Wu Zhonghang

Life

Born into a degree-holding family, Wu was the son of Wu Xing, a Shangbao cheng, and the brother of Wu Kexing, a compiler; both father and brother passed the jinshi examination. His grandfather was Wu Li and his great-grandfather was Wu Hao. His mother was Lady Duan; he also had a stepmother, Lady Du. His wife was Lady Mao, and his younger brothers included Wu Shangxing and Wu Tongxing.

His recorded children include Wu Yi, Wu Xuan, Wu Liang, Wu Xiang, Wu Yuan, and Wu Zongwen; Wu Zongwen was his daughter, Cao Chenke was his son-in-law, and a sixth-generation descendant was Wu Shimo (1751–1821). One account states that his sons Wu Liang, Wu Yi, and Wu Yuan all passed the jinshi examination, while Wu Xiang entered officialdom as a juren; Wu Liang served as a censor, Wu Yi as magistrate of Longxi, Wu Yuan in the Huguang administration, and Wu Xiang as magistrate of Cangzhou before being dismissed after offending a powerful eunuch.

At about twenty, he passed the Yingtian Prefecture provincial examination in 132nd place; his father warned him against premature advancement, so he did not immediately sit the metropolitan examination. In the Xinwei examination of the fifth year of the Longqing reign (1571), he ranked fifteenth in the metropolitan examination and eighteenth in the second class of the jinshi list. Zhang Juzheng was the chief examiner and Wu’s examination patron. Wu was selected as a shujishi and appointed a Hanlin compiler.

Remonstrance and official career

In the fifth year of the Wanli reign (1577), Zhang Juzheng, while observing mourning for his father, resumed office under duoqing; Wu submitted the memorial 《諫止張居正奪情疏》 in protest, arguing that the action violated the moral order of the ages, the teachings of the sages, and the ancestral laws. Wu and Zhao Yongxian each received sixty strokes of the court staff, were struck off the registers, and expelled from the capital. Wu briefly stopped breathing after the beating; the Secretariat clerk Qin Zhu brought a physician and medicine, reviving him. He returned south while seriously injured, and dozens of pieces of necrotic flesh were cut away, the wound reaching a depth of one cun. The two became known together as Wu–Zhao, and their reputation for integrity resounded throughout the realm.

At the ninth-year review of metropolitan officials, Wu was placed among the five officials on the censure register and barred from reappointment. After Zhang Juzheng’s death, court officials repeatedly recommended him; he was restored to his former office, promoted to you zhongyun, and assigned to the Classics Mat. Grand Secretary Xu Guo attacked Li Zhi and Jiang Dongzhi, denouncing Wu as a member of their faction; Wu defended himself in a memorial and requested resignation but was refused, then was promoted to you yude.

After Censor Cai Xizhou impeached Li Zhi and again implicated Wu, Wu submitted four memorials requesting leave; he was given silver and patterned silk and sent home by courier. Though repeatedly recommended, he was held back by the ministers; eventually he was recalled as shijiang xueshi and placed in charge of Nanjing Hanlin Academy. His offices also included shidu xueshi, Hanlin shidu, and the duty of 管國子監司業事.

After a fellow townsman, the commissioner Xu Changji, sued him in a matter that had already been settled, the geishizhong Wang Jiamo revived an old charge. Wu was ordered to remain at home pending recall, died soon afterwards in 1594, and was posthumously granted the title libu you shilang.

Works

His works include the fourteen-volume 《賜餘堂集》; 《復菴集》 is also attested as a title.