Qing Dynasty, Jiang Shiquan, “Biography of Master Yu Ming”

Tang Xianzu, courtesy name Yiren, also known as Ruoshi, was a native of Linchuan in Jiangxi. Born in the year Jiaxu, the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign, he already possessed literary talent. At the age of twenty-one, he passed the provincial examination; however, his opposition to Chen Jiru led to his failure in the imperial exam, owing to slanderous machinations. In the fifth year of the Wanli era, he again took the metropolitan examination. Zhang Juzheng sought to have his son succeed, enlisting prominent scholars from across the realm to support him and inviting Tang Xianzu and Shen Maoxue. Xianzu declined to attend, so Maoxue, together with Zhang Juzheng’s son Zixiu, both passed. Six years after returning home, it was not until the following year, the Guiwei year—after Zhang Juzheng’s death—that Xianzu finally earned the jinshi degree, becoming a fellow graduate of the sons of the then‑prime ministers Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing. Though both grand ministers invited him to serve, he still refused. Appointed as a doctoral official at the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, he was gradually promoted to the Board of Rites. Courtiers, admiring his talent, sought to appoint him to the Ministry of Personnel, but he submitted a memorial declining the post. In the leap third month of the nineteenth year, amid an appearance of a comet, an imperial edict condemned censors for deception and ordered the opening of all channels for free speech. Xianzu responded with a forceful memorial, accusing the government of favoring private interests and secretly stifling the remonstrance of the censorate; his forthright address ran to several thousand words. As punishment, he was demoted to the post of magistrate in Xuwén. Upon assuming office, he immediately established the Guisheng Academy to teach, swiftly transforming local scholarly habits. Later promoted to county magistrate of Suichang, he released prisoners, treated all matters with integrity, and was widely praised as an upright and virtuous official. In the twenty-sixth year, the Wuxu year, he resigned after submitting a formal impeachment and never again entered public service. During the external inspection of the twenty-eighth year, he was formally reprimanded and stripped of his rank. Li Weizhen, serving as a supervising commissioner, vigorously argued: “This gentleman has long been of noble character; he should not be subjected to such treatment.” But the chief accountant retorted: “Precisely because we wish to elevate his standing!” Ultimately, Xianzu was expelled from the official rolls. For more than twenty years he remained in retirement; by the time his parents died, he was already sixty-seven. The following year, overcome by grief, he passed away, leaving instructions that he be buried in hemp clothing and straw sandals. Xianzu’s spirit was fervent, his moral integrity unyielding, and throughout his life he regarded the welfare of the realm as his personal mission. Suppressed by those in power, he spent his final years in poverty and obscurity, a loss deeply mourned by all. Among his close friends were his fellow townsman Shuai Ji, as well as Li Sancai, Mei Guozhen, and Li Hualong—each of whom later achieved great prominence and made notable contributions. When Sancai served as governor overseeing grain transport along the Huai River, he invited Xianzu to join him; Xianzu replied: “I am accustomed to serving my lord shoulder to shoulder; now, as an old man, I can no longer accept the role of a guest.” In his writings, he took Song Lian of the Ming dynasty as his model, dismissing the flamboyant styles of Li Mengyang and Wang Shizhen as mere affectation. In times of confusion and turmoil, only Xianzu and Gui Yong could stand firm against the prevailing fog; they sang their songs with composure and self‑assurance. Within his heart stood towering fortresses, which found expression in his poetry and dramatic works. His “Four Dreams,” though steeped in romantic sentiment and grateful appreciation of the world around him, ultimately sought to cleanse the soul of worldly attachments, dissolve them into nothingness, and attain a serene, detached outlook—yet even this lofty aspiration carried a poignant sadness. He left behind four sons; the eldest, Shi Qu, at the tender age of five, could recite the “Three Capitals” and the “Two Capitals”; he died at twenty-three. The second son, Daqi, inherited his father’s talents. The third, Kaiyuan, in the fifth year of the Chongzhen era, was selected through the local examination to become a judicial officer in Henan; he repeatedly submitted memorials on current affairs, drawing the emperor’s ire and being ordered to provide concrete evidence. Yet Kaiyuan persistently defended his views without yielding. By imperial decree, he was stripped of his post and placed under investigation for collaborating with the rebel general Zuo Liangyu. Ten years later, after suppressing a major banditry in Wuyang, he was promoted to commandant of three counties in Anlu. Shi Kefa recommended his outstanding administrative record, and he was elevated to the rank of vice‑minister. Thirteen years later, together with Huang Degong, he decisively defeated numerous bandits and was poised to assume the governorship of Henan—only to die of exhaustion, his passing mourned throughout the countryside. He was posthumously honored with the title of Junior Minister of the Imperial Stables, while his younger brother Ji Yun, too, was recognized as a man of exceptional talent.