Xiong Mingyu

Life

He passed the Jiangxi provincial examination in 1600 and took the jinshi degree in 1601, ranking 139th in the third class of the xinchou examination. In 1605 he became magistrate of Changxing in Zhejiang, and in 1615 he was promoted to supervising secretary of the Ministry of War, impeaching many officials and memorialising on the abuses of the day in the strongest terms. In 1616 the supervising secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Qi Shijiao, suspecting him of ties to the Donglin faction, memorialised against him and proposed that he be posted to the provinces; he then served as assistant surveillance commissioner in Fujian and as counsellor in Ningxia.

In 1621 he advanced from vice minister of the Seals Office to vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, and was soon promoted to right assistant censor-in-chief at Nanjing, where he took charge of river defence. In 1625 he was dismissed by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and, implicated in the Wang Wenyuan case, banished to Pingxi guard in Guizhou; one account states that he was denounced as a Donglin partisan and stripped of office and sent to the frontier.

In 1628, the first year of the Chongzhen reign, he was restored to office as right vice minister of War, rising to left vice minister the next year and then to minister of Justice at Nanjing; in 1631 he became minister of War. The following year, when Qing forces broke through the passes and the grand coordinator Shen Qi and the eunuch Wang Kun negotiated with them without authority, the impeachment brought by the supervising secretary Sun Sanjie led the Chongzhen emperor to remove him from office, and he soon retired with the title of minister of War. After long years in retirement he was again recommended for office and appointed minister of War at Nanjing and then minister of Works; he later returned home through illness and, after the fall of the Ming, lived in retirement without taking office. He had a son, Xiong Renlin (1614–1666), also recorded as Xiong Lin.

Literary associations

He wrote prefaces for works by Xu Shipu, Huang Ruheng, Fu Guan and Xu Xie, and biographies of Liu Lin, Xiong Ruda and Xiong Lian; he composed the epitaph of Wu Zhijia, the tomb inscription of Xiong Rui, the funerary account of Zeng Ruzhao and a temple stele record for Xie Xuelong. With Xie Xuelong, Cheng Jiming, Xiao Shiwei, Gao Hongtu and Pan Zengong he exchanged poems and other writings, and he corresponded with Sun Chengzong and Gao Panlong. He also wrote a colophon for a work by Diego de Pantoja.

Western learning and writings

During the Wanli era he had already come into contact with the Jesuits Diego de Pantoja (1571–1618), Manuel Dias (1574–1659) and Bi Fangji (畢方濟), and was in touch with Xu Guangqi; his knowledge of Western science was considerable. While serving in Fujian he displayed this learning to Fang Kongzhao and his son Fang Yizhi, and he joined the Fangs in climbing Mount Tailao for wide-ranging discussions of Western learning; he is counted among the representative figures in the transmission of Western learning eastward in the late Ming and early Qing. His Gezhi cao (格致草) and Zecao (則草) were important works introducing Western learning; the Zecao, printed in the last years of the Wanli era, was the first work on Western learning completed and published by a Chinese scholar.

He was also a skilled poet and writer, and enjoyed considerable fame in his time. His works include Nanshu ji (南樞集), Qingyu ji (青玉集), Gezhi cao (格致草), Lüyun lou ji (綠雲樓集) and Luojie chaji (羅岕茶記), as well as Wenzhi xingshu (文直行書) in 30 juan; Nanshu ji is also written Zhongshu ji (中樞集), Lüyun lou ji also appears as Lüxue lou ji (綠雪樓集) and Lüxue lou gao (綠雪樓稿), and Luojie chaji also as 羅界茶記. In 1778, the forty-third year of the Qianlong reign, Wenzhi xingshu and Lüxue lou ji were placed on the list of books to be banned and destroyed.