Qiao Yu

Life and career

His father was Qiao Feng. Qiao Yu studied under Yang Yiqing and later followed Li Dongyang.

One account states that at age seventeen he passed the Shuntian provincial examination in the gengzi year of the Chenghua era (1480); in the jiachen examination of the twentieth year of Chenghua (1484), he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Rites. At the beginning of the Hongzhi era he entered the Ministry of Personnel, serving successively as secretary of the Office of Personnel Selection (文選司主事), vice director and director of the Office of Merit Evaluation (考功司員外郎、考功司郎中), and junior vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (太常寺少卿); after the accession of the Zhengde emperor, he became minister of the Court of State Ceremonials (光祿寺卿) and served successively as right and left vice minister of Revenue. While serving in the Ministry of Personnel, he overcame opposition to recommend Ying Dayou for a vacant post in the Office of Personnel Selection.

In the sixth year of Zhengde (1511), he became Minister of Rites in Nanjing; in the tenth year (1515), he was transferred to be Minister of War in Nanjing and served as Councillor in Military Affairs. In the sixteenth year (1521), he was summoned as Minister of Personnel, appointed Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and later promoted to Junior Guardian for his achievements. While serving in Nanjing, he repeatedly memorialized against Wuzong’s tours.

When Zhu Chenhao rose in rebellion, he claimed that Nanjing would fall within days; Qiao Yu organized a rigorous defense, sent the commander Yang Rui to hold Anqing, discovered that the eunuch Liu Lang was in collusion with Zhu Chenhao, arrested Liu Lang, and executed more than three hundred infiltrators. Having lost his internal support and learned that Nanjing was prepared, Zhu Chenhao did not dare advance eastward; he was unable to take Anqing and was soon defeated. During Wuzong’s southern tour of Nanjing, Jiang Bin used a forged edict to demand goods, which Qiao Yu restrained; another account says that Jiang Bin intended to use a forged edict to eliminate Qiao Yu, but that the defending eunuch Wang Wei intervened and kept him safe.

After Shizong’s accession, Qiao Yu was summoned as Minister of Personnel, restored officials who had been dismissed by powerful favorites, and brought clarity to the administration of appointments; he was also described as politically incorruptible and opposed Shizong’s repeated rewards to imperial relatives. In the Great Rites Controversy, he opposed treating the emperor’s birth father as the Imperial Father and opposed appointing Xi Shu, Zhang Cong, and Gui E; this angered the emperor, and he sought retirement, while another account says that he was arrested and sent to the imperial prison, impeached, and then resigned. After the Minglun dadian was completed, the earlier dispute was reopened and Qiao Yu was stripped of office. At the beginning of the Longqing era, his offices and honors were restored, he was posthumously appointed Junior Preceptor, and he received the posthumous name Zhuangjian; one account gives his age at death as sixty-eight.

Writings and literary activity

His works include *Kemeng gao* (《克蒙稿》; also written 《克䝉槀》), *Baiyan ji* (《白巖集》), in twenty juan, and *Qiao Zhuangjian gong ji* (《喬莊簡公集》), in ten juan. His poetry initially imitated archaic models but later shed conventional diction, and his yuefu poems were vigorous; a critical remark ranked his seal script first among the Ming.

In his literary exchanges, he wrote prefaces for Xia Liangsheng and Wang Shizhen, tomb inscriptions for Xi Kui, Yu Jian, Xu Fu, and Qian Fu, and sacrificial texts for Han Wen, Li Dongyang, Zhou Jing, and Wang Yunfeng.