Jiang Bao

Family and education

His father was 姜金, his grandfather 姜昕, and his great-grandfather 姜深; his mother was Lady Kong, and his stepmother was Lady Jin. His elder brothers were 姜憲 and 姜宷, and his younger brothers were 姜寅 and 姜宋; his wife was Lady Liu, followed by a second wife, Lady He.

He held shengyuan status, placed sixty-ninth in the Yingtian prefectural examination, and became a juren. In 1553, the thirty-second year of the Jiajing reign, he passed the Guichou examination as a jinshi in the second class, ranked forty-ninth.

Official career

After passing the examination, he entered the Hanlin Academy as a shujishi and took mourning leave; he resumed office in the sixth month of the thirty-sixth Jiajing year, was appointed a compiler, and in the fifth month of the thirty-ninth year was promoted to Sichuan Educational Commissioner. He later served as Junior Vice Minister of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Sacrifices and, in the third month of the forty-fifth Jiajing year (1566), became Right Vice Commissioner of Transmission overseeing the transcription of edicts.

In the third month of the second Longqing year (1568), he was promoted to Libationer of the Nanjing Imperial Academy. During his tenure, he abolished admission by grain payment, restored the points system to cultivate talent, and required the sons of gong, hou, and bo nobles, as well as juren, to study at the academy.

In the fourth Longqing year, he was impeached over Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, removing his eldest son in favor of a younger son, and was ordered to return home pending investigation; in the ninth month of the fifth year, the Nanjing legal authorities, acting on Grand Secretary Gao Gong’s instructions, dismissed him as a commoner on a charge of accepting bribes amounting to a thousand jin.

During the Wanli era, the bribery case was cleared; in the twelfth month of the eleventh year (1583), he was appointed Junior Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and superintendent of the Four Foreign Languages Hall. In the second month of the twelfth year he was promoted to Minister of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and in the sixth month to Right Vice Minister of Justice; in the second month of the fourteenth year he was transferred to Right Vice Minister of Personnel and promoted to Minister of Justice at Nanjing; in the fifth month of the fifteenth year he became Minister of Rites at Nanjing.

After repeatedly submitting memorials requesting retirement, he retired in the sixth month of the seventeenth Wanli year, being over seventy, and was given the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He died in 1593, and in the fifth month of the twenty-second year an imperial sacrificial service and burial were granted.

Scholarship and works

Jiang Bao was a scholar of the Spring and Autumn classic. His works include Zhouyi Buyi (《周易補疑》), Chunqiu Shiyi Quan Kao (《春秋事義全考》, sixteen juan), and Zizhi Dazheng Ji Gangmu (《資治大政記綱目》).