chen Bangrui and Xu Zhegui. He left office on the death of his mother and, after mourning, was again appointed left vice-minister of War. When a fire destroyed the imperial ancestral temples (九廟), he asked to retire and returned home. He died in 1546 at the age of seventy-three, and was granted the posthumous office of Minister of War and the posthumous name Zhuangmin (莊敏). After his death Lü Ben composed his tomb epitaph and Yan Song his spirit-path stele (神道碑).

Works

He wrote the Nanchuan gao (南川稿) in twelve juan, the Lanzhu yigao (蘭渚遺稿) in one juan, and the Tao Zhuangmin ji (陶莊敏集); a collection titled Nanchuan manyou gao (南川漫游稿) is also recorded.

Family and Associates

His great-grandfather was Tao Shicheng, his grandfather Tao Shou and his father Tao Zao; his mother was of the Zhang family. His elder brothers included Tao Jian, Tao Yi, Tao Zi, Tao Pu and Tao E, and his younger brothers Tao Cheng and Tao Ne; he married a woman of the Shen family. His grandsons were Tao Dashun (1525–1597) and Tao Dalin (1527–1574), and his great-grandson was Tao Yunzhen.

Zhan Ruoshui wrote an academy record (學記) for him, Tian Rucheng a preface to his collected writings, and Guo Weifan sent him poems and prose.