Zhao Yongxian

Life

His great-grandfather was Zhao Shi, his grandfather Zhao Pin, and his father Zhao Chengqian; his elder brothers were Zhao Mao, Zhao Xian, and Zhao Yu, and his younger brothers were Zhao Yongbin, Zhao Yonggui, and Zhao Yongzhen. His birth mother was Zhang, and his legal stepmother was Xiao; his wife was Zhang, with Tang and Chen recorded as later wives. His son was Zhao Longmei, and his grandson was Zhao Shichun (1599–1675).

At the Wuwu Yingtian Prefecture provincial examination, he ranked 82nd among the successful candidates; in 1571, the fifth year of the Longqing reign, he ranked 25th in the Xinsi metropolitan examination and passed as a Presented Scholar in the third class, 28th place. Selected as a shujishi, he was appointed a Hanlin Academy compiler at the beginning of the Wanli reign (1573).

While serving as a compiler, he submitted a memorial criticizing Zhang Juzheng for seeking to remain in office during mourning for his father; he was beaten at court with Wu Zhongxing and other officials and struck from the registers. After Zhang's death, he was restored to his former post in the eleventh year of Wanli, promoted in the sixth month to Right Zanshan of the Right Spring Quarter (右春坊右贊善), concurrently a jian-tao, and appointed a Classics Banquet expositor in the eleventh month. In the thirteenth year he became 司經局洗馬兼翰林院修撰 and a compiler of the Da Ming Huidian; in the fourteenth he again served as a Classics Banquet expositor and advanced to 太子右庶子.

In the fifteenth year he was promoted to jijiu of the Nanjing Directorate of the National University; in the seventeenth he became vice minister of rites at Nanjing. In the eighteenth year he became vice minister of rites concurrently with a Hanlin Academy reader; in the twentieth he became left vice minister, retained the concurrent appointment, and taught shujishi. In the twenty-first year he was transferred to left vice minister in the Ministry of Personnel, still concurrently a Hanlin Academy reader, and soon took leave to return home. He was also resented by Wang Xijue after his arguments over the enfeoffment of the three princes, while Shen Shixing and Xu Gu became hostile to him; he was forced into retirement by Wang Xijue. In the twenty-fourth year he died and received an imperial sacrifice and burial; in the early Tianqi reign he was posthumously granted the titles Grand Protector of the Heir Apparent and Minister of Rites, and the posthumous name Wenyi.

Literary activity and works

He recommended Wang Zhishi, Deng Yuanxi, and Liu Yuanqing, praising them for their moral cultivation and accumulated learning. He excelled in poetry and prose; with Wang Daoxing and others, he was known as one of the “Continuing Five,” and with Hu Yinglin and others, he was grouped among the “Final Five.” His works include Guochao dianzhang (《國朝典章》), San Wu wenxian zhi (《三吳文獻志》), Yingelu (《因革錄》), and Songshizhai ji (《松石齋集》); the second title also appears as 《三吾文獻志》, and the last is listed as a thirty-six-juan collection.