Zhang Siwei

Family and education

Zhang Siwei was born into a Shanxi salt-merchant family and belonged to Puzhou’s wealthy merchant class. His father was Zhang Yunling (張允齡), his grandfather Zhang Yi (張誼), and his great-grandfather Zhang Ning (張寍); his mother and wife were both surnamed Wang. His younger brothers were Zhang Siduan (張四端), Zhang Sijiao (張四教), Zhang Sishi (張四事), Zhang Sixiang (張四象), Zhang Sishu (張四術), and Zhang Sifu (張四輔).

At fifteen, he passed the licentiate examination with distinction and impressed the educational commissioner. In 1549 he passed the Shanxi provincial examination; his placement is given as either second place or 83. In 1553 he passed the Gui-chou jinshi examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a shujishi, and ranked 86th in the second class; in 1555 he was appointed a Hanlin compiler.

Career

At the beginning of the Longqing reign (1567), his work on dividing and copying the Yongle Dadian earned him promotion to Right Zhongyun of the Right Spring Residence, where he served as a daily lecturer at the Classic Banquet; he then became Left Yude of the Left Spring Residence, concurrently Reader of the Hanlin Academy. Gifted and well versed in current and frontier affairs, he won Gao Gong’s esteem and was praised as a “truly erudite gentleman.” In 1569, Gao Gong promoted him to Hanlin academician and then to vice minister of personnel; in October 1570, after Altan Khan’s grandson Han Naji submitted to the Ming court, Zhang supported Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, helping bring about the Altan封貢 settlement. He was promoted to left vice minister of personnel and requested retirement because of illness.

In 1574 he was restored to his former office, continued to oversee the Office of the Heir Apparent, and served as deputy chief editor of the Veritable Record of the Jiajing Emperor. In 1575, on Zhang Juzheng’s recommendation, he entered the Grand Secretariat as Minister of Rites concurrently Grand Academician of the Eastern Lodge, assisting with state affairs; in spring 1578 he presided over the Wanli Emperor’s wedding, was granted the title Junior Guardian, and became Grand Academician of the Wuying Hall.

At first in the Grand Secretariat, Zhang Siwei largely deferred to Zhang Juzheng; after he began drafting edicts less fully in accordance with Zhang’s wishes, their relationship deteriorated. After Zhang Juzheng died in 1582, Zhang Siwei succeeded him as chief grand secretary. He reversed Zhang Juzheng’s reform measures, sought to ease tensions and consolidate support, and drafted an edict accusing Zhang Juzheng of “slandering imperial kinsmen, seizing royal tombs and residences, controlling and suppressing remonstrance officials, blocking the emperor’s understanding, and exercising arbitrary power to disorder the government.” He was subsequently elevated to Junior Preceptor, Minister of Personnel, and Grand Academician of the Zhongji Hall.

In the fourth month of the eleventh Wanli year, his father’s death compelled him to return home for mourning. Before leaving, he urged the emperor to follow the ancestors, honor his parents, study, govern diligently, remain clear-minded and temperate, conserve resources, and care for the people, and so left office. In the tenth month of the thirteenth Wanli year (1585), when his mourning period was nearly complete, he died at home; the emperor suspended court for a day and posthumously named him Wenyi.

Writings

His works include the Tiaolutang ji (《條麓堂集》), in thirty-four juan. He also wrote a preface for a book by Zhang Peng and composed epitaphs for Wang Yuling, Ma Ziqiang, and Kang Siqian.