Wei Dazhong

Life

His father was Wei Bangzhi. He grew up in severe poverty: as a shengyuan, he was sometimes unable even to make a fire; the few-room house in a narrow lane leaked from above and was damp below, yet he remained composed. In his youth he cultivated learning and moral conduct, studied under Gao Panlong, and became a friend of Sun Qifeng. He was related by marriage to Zhou Shunchang and had three sons—Wei Xueyi (魏學洢), Wei Xueshu (魏學洙), and Wei Xuelian (魏學濂).

In the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign (1616), he passed the Bingchen jinshi examination, ranking thirteenth in the third class. He was first appointed an xingren in the Xingren Office (行人司行人), then served in the offices of Works, Rites, Revenue, and Personnel as a supervising secretary (給事中), eventually rising to chief supervising secretary of the Personnel Office (吏科都給事中).

Political career

An austere and resolute man, he impeached powerful men without sparing them. In the case of the Liaodong military defeat, he argued that Yang Hao and Xiong Tingbi should not receive a reduced punishment and disputed the issue with the minister of justice. In 1621 he memorialized that Yang Hao and others deserved the severest penalty; after Wei Zhongxian began to consolidate power, Dazhong submitted another memorial accusing him of factionalism and the cultivation of personal authority, for which Zhongxian responded with an imperial reprimand.

When Grand Secretary Wei Guangwei formed a private alliance with Wei Zhongxian, Dazhong impeached Guangwei as well. Guangwei then had Chen Jiuchou impeach him on another charge, and Dazhong was demoted by three ranks and sent out of the capital. When the post of Shanxi governor became vacant, Xie Yingxiang was put forward; because Xie had once been magistrate of Jiashan and had a teacher–student relationship with Dazhong, his enemies used the connection to impeach him, and he was demoted and sent home. While in office he accepted no gifts; his rooms remained bare, and his wife continued to weave plain cloth.

In 1625, Wei Zhongxian used a major case launched by the Eastern Depot to frame Dazhong with Liang Menghuan, Xu Xianchun, and others. A falsified imperial order sent him to the imperial prison on the accusation that he had accepted bribes from Yang Hao and Xiong Tingbi. Dazhong set out calmly. In prison he was beaten and tortured by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Xu Xianchun, interrogated every five days, and subjected to the full torture on each occasion; he was then falsely charged with embezzling 3,000 taels and died in prison.

At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign (1628), he was posthumously promoted to Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and given the posthumous name Zhongjie. His eldest son, Wei Xueyi, recovered his body and returned it home.

Writings

Remembered as a steadfast remonstrator, he also took an interest in literary pursuits. His Cangmi Studio Collection (藏密齋集) was a twenty-five-juan collection, and its ci poems are included in it.