Huo Yuxia

Life

Huo Yuxia was the second son of 霍韜 (1487–1540), great-grandson of 霍厚 and grandson of 霍華. His elder brother was 霍與球; his younger brothers were 霍與珉, 霍與琦, 霍與瓔, 霍與璒, and 霍與瑺. His birth mother was 呂氏, 區氏 was his principal mother, 鄭氏 his stepmother, and his wife was 甘氏.

In 1559, the thirty-eighth year of the Jiajing era, he entered the jinshi ranks, placing 101st in the third class and being classified as a tong jinshi; he had ranked ninth in the Guangdong provincial examination. His first appointment was as magistrate of Cixi County in Zhejiang. Alongside Hai Rui, he was acclaimed in Zhejiang as one of the “Two Incorrupt Officials.”

Accounts differ over his dismissal: one says that, when Yan Maoqing toured the salt administration, Huo refused him the customary courtesies and was impeached and dismissed; another attributes it to pressure from censor Yuan Chun, after which he withdrew to Xiqiao. At the beginning of Longqing, court ministers recommended him for renewed service, and he returned to office.

By Longqing 2 (1568) he was magistrate of Yin; in Longqing 4 (1570) he became a qianshi in the Guangxi Provincial Surveillance Commission. He also served as 兵部職方司員外郎 and assistant director of the Nanjing Court of the Imperial Studs; in Wanli 3 (1575), he was a qianshi in Jiangxi. Accounts also differ over the endpoint of his career: one ends it with a Guangxi qianshi, while another describes service as the Jiangxi salt censor; the reason for leaving office is likewise given either as a disagreement with censor Zhang Jian that led to dismissal and a return home, or as retirement after slander.

Works and correspondence

He wrote the Mianzai ji (《勉齋集》), also given as 《霍勉齋集》; his poems are based on the third-year Daoguang printed edition, supplemented in the seventh year of the Xianfeng era, of volumes 2–9 of 《霍勉齋集》.

The correspondence associated with 《勉齋集》 includes letters sent to 趙貞吉, 顏鯨, 何維柏, 楊博, 曾同亨, 郭應聘, 譚綸, 翁大立, 吳桂芳, 王維楨, 徐養正, 張鹵, 陳萬言, 湛若水, 程文德, 趙焞, 潘高, 劉堯晦, and 劉經緯; it also includes a letter from 湛若水 and replies to 黃正色, 袁洪愈, 郭應聘, 譚綸, 殷正茂, 李材, 王畿, 朱東光, 周之屛, and 陳紹儒.