Bao Jie (1506–1556) was a Ming official. His style name was Yuanda, his sobriquet Mengquan, and his birth-order designation was Jiu (ninth). Born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, he later moved to Huating in Songjiang; Huating is also given as his native place.
Life
Bao Jie lost his father at age five, and his mother, Yang, insisted on educating him; his grandfather, Bao Ding, had served as prefect of Chizhou, after which the family moved from Jiaxing to Huating. He studied diligently from childhood, and his younger brother Bao Xiao also passed the jinshi examination; his father was Bao Zhi and his great-grandfather Bao Jun.
He passed the Yingtian Prefecture provincial examination in 1528 as its twentieth-ranked juren; in 1532 he ranked 265th in the metropolitan examination and received the jinshi degree in the third class, 105th place.
After passing the jinshi examination, he was appointed judicial assessor of Dongchang Prefecture and was also placed under observation in the Ministry of Justice. He then entered the central administration as an investigating censor; from 1537 he served as a censor in Huguang, became a circuit investigating censor in 1538, and remained there through 1546. His censorial assignments included Fujian and Yunnan, where his conduct was especially noted; while inspecting Yunnan, he petitioned for relief for the poor and obtained approval, later inspecting Huguang and impeaching the Minister of War Zhang Zan for corruption.
During his inspection of Huguang, the supervising eunuch Liao Bin of Xianling was arrogant and lawless; his name appears in another form as 𢋫贇. Bao Jie prepared to punish him, but the plan leaked and Bao was falsely accused. He was then sent to the imperial prison and beaten, and was exiled to the Zhuanglang Guard. After his exile he spent twelve years among the troops. On hearing of his mother's death, he mourned day and night; five years later, the death of his younger brother Bao Xiao deepened his grief, and he died of illness. Early in the Longqing era, he was posthumously granted the rank of shaoqing in the Court of Imperial Entertainments.
Writings and associations
His writings include 《陝西行都司志》 (twelve juan) and 《包侍御集》 (six juan); other works include the two collections 《臺中集》 and 《湟中集》, as well as 《苑詩類選》 (thirty juan). Other titles associated with him are 《二十一史意抄》, 《西戍北逮錄》, 《通考意抄》, and 《釋疑錄》.
He received letters from Zhang Shiche, Feng En, Xu Xianzhong, and Mo Ruzhong; Xu Jie wrote his epitaph.
References
- CBDB Bao Jie (68417)
- 搜韵 包節 (43198)
- Wikidata Bao Jie (Q10901639)