Zhai Luan

Life

His great-grandfather was Zhai Jisheng (翟吉勝), his grandfather Zhai Shun (翟順) and his father Zhai Xuan (翟瑄); he had an elder brother, Zhai Kuang (翟鑛), and a younger brother, Zhai Pu (翟鏷). He married a woman of the Cai family (蔡氏); his birth mother was of the Huang family (黃氏), and his father's principal wife of the Guo family (郭氏). Because his great-grandfather had served as a corporal (校尉) in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhai Luan registered his household in Shuntian Prefecture (順天府).

He was a licentiate (庠生) before passing the Shuntian provincial examination as a juren in 1498, and in 1505 he passed the imperial examinations as a jinshi, ranking tenth in the second class, and was chosen as a bachelor (庶吉士) of the Hanlin Academy. Early in the Zhengde reign he was appointed a compiler (編修) of the Hanlin Academy; when the eunuch Liu Jin (劉瑾) was in power, Hanlin officials were transferred to the ministries, and Zhai Luan became a secretary (主事) in the Sichuan bureau of the Ministry of Justice, but he was soon restored to the Hanlin Academy and rose to reader (侍讀學士). In the same period he served as an editor of court compilations (纂修官) and as an officer in charge of sealing papers at the palace examination (殿試彌封官), and twice, in 1511 and 1514, as an associate examiner at the metropolitan examination.

In 1522 he was appointed a lecturer for the imperial seminar (經筵日講官) and served as a provincial examination officer; in 1525 he again served as a provincial examination officer and was promoted to academician (學士) of the Hanlin Academy. During the Jiajing reign he rose to junior vice minister of Rites (禮部右侍郎), and in 1527 entered the Grand Secretariat as junior vice minister of Personnel (吏部左侍郎) concurrently with the Hanlin Academy. Yang Yiqing (楊一清) thought his reputation too slight and proposed Wu Yipeng (吳一鵬) and Luo Qinshun (羅欽順), but the Jiajing Emperor refused and kept him as junior vice minister of Personnel; he was later promoted to minister of Rites concurrently Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion (文淵閣大學士), and was granted the silver seal "Qingjin xueshi" (清謹學士).

In 1529 he served as chief compiler (總裁官); he also served as general supervising editor of the collected imperial writings, of the Shengxue xinfa and of the compendia of the Four Books, Five Classics and Xingli daquan, and he acted four times as a reader of palace examination papers (殿試讀卷官), in 1529, 1532, 1541 and 1544. After retiring for mourning for a parent he was long not recalled, and he then allied himself with Xia Yan (夏言). In 1539, on the recommendation of Xia Yan and others, he was sent as commissioner for a frontier inspection (行邊使) and was made minister of War concurrently right censor-in-chief (右都御史), with the title of junior guardian of the heir apparent (太子少保); having accepted lavish gifts from frontier officers, he returned and bribed powerful men, and so re-entered the Grand Secretariat, where he accumulated the titles of junior guardian (少保), grand guardian of the heir apparent (太子太傅) and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall (武英殿大學士).

In 1542, after Xia Yan was dismissed, Zhai Luan became senior Grand Secretary in his place, advancing to junior tutor (少傅) and Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall (謹身殿大學士). He served as senior Grand Secretary on three occasions, and while in office was on bad terms with Yan Song (嚴嵩). In 1544 the Jiachen examination scandal broke: his sons Zhai Ruxiao (翟汝孝) and Zhai Rujian (翟汝儉) were guilty of fraud in the examinations, and Zhai Luan, impeached by Yan Song, was stripped of his offices and reduced to commoner status, with Yan Song succeeding him as senior Grand Secretary. After Emperor Muzong (the Longqing Emperor) came to the throne, his offices were restored and he was granted the posthumous name Wenyi (文懿).

Family and associates

His son was Zhai Ruzhong (翟汝忠) and his grandson Zhai Sizhen (翟思禎). He wrote epitaphs for Yao Mo (姚鏌) and Yang Zhixue (楊志學) and a spirit-path stele inscription for Hu Zan (胡瓚); his own spirit-path stele was written by Yan Song and his conduct record (行狀) by Xu Chengming (許成名). Wang Shouren (王守仁) also wrote to him, one letter dating from 1528.