Zeng Jun

Life

Born on the twenty-fifth day of the intercalary ninth month, he studied the Classic of Poetry and, as a student of the Imperial Academy, passed the Jiangxi provincial examination in 54th place; the provincial rank is also given as 48th. At the age of forty-three, he passed the metropolitan examination in the eleventh year of the Jiajing era (1532), placing 48th in the session and fifteenth in the third class, and underwent observation in the Censorate.

He was appointed a court usher and promoted to a supervising secretary in the Nanjing Rites Section. In office, he successively impeached Liu Long, as well as the Duke of Yiguo Guo Xun, Minister of Rites Yan Song, Vice Minister of Works Jiang Gan, and Governor of Yansui Zhao Jin; his reputation for upright remonstrance resounded at the time. In the twenty-first year of the Jiajing era (1542), he became vice surveillance commissioner of Yunnan; in the twenty-fourth year (1545), he was promoted to right assistant administration commissioner of Sichuan and, after pacifying bandit disturbances in the Qian region, to left provincial administration commissioner of Henan.

In the thirty-first year of Jiajing (1552), he was appointed Right Vice Censor and placed in charge of the river works, overseeing construction of the long Gaojiayan embankment and other projects that relieved flooding in the Xu and Pi regions. In the twelfth month of the thirty-second year (1553), the canal works were completed; he was promoted to Vice Minister of Works and concurrently made Right Assistant Censor, while continuing in the same capacity, and administered the river works for four years. In the tenth month of the thirty-fourth year (1555), he entered service as Right Vice Minister of Justice in Nanjing; in the tenth month of the thirty-sixth year (1557), illness led him to request retirement. He lived at home for more than a decade and died on the twenty-second day of the second month in the fourth year of the Longqing era (1570). He was posthumously granted the title of Minister of Justice and the posthumous name Gongsu.

He also held the offices of supervising secretary of the Nanjing Personnel Section, Guangdong provincial surveillance commissioner, and right assistant and right provincial administration commissioner in Fujian.

Family

His great-grandfather was Zeng Yiru, his grandfather Zeng Youmian, his father Zeng Wenxian, and his mother Fu. His elder brothers were Zeng Tingkui, Zeng Ting'ao, Zeng Tingfan, Zeng Tingshi, and Zeng Tinggao; his wife was Fu. His sons were Zeng Yiwei, Zeng Yichu, and Zeng Yiming, and his grandsons were Zeng Yungong and Zeng Yunxing.

Works and associations

The Qianxi ji (前溪集) is attributed to him; Nanyuan jian cao (南垣諫草) and He dao zou shu (河道奏疏) are also associated with his name, but their authorship is unspecified. Zeng Jun composed a funerary inscription for Yang Cheng and wrote a preface to Xue Tianhua's genealogy; Wang Cai and Chen Ru sent him letters, while Jin Xueyan and Xue Tianhua presented him with poems and prose.