Fang Fengshi

Life and career

His great-grandfather was Fang Mengding, his grandfather Fang Chong, and his father Fang Heng; his mother was Kong. His younger brothers were Fang Fengyuan, Fang Fengji, and Fang Fengyin, and his wife was surnamed Zhou. In the nineteenth year of Jiajing (1540), he placed thirty-seventh in the Huguang provincial examination and became a juren; in the twentieth year (1541), he passed the Xin-chou metropolitan examination and palace examination, ranking 199th in the metropolitan examination and thirty-first in the third class.

In the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1542), he was appointed magistrate of Yixing County in Changzhou Prefecture, Zhili; he subsequently served as magistrate of Ningjin and Quzhou. He was then promoted to a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and later to a langzhong in the Ministry of Works, before becoming prefect of Ningguo. When bandit uprisings broke out in Guangdong and Jiangxi, he was appointed Guangdong military-defense vice commissioner and suppressed them with the military commander Yu Dayou.

At the beginning of the Longqing era (1567), he was transferred to the Xuanfu-Koubei circuit and made Right Administrative Commissioner; he was soon promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and appointed governor of Liaodong, and in the first month of Longqing 4 (1570) he was transferred to Datong. While serving in Liaodong and Datong, he dealt with Altan Khan. Altan sent envoys to conclude an agreement; his grandson Bahanagi surrendered, peace was restored between the Ming and the Tatars, and Fang was promoted for this success to Vice Minister of War, concurrently holding the office of Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief. He soon returned home on mourning leave.

At the beginning of the Wanli era (1573), Fang was recalled to office and made grand coordinator of the military affairs of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi. Working with Minister of War Wang Chonggu, he jointly settled the major policy, and the frontier became peaceful. He was successively promoted to Minister of War, concurrently Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, retained his command, and received the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent; soon afterward, he succeeded Wang Chonggu as minister, took charge of the Ministry of Personnel, and received the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. For pacifying the two Guang, he was promoted to Junior Guardian. After repeatedly requesting retirement, he received an imperial calligraphic inscription reading 「盡忠」 and returned home. He died in the twenty-fourth year of Wanli (1596).

Works and associations

He authored the collection *Da Yin lou ji* (*Collected Works of the Great Hidden Tower*). Zhou Yi wrote a sacrificial text for him and gave him parting words; Fang also received congratulatory words from Wan Shihe and sent a letter to Zhang Juzheng.