Volume 184 Biographies 72: Zhou Hongmo, Yang Shouchen, Zhang Yuanzhen, Fu Han, Zhang Sheng, Wu Kuan, Fu Gui, Liu Chun, Wu Yan, Gu Qing, Liu Rui

周洪謨楊守陳〈（弟守阯子茂元茂仁）〉張元禎〈（陳音）〉傅瀚張昇吳寬傅珪劉春吳儼顧清劉瑞

Zhou Hongmo; Yang Shouchen (His younger brother was Shouzhi; his sons were Mao, Yuan, and Mao Ren.)]〉 Zhang Yuanzhen (Chen Yin)]〉 Fu Han, Zhang Sheng, Wu Kuan, Fu Gui, Liu Chun, Wu Yan, Gu Qing, and Liu Rui

周洪謨，字堯弼，長寧人。正統十年，進士及第。授編修。博聞強記，善文詞，熟國朝典故，喜談經濟。

Zhou Hongmo, whose style name was Yaobi, came from Changning. In the tenth year of the Zhengtong era (1445), he passed the palace examination as a jinshi. He was appointed a compiler at the Hanlin Academy. He was widely read with an exceptional memory, excelled at literary composition, knew the institutions of the dynasty thoroughly, and loved to discourse on statecraft.

成化改元，廷議討四川山都掌蠻，洪謨上方略六事，詔付軍帥行之。進學士。尋為南京祭酒。上言南監有紅板倉二十間，高皇后積粟以養監生妻孥者，宜修復。帝允行之。母喪服闋，改北監。十一年，言士風澆浮，請復洪武中學規。帝嘉納，命禮部榜諭。崇信伯費淮入監習禮，久不至。洪謨劾之，奪冠帶，以儒巾赴監，停歲祿之半，學政肅然。先聖像用冕旒十二，而舞佾豆籩數不稱，洪謨請備天子制。又言：「古者鳴球琴瑟為堂上之樂，笙鏞敔為堂下之樂，而干羽則舞於兩階。今舞羽居上，樂器居下，非古制，當改。」尚書鄒幹駁止之，洪謨再疏爭。帝竟俞其議。

At the inauguration of the Chenghua reign (1465), as the court debated a campaign against the Shanduzhang tribes of Sichuan, Hongmo submitted a six-point strategy, which the throne ordered the field commanders to implement. He was promoted to Hanlin academician. Before long he was made chancellor of the Nanjing Imperial Academy. He memorialized that the Nanjing directorate still had twenty red-board granaries where Empress Gao had once stored grain to support students' families, and urged that they be restored. The emperor approved the proposal and had it carried out. When his mourning for his mother was over, he was transferred to the Beijing Imperial Academy. In the eleventh year of Chenghua (1475), he reported that student morals had grown lax and asked that the Hongwu-era academy regulations be restored. The emperor praised and adopted the proposal, ordering the Ministry of Rites to post notices to the schools. Believing Baron Fei Huai had been enrolled at the directorate to study ritual but had long stayed away. Hongmo impeached him. His rank insignia was taken away, he was required to attend the academy in a plain scholar's cap, and half his annual stipend was withheld. Discipline at the schools became notably strict. The image of the Sage Ancestor bore a twelve-tasseled coronet, yet the numbers of dancers, libation vessels, and offering stands did not match; Hongmo asked that the full imperial ritual paraphernalia be supplied. He also said: "In antiquity, sounding stones, zithers, and lutes were the music of the upper hall; flutes, bells, and clappers were the music of the lower hall; shields and plumes were danced on the two flights of steps. Now the dance plumes are placed above and the instruments below. This is not the ancient arrangement and should be corrected." Minister Zou Gan objected and blocked the change, but Hongmo memorialized again in protest. The emperor ultimately approved his proposal.

遷禮部右侍郎。久之，轉左。以蔡《傳》所釋璇璣玉衡，後人遵用其制，考驗多不合，宜改制，帝即屬洪謨。洪謨易以木，旬日而就。十七年進尚書。二十年加太子少保。二十一年，星變，有所條奏，帝多采納。

He was promoted to vice minister of rites on the right. After some time he was moved to the senior left post. The armillary sphere and celestial globe as explained in Cai Shen's commentary on the Documents had been copied by later generations, yet repeated testing showed many discrepancies. Hongmo was told to redesign them, and the emperor put him in charge at once. Hongmo rebuilt them in wood, and they were finished within ten days. In the seventeenth year of Chenghua (1481) he was promoted to minister of rites. In the twentieth year (1484) he was made junior guardian of the heir apparent. In the twenty-first year (1485), after an irregularity in the heavens, he submitted a series of memorials, most of which the emperor accepted.

弘治元年四月，天壽山震雷風雹，樓殿瓦獸多毀。洪謨復力勸修省，帝深納之。洪謨矜莊寡合，與萬安同鄉，安居政府時頗與之善。至是，言官先後論奏，致仕歸。又三年卒，年七十二。謚文安。

In the fourth month of the first year of Hongzhi (1488), Tianshou Mountain was struck by earthquake, thunder, wind, and hail, and many roof tiles and ridge ornaments on the halls were destroyed. Hongmo again urged the emperor to examine himself and reform his conduct, and the emperor took the advice to heart. Hongmo was dignified and reserved, keeping few close associates. He was from the same district as Wan An, and while An dominated the government they had been on friendly terms. By then censors had memorialized against him one after another, and he retired to his home. Three years later he died, at the age of seventy-two. He was given the posthumous title Wen'an (Cultured and Tranquil).

洪謨嘗言：「士人出仕，或去鄉數千里，既昧土俗，亦拂人情，不若就近選除。王府官終身不遷，乖祖制，當稍變更。都掌蠻及白羅羅羿子數叛，宜特設長官司，就擇其人任之，庶無後患。」將歿，猶上安中國、定四裔十事。其好建白如此。

Hongmo once said: "When scholars take office, some are posted thousands of li from home. They neither know local customs nor can respond to local needs. It would be better to appoint them near their own districts. Princely household officials never transfer for life, which departs from the ancestral system and ought to be revised. The Shanduzhang tribes and the White Luoluo and Yizi have rebelled repeatedly. Special native-official posts should be created and capable men chosen from among them to fill them, so as to forestall further trouble." On his deathbed he still submitted ten proposals on securing the heartland and stabilizing the border peoples. Such was his habit of offering forthright counsel.

楊守陳，字維新，鄞人。祖範，有學行，嘗誨守陳以精思實踐之學。舉景泰二年進士，改庶吉士，授編修。成化初，充經筵講官，進侍講。《英宗實錄》成，遷洗馬。尋進侍講學士，同修《宋元通鑒綱目》。母憂服闋，起故官。孝宗出閣，為東宮講官。時編《文華大訓》，事涉宦官者皆不錄。守陳以為非，備列其善惡得失。書成，進少詹事。

Yang Shouchen, whose style name was Weixin, came from Yin (Ningbo). His grandfather Fan was a scholar of moral weight who had taught Shouchen to pursue learning through careful thought and earnest practice. He passed the jinshi examination in the second year of Jingtai (1451), entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. Early in Chenghua he served as lecturer at the Classics Colloquium and was promoted to court lecturer. When the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong were completed, he was made a reader-in-waiting. He was soon promoted to lecturer-academician and helped compile the Outline and Details of the Comprehensive Mirror from Song and Yuan. When his mourning for his mother was over, he returned to his former post. When the future Xiaozong Emperor left the inner quarters, Shouchen became a lecturer in the Eastern Palace. At that time the court was compiling the Great Instructions of Wenhua, and anything involving eunuchs was left out. Shouchen thought this wrong and set out in full their good and bad deeds and what had been gained or lost. When the work was finished, he was promoted to junior mentor of the heir apparent.

孝宗嗣位，宮僚悉遷秩，執政擬守陳南京吏部右侍郎，帝舉筆去「南京」字。左右言劉宣見為右侍郎，帝乃改宣左，而以守陳代之。修《憲宗實錄》，充副總裁。弘治改元正月，上疏曰：

When the Xiaozong Emperor succeeded to the throne, all former Eastern Palace officials were promoted. The chief ministers proposed Shouchen for vice minister of personnel at Nanjing, but the emperor struck out the word "Nanjing." Attendants pointed out that Liu Xuan already held the right vice ministership, so the emperor moved Xuan to the left post and gave the right post to Shouchen. While compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong, he served as associate chief compiler. In the first month of the Hongzhi reign (1488), he submitted a memorial that read:

孟子言「我非堯舜之道不敢陳於王前。」夫堯舜之道何道？《書》曰：「人心惟危，道心惟微，惟精惟一，允執厥中」，此堯、舜之得於內者深，而為出治之本也。詢四嶽，辟四門，明四目，達四聰，此堯、舜之資於外者博，而為致治之綱也。臣昔忝宮僚，伏睹陛下朗讀經書，未嘗勤睿問以究聖賢奧旨。儒臣略陳訓詁，未嘗進詳說以極帝王要道。是陛下得於內者未深也。今視朝，所接見者，大臣之豐采而已。君子、小人之情狀，小臣、遠臣之才行，何由識？退朝所披閱者，百官之章奏而已。諸司之典則，群吏之情弊，何由見？宮中所聽信者，內臣之語言而已。百官之正議，萬姓之繁言，何由聞？恐陛下資於外者未博也。

Mencius said, "Unless it is the way of Yao and Shun, I dare not set it forth before the king." What, then, is the way of Yao and Shun? The Documents says: "The human mind is precarious; the mind of the Way is subtle. Be discriminating and unified; hold fast the mean in sincerity." This is how deeply Yao and Shun cultivated themselves within, and it is the foundation of good government. "Consult the Four Peaks, open the four gates, sharpen the four eyes, and extend the four ears"—this is how broadly Yao and Shun drew on the world beyond themselves, and it is the framework for bringing order to the realm. Your servant once had the honor of serving in the Eastern Palace and observed Your Majesty reading the classics aloud, yet never pressing keen questions to reach the sages' deepest meaning. Confucian lecturers offered only brief glosses and never gave full exposition of what emperors and kings must know. This shows that what Your Majesty has attained within is not yet deep enough. At court audiences today, those whom you meet are only the bearing and appearance of senior ministers. How can you know the conduct of the worthy and the unworthy, or the talent and character of junior and distant officials? After court, what you read is only the memorials of the hundred officials. How can you see the regulations of the various offices or the abuses among the clerks? Within the palace, what you hear and trust is only the words of eunuchs. How can you hear the upright opinions of officials or the many voices of the people? I fear that what Your Majesty draws upon from without is not yet broad enough.

願遵祖宗舊制，開大小經筵，日再禦朝。大經筵及早朝，但如舊儀。若小經筵，必擇端方博雅之臣，更番進講。凡所未明，輒賜清問。凡聖賢經旨，帝王大道，以及人臣賢否，政事得失，民情休戚，必講之明而無疑，乃可行之篤而無弊。若夫前朝經籍，祖宗典訓，百官章奏，皆當貯文華殿後，陛下退朝披覽。日令內閣一人、講官二人居前殿右廂，有疑則詢，必洞晰而後已。一日之間，居文華殿之時多，處乾清宮之時少，則欲寡心清，臨政不惑，得於內者深而出治之本立矣。午朝則禦文華門，大臣臺諫更番侍直。事已具疏者用揭帖，略節口奏，陛下詳問而裁決之。在外文武官來覲，俾條列地方事，口陳大要，付諸司評議。其陛辭赴任者，隨其職任而戒諭之。有大政則禦文華殿，使大臣各盡其謀，勿相推避。不當則許言官駁正。其他具疏進者，召閣臣面議可否，然後批答。而於奏事、辭朝諸臣，必降詞色，詳詢博訪，務竭下情，使賢才常接於目前，視聽不偏於左右，合天下之耳目以為聰明，則資於外者博而致治之綱舉矣。

I ask that Your Majesty follow the ancestral institutions, restore both the great and small Classics Colloquia, and hold court twice each day. The great Classics Colloquium and the early audience should follow the established rites. For the small Classics Colloquium, upright and broadly learned officials should be chosen to lecture in rotation. Whenever anything is unclear, Your Majesty should press for explanation. Whatever concerns the meaning of the classics, the way of kingship, the worthiness of ministers, the success or failure of policy, or the welfare of the people must be discussed until it is clear beyond doubt; only then can it be carried out steadfastly and without harm. The classics of former dynasties, the ancestral instructions, and officials' memorials should all be kept behind Wenhua Hall for Your Majesty to read after court. Each day one grand secretary and two lecturers should sit in the right wing of the front hall. When doubts arise, ask them, and do not stop until everything is thoroughly clear. If within a single day you spend more time in Wenhua Hall and less in the Qianqing Palace, desires will be few and the mind clear; in governing you will not be confused. What is attained within will be deep, and the foundation of good government will be laid. At the noon audience, hold court at Wenhua Gate, with senior ministers and censorial officials attending in rotation. For matters already submitted in full memorials, use summary slips and brief oral reports; Your Majesty should question closely and decide. When officials from the provinces come to audience, have them list local affairs item by item, state the main points orally, and refer the matters to the relevant offices for deliberation. Those taking leave of the throne to proceed to their posts should be admonished according to their duties. When major policy is at issue, hold court in Wenhua Hall and have senior ministers each offer their counsel fully, without shirking or passing responsibility to one another. If a proposal is improper, allow censors to refute and correct it. For other matters submitted in memorials, summon grand secretaries to discuss them face to face, and only then draft the rescript. Toward those who memorialize or take leave of court, speak gently and inquire closely, striving to hear all that lies below. Let worthy talent always stand before you; let sight and hearing not be confined to those at your side. Unite the ears and eyes of the realm as your own intelligence—then what is drawn upon from without will be broad, and the framework for good government will be in place.

若如經筵、常朝只循故事，凡百章奏皆付內臣調旨批答，臣恐積弊未革，後患滋深。且今積弊不可勝數。官鮮廉恥之風，士多浮競之習。教化淩夷，刑禁馳懈。俗侈而財滋乏，民困而盜日繁。列衛之城池不修，諸郡之倉庫鮮積。甲兵朽鈍，行伍空虛。將驕惰而不知兵，士疲弱而不習戰。一或有警，何以禦之？此臣所以朝夕憂思，至或廢寢忘食者也。

If the Classics Colloquium and regular audiences merely follow precedent, and all memorials are handed to eunuchs to draft rescripts, I fear accumulated abuses will remain and later troubles will only deepen. Moreover, the abuses that have accumulated today are beyond counting. Among officials, integrity and shame are rare; among scholars, empty rivalry is common. Moral instruction has declined, and penal enforcement has grown lax. Luxury spreads while resources grow scarce; the people are distressed and banditry increases daily. The walls of the guard garrisons are not repaired, and prefectural granaries hold little grain. Armor and weapons are rotten and blunt; the ranks stand empty. Generals are arrogant and indolent and do not understand warfare; soldiers are weak and untrained for battle. If an emergency arises, how can the realm be defended? This is why I worry morning and evening, sometimes even neglecting sleep and forgetting to eat.

帝深嘉納。後果復午朝，召大臣面議政事，皆自守陳發之。尋以史事繁，乞解部務。章三上，乃以本官兼詹事府，專事史館。二年卒。謚文懿，贈禮部尚書。

The emperor praised the memorial deeply and accepted it. The noon audience was indeed restored afterward, and senior ministers were summoned to discuss policy face to face—all of this began with Shouchen's memorial. Soon afterward, citing the press of historical compilation, he asked to be relieved of his ministry duties. After submitting three memorials, he was allowed to keep his rank while also serving in the Household of the Heir Apparent, devoting himself solely to the Historiography Office. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489) he died. He was given the posthumous title Wenyi (Cultured and Virtuous) and was posthumously made minister of rites.

弟守阯。子茂元、茂仁。守阯，字維立。成化初，鄉試第一，入國學。祭酒邢讓下獄，率六館生伏闕訟冤。十四年，進士及第。授編修。秩滿，故事無遷留都者。會從兄守隨為李孜省所逐，欲並逐守阯，乃以為南京侍讀。

His younger brother was Shouzhi. His sons were Maoyuan and Maoren. Shouzhi, whose style name was Weili. Early in Chenghua he ranked first in the provincial examination and entered the Imperial Academy. When Chancellor Xing Rang was imprisoned, he led students of the six halls to kneel before the palace gate and plead his innocence. In the fourteenth year of Chenghua (1478) he passed the palace examination as a jinshi. He was appointed a compiler at the Hanlin Academy. When his term ended, precedent held that compilers who remained in the capital were not transferred. His cousin Shousui had been driven from office by Li Zisheng, who wished to drive out Shouzhi as well; Shouzhi was therefore posted as reader at Nanjing.

弘治初，召修《憲宗實錄》，直經筵，再遷侍講學士。給事中龐泮等以救知州劉遜悉下獄，吏部尚書屠滽奏遣他官攝之。守阯貽書，極詆滽失。十年大計京官。守阯時掌院事，言：「臣與掌詹事府學士王鏊，俱當聽部考察。但臣等各有屬員。進與吏部會考所屬，則坐堂上，退而聽考，又當候階下。我朝優假學士，慶成侍宴，班四品上，車駕臨雍，坐彜倫堂內，視三品，此故事也。今四品不與考察，則學士亦不應與。臣等職講讀撰述，稱否在聖鑒，有不待考察者。」詔可。學士不與考察，自守阯始。修《會典》，充副總裁。尋遷南京吏部右侍郎。嘗署兵部，陳時弊五事。改署國子監。考績入都，《會典》猶未成，仍留為總裁。事竣，遷左侍郎還任，進二秩。武宗立，引年乞休，不待報竟歸，詔加尚書致仕。劉瑾亂政，奪其加官，瑾敗乃復，久之卒。

Early in Hongzhi he was summoned to compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong, served at the Classics Colloquium, and was twice promoted to lecturer-academician. Supervising secretary Pang Pan and others, for having tried to save Prefect Liu Xun, were all imprisoned; Minister of Personnel Tu Yong memorialized to send another official to act in their place. Shouzhi sent a letter fiercely denouncing Yong's misconduct. In the tenth year came the great evaluation of capital officials. Shouzhi was then in charge of the Hanlin Academy and said: "Your servant and Wang Ao, academician in charge of the Household of the Heir Apparent, should both submit to evaluation by the ministry. But each of us has subordinates. If we join the Ministry of Personnel in evaluating our subordinates, we sit in the hall above; then we withdraw to be evaluated ourselves and must wait below the steps. Our dynasty treats academicians with special favor: at completion banquets they are ranked above the fourth grade; when the emperor visits the Academy they sit inside the Hall of Human Relations, treated as third grade—this is established precedent. If fourth-grade officials are not subject to evaluation, then academicians should not be either. Our duties are lecturing, reading, and composing; praise or blame lies in the emperor's judgment, and there are matters that need no formal evaluation." The emperor approved. The exemption of academicians from evaluation began with Shouzhi. While compiling the Collected Statutes, he served as associate chief compiler. He was soon made vice minister of personnel at Nanjing on the right. He once acted for the Ministry of War and set forth five current abuses. He was transferred to act for the Directorate of Education. When he came to the capital for performance evaluation, the Collected Statutes were still unfinished, and he was kept on as chief compiler. When the work was finished, he was promoted to the left vice ministership and returned to his post, advanced two grades in rank. When the Wuzong Emperor succeeded, citing his years he requested retirement; without waiting for a reply he went home, and an edict granted him the rank of minister on retirement. When Liu Jin threw the government into disorder, his added rank was stripped; after Jin's fall it was restored. He died some years later.

守阯博極群書，師事兄守陳，學行相埒。其為解元、學士、侍郎，皆與兄同。又對掌兩京翰林院，人尤艷稱之。守陳卒，守阯為位哭奠者三年。

Shouzhi read widely across the classics, studied under his elder brother Shouchen, and matched him in learning and conduct. His posts as provincial first, academician, and vice minister all paralleled his brother's career. They also concurrently headed the Hanlin Academies of the two capitals, which people especially admired. When Shouchen died, Shouzhi maintained a mourning place and wept and offered sacrifices for three years.

茂元，字誌仁。成化十一年進士。授刑部主事。歷郎中，出為湖廣副使，改山東。弘治七年，河決張秋，詔都御史劉大夏治之，復遣中官李興、平江伯陳銳繼往。興威虐，縶辱按察使。茂元攝司事，奏言：「治河之役，官多而責不專。有司供億，日費百金。諸臣初祭河，天色陰晦，帛不能燃。所焚之余，宛然人面，具耳目口鼻，觀者駭異。鬼神示怪，夫豈偶然？乞召還興、銳等，專委大夏，功必可成。且水者陰象，今後戚家威權太盛，假名姓肆貪暴者，不可勝數，請加禁防，以消變異。畫工、藝士，宜悉放遣。山東既有內臣鎮守，復令李全鎮臨清，宜撤還。」疏入，下山東撫、按勘，奏言：「焚帛之異誠有之，所奏供億，多過其實。」於是興、銳連章劾茂元妄，詔遣錦衣百戶胡節逮之。父老遮道訴節，乞還楊副使。及陛見，茂元長跪不伏，帝怒，置之詔獄。節遍叩中官，備言父老訴冤狀，中官多感動。會言者交論救，部擬贖杖還職，特謫長沙同知。謝病歸。久之，起安慶知府，遷廣西左參政。正德四年，劉瑾遣御史孫迪校勘錢穀，索賄不予。瑾又惡茂元從父守隨，遂勒致仕。瑾誅，起官江西，尋遷雲南左布政使。以右副都御史巡撫貴州，改蒞南京都察院，終刑部右侍郎。

Maoyuan, whose style name was Zhiren. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of Chenghua (1475). He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Justice. He rose to bureau director, then was posted as vice commissioner in Huguang and later transferred to Shandong. In the seventh year of Hongzhi (1494) the Yellow River burst its banks at Zhangqiu. The throne ordered Censor-in-Chief Liu Daxia to repair the breach and also sent the eunuch Li Xing and the Earl of Pingjiang, Chen Rui, to assist. Xing was brutal and tyrannical and bound and humiliated the surveillance commissioner. Maoyuan was acting commissioner and memorialized: "In the river-control project, officials are too many and responsibility is not concentrated. Local offices supply provisions at a cost of a hundred taels of silver each day. When the officials first sacrificed to the river, the sky was dark and overcast and the silk offerings would not burn. Among what was burned, there clearly remained a human face, complete with ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. Those who saw it were struck with horror. When spirits show such signs, how can it be mere chance? I ask that Xing, Rui, and the others be recalled and the task entrusted solely to Daxia; the work will surely succeed. Moreover, water is a yin emblem. Today the power of the empress's kin is too great, and those who borrow their names to indulge in greed and violence are beyond counting. I ask that prohibitions be strengthened to dispel these portents. Painters and artisans should all be dismissed. Shandong already has an eunuch garrison commander, yet Li Quan was again posted to Linqing; he should be withdrawn." When the memorial arrived, the Shandong grand coordinator and surveillance commissioner were ordered to investigate. They reported: "The anomaly of the burning silk truly occurred, but the reported provisioning expenses mostly exceed the facts." Thereupon Xing and Rui submitted successive memorials accusing Maoyuan of recklessness, and an edict sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard officer Hu Jie to arrest him. Local elders blocked the road and appealed to Jie, begging that Vice Commissioner Yang be returned. When he was presented at court, Maoyuan knelt but refused to submit. The emperor was angry and placed him in the imperial prison. Jie went among the eunuchs and fully described how the elders had pleaded their grievances; many were moved. As censors memorialized in succession to save him, the ministry proposed redemption by cane and return to office, but he was specially demoted to vice prefect of Changsha. He resigned on grounds of illness and returned home. After some time he was recalled as prefect of Anqing and promoted to left administrative commissioner of Guangxi. In the fourth year of Zhengde (1509), Liu Jin sent Censor Sun Di to audit revenue and grain accounts; Maoyuan refused to pay a bribe. Jin also hated Maoyuan's cousin Shousui and therefore forced Maoyuan to retire. After Jin was executed, he was recalled to office in Jiangxi and soon made left provincial administration commissioner of Yunnan. As vice censor-in-chief on the right he served as grand coordinator of Guizhou, then took charge of the Nanjing Censorate, and ended his career as vice minister of justice on the right.

茂仁，字志道，成化末進士。歷刑部郎中。遼東鎮守中官梁玘被劾，偕給事中往按，盡發其罪。終四川按察使。

Maoren, whose style name was Zhidao, passed the jinshi examination late in Chenghua. He served as bureau director in the Ministry of Justice. The Liaodong garrison eunuch Liang Qi was impeached; Maoren went with a supervising secretary to investigate and fully exposed his crimes. He ended his career as surveillance commissioner of Sichuan.

張元禎，字廷祥，南昌人。五歲能詩，寧靖王召見，命名元征。巡撫韓雍器之曰「人瑞也」，乃易元禎。舉天順四年進士，改庶吉士，授編修。

Zhang Yuanzhen, whose style name was Tingxiang, came from Nanchang. At five he could compose poetry; the Prince of Ningjing summoned him and gave him the name Yuanzheng. Grand Coordinator Han Yong admired him and said, "A human auspice," and therefore changed his name to Yuanzhen. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourth year of Tianshun (1460), entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler.

憲宗嗣位，疏請行三年喪，不省。其年五月，疏陳三事：「一，勤講學。願不廢寒暑，所講必切於修德為治之實，不必以亂亡忌觸為諱。講退，更凝神靜味，驗之於身心政化。講官，令大臣公舉剛明正大之人，不拘官職大小。一，公聽政。請日禦文華殿，午前進講，午後聽政。天下章奏，命諸臣詳議面陳可否，陛下親臨決其是非。暇則召五品以下官，隨意問以時事得失利病，令下情得以畢達。一，廣用賢。請命給事中、御史，各陳兩京堂上官賢否。如有不盡，亦許在京五品官指陳之，以為進退。又令共薦有德望者，以代所去之位，則大臣皆得其人。於是命之各言其所屬及方面郡縣官之賢否，付內閣吏部升黜之。中外群臣，有剛正敢言者，舉為臺諫，不必論其言貌、官職、出身。但不宜委之堂上官，恐憚其剛方，而薦柔媚者以充數，所舉之人感其推薦，不敢直斥其非。是以古者大臣不舉臺諫。」疏入，以言多窒礙難行，寢之。預修《英宗實錄》，與執政議不合，引疾家居，講求性命之學。閱二十年，中外交薦，皆不赴。

When the Xianzong Emperor succeeded to the throne, he memorialized requesting that the three-year mourning be observed; the court took no notice. In the fifth month of that year he memorialized setting forth three matters: "First, diligently pursue the Classics Colloquium. I ask that lectures not be suspended in cold or heat; what is taught must bear on cultivating virtue and governing, and need not avoid taboo topics of disorder and ruin. After lectures, concentrate the mind and quietly reflect, testing the teaching in one's own conduct and in governance. As for lecturers, have senior ministers jointly recommend men who are upright, clear, and magnanimous, without regard to the size of their offices. Second, hear government openly. I ask that Your Majesty hold court daily in Wenhua Hall, lecture in the morning, and hear government in the afternoon. For memorials from across the realm, order ministers to deliberate in detail and state face to face what is feasible or not; Your Majesty should personally decide right and wrong. In leisure, summon officials of the fifth grade and below and question them freely on the gains, losses, benefits, and harms of current affairs, so that sentiments below may be fully conveyed. Third, broadly employ the worthy. I ask that supervising secretaries and censors each report whether the capital officials of the two capitals are worthy or not. If anything is incomplete, also allow capital officials of the fifth grade and below to point it out, as a basis for promotion and dismissal. Also have them jointly recommend men of virtue and reputation to fill vacated posts, so that senior posts will be filled by the right men. Thereupon order them each to report on the worthiness of their subordinates and of regional, prefectural, and county officials, and refer the reports to the Grand Secretariat and Ministry of Personnel for promotion and dismissal. Among officials within and without the capital, those who are upright and bold in speech should be recommended as censors and remonstrators, without regard to their speech, appearance, office, or background. But this should not be entrusted to senior capital officials, lest they fear the upright and recommend the soft and fawning to fill the quota; those recommended would be grateful and dare not criticize their patrons. Therefore in antiquity senior ministers did not recommend censors and remonstrators." When the memorial arrived, the court found its proposals too obstructive to carry out and shelved it. While helping compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong, he disagreed with the chief ministers, cited illness, and lived at home, pursuing Neo-Confucian learning. For twenty years he was recommended from within and without the court, but he accepted none of the summonses.

弘治初，召修《憲宗實錄》，進左贊善。上言：「人君不以行王道為心，非大有為之主也。陛下毓德青宮，已負大有為之望。邇者頗崇異端，嬖近習，以蠱此心；殖貨利，耽玩好，以荒此心；開幸門，塞言路，以昧此心。則不能大有為矣。願定聖誌，一聖學，廣聖智。」疏反復累萬言，帝頗納之。《實錄》成，遷南京侍講學士，以養母歸。久之，召為《會典》副總裁。至則進學士，充經筵日講官，帝甚傾向。元禎體清臒，長不逾中人，帝特設低幾聽之。數月，以母憂去。服闋，遷南京太常卿。已，修《通鑒纂要》，復召為副總裁。以故官兼學士，改掌詹事府。帝晚年德益進。元禎因請講筵增講《太極圖》、《通書》、《西銘》諸書。帝亟取觀之，喜曰：「天生斯人，以開朕也。」欲大用之，未幾晏駕。

Early in Hongzhi he was summoned to compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong and was promoted to left mentor. He memorialized: "A ruler who does not take practicing the kingly way as his heart is not a ruler of great accomplishment. Your Majesty cultivated virtue in the Eastern Palace and already bore the hope of great accomplishment. Recently you have rather honored heterodox teachings and favored close attendants, thereby bewitching your heart; accumulated profit and indulged in pleasures, thereby dissipating your heart; opened the gate of favor and blocked the path of remonstrance, thereby obscuring your heart. Then you cannot accomplish greatly. I ask that Your Majesty fix your sagely resolve, unify your pursuit of sage learning, and broaden your sagely wisdom." The memorial, in repeated passages, ran to tens of thousands of words, and the emperor largely accepted it. When the Veritable Records were completed, he was transferred to reader-in-waiting in Nanjing and went home to care for his mother. After a long interval, he was summoned to serve as vice director of the Collected Statutes. On his arrival he was promoted to Hanlin academician and appointed daily lecturer at the Classics Colloquium; the emperor was deeply drawn to him. Yuanzhen was spare and ascetic in build, no taller than an ordinary man, so the emperor had a low lectern specially set for him to hear the lectures. Within a few months he left office to observe mourning for his mother. When mourning ended, he was transferred to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in Nanjing. Thereafter, while compiling the Essence of the Comprehensive Mirror, he was again summoned to serve as vice director. Retaining his former post while also serving as Hanlin academician, he was reassigned to head the Household of the Heir Apparent. In his later years the emperor's virtue advanced ever further. Yuanzhen therefore asked that the Classics Colloquium add lectures on such works as the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, Penetrating the Classic, and Western Inscription. The emperor eagerly had them brought and read, and said with delight: "Heaven has born this man to enlighten me." He meant to employ him on a grand scale, but before long the emperor died.

武宗立，擢吏部左侍郎兼學士入東閣，專典誥敕。元禎素有盛譽。林居久，晚乃復出。館閣諸人悉後輩，見元禎言論意態，以為迂闊，多姍笑之。又名位相軋，遂騰謗議，言官交章劾元禎。元禎七疏乞休，劉健力保持之。健去，元禎亦卒。天啟初，追謚文裕。

When the Wuzong Emperor ascended the throne, Yuanzhen was promoted to left vice minister of Personnel and Hanlin academician, entered the Eastern Pavilion, and was charged exclusively with drafting edicts and commissions. Yuanzhen had long enjoyed great renown. He had lived in woodland retirement for a long time and only returned to office late in life. All those in the Hanlin halls were junior men; seeing Yuanzhen's speech and bearing, they took him for pedantic and impractical and often mocked him. Moreover, as fame and rank pressed against one another, slander spread, and remonstrating officials submitted memorial after memorial impeaching Yuanzhen. Yuanzhen submitted seven memorials begging to retire, and Liu Jian vigorously shielded him. When Liu Jian left office, Yuanzhen also died. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, he was posthumously granted the title Wenyu.

陳音，字師召，莆田人。天順末進士。改庶吉士，授編修。成化六年三月，以災異陳時政，言：「講學莫先於好問。陛下雖間禦經筵，然勢分嚴絕，上有疑未嘗問，下有見不敢陳。願引儒臣賜坐便殿，從容咨論，仰發聖聰。異端者，正道之反，法王、佛子、真人，宜一切罷遣。」章下禮部。越數日，又奏：「國家養士百年，求其可用，不可多得。如致仕尚書李秉，在籍修撰羅倫、編修張元禎、新會舉人陳獻章皆當世人望，宜召還秉等，而置獻章臺諫。言官多緘默，願召還判官王徽、評事章懋等，以開言路。」忤旨切責。

Chen Yin, whose style name was Shizhao, came from Putian. He passed the jinshi examination in the late Tianshun reign. He entered the Hanlin as a bachelor and was appointed compiler. In the third month of the sixth year of Chenghua (1470), citing calamities and portents he addressed current affairs and said: "In lecturing on learning, nothing comes before a love of questioning. Your Majesty occasionally attends the Classics Colloquium, yet the gulf of rank is severe; when you harbor doubts you never ask, and those below who see faults dare not speak. I ask that Confucian ministers be brought in and granted seats in an informal hall, that Your Majesty may consult and discuss at leisure and thereby uplift your sagely understanding. Heterodox teachings are the reverse of the right way; Dharma Kings, Buddhist sons, and True Men should all be dismissed without exception." The memorial was sent down to the Ministry of Rites. Several days later he memorialized again: "The state has nurtured scholars for a century, yet among them few can be found fit for use. Such men as the retired minister Li Bing, home-resident compiler Luo Lun, compiler Zhang Yuanzhen, and Xinhui licentiate Chen Xianzhang are all held in public esteem; Bing and the others should be recalled, and Xianzhang should be placed in a censorial or remonstrance post. Remonstrating officials are mostly silent; I ask that investigating censor Wang Hui, evaluating official Zhang Mao, and others be recalled to open the path of remonstrance." This ran counter to the imperial will and brought sharp rebuke.

司禮太監黃賜母死，廷臣皆往吊，翰林不往。侍講徐瓊謀於眾，音大怒曰：「天子侍從臣，相率拜內豎之室，若清議何！」瓊愧沮。秩滿，進侍講。汪直黨韋瑛夜帥邏卒入兵部郎中楊士偉家，縛士偉，考掠及其妻子。音與比鄰，乘墉大呼曰：「爾擅辱朝臣，不畏國法耶！」其人曰：「爾何人，不畏西廠！」音厲聲曰：「我翰林陳音也。」久之，遷南京太常少卿。劉吉父喪起復，音貽書勸其固辭，吉不悅。後吏部擬用音，吉輒阻之曰「腐儒」，以故十年不得調。嘗與守備中官爭事，為所劾，事卒得直。弘治五年，吉罷，始進本寺卿。越二年卒。

When the director of ceremonial eunuch Huang Ci's mother died, court ministers all went to offer condolences, but the Hanlin did not. Reader-in-waiting Xu Qiong plotted with the others, and Yin said in great anger: "Attendants of the Son of Heaven, going in a body to bow at an inner eunuch's house—what becomes of principled opinion!" Qiong withdrew in shame and dejection. When his term ended he was promoted to reader-in-waiting. Wei Ying, a follower of Wang Zhi, led border troops by night into the home of bureau director Yang Shiwei of the Ministry of War, bound Shiwei, and tortured him along with his wife and children. Yin was a neighbor; he mounted the wall and shouted: "You dare insult a court minister without fear of the state's law!" The man said: "Who are you—do you not fear the Western Depot!" Yin said in a harsh voice: "I am Chen Yin of the Hanlin." After a long while he was transferred to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in Nanjing. When Liu Ji left mourning early to resume office after his father's death, Yin sent him a letter urging him firmly to decline; Ji was displeased. Later, when the Ministry of Personnel proposed to employ Yin, Ji always blocked it, calling him "a rotten pedant," and for this reason Yin went ten years without a transfer. Once he disputed a matter with a garrison eunuch and was impeached by him, but in the end the case was decided in his favor. In the fifth year of Hongzhi (1492), when Ji was dismissed, Yin was at last promoted to director of his bureau. Two years later he died.

音負經術，士多遊其門者。然性健忘，世故瑣屑事皆不解。世多以不慧事附之以為笑，然不盡實也。

Yin was steeped in the classics, and many scholars studied under him. Yet by nature he was forgetful and understood none of the petty affairs of worldly life. The world often attached tales of his lack of wit to make sport of him, yet these are not wholly true.

傅瀚，字曰川，新喻人。天順八年進士。選庶吉士，除檢討。嗜學強記，善詩文。再遷左諭德，直講東宮。孝宗嗣位，擢太常少卿兼侍讀，歷禮部左、右侍郎。尋命兼學士入東閣，專典誥敕，兼掌詹事府事。

Fu Han, whose style name was Yuechuan, came from Xinyu. He passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of Tianshun (1464). Selected as a Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed reviser. Devoted to learning with a powerful memory, he excelled at poetry and prose. Promoted again to left preceptor, he lectured directly in the Eastern Palace. When the Xiaozong Emperor succeeded, he was promoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and concurrent reader-in-waiting, and served as left and right vice minister of Rites. Soon he was ordered to serve concurrently as Hanlin academician in the Eastern Pavilion, charged exclusively with drafting edicts and commissions, and also to administer the Household of the Heir Apparent.

弘治十三年代徐瓊為禮部尚書。保定獻白鵲，疏斥之。陜西巡撫熊翀以鄠縣民所得玉璽來獻，以為秦璽復出也。瀚率同列言：「秦璽完毀，具載簡冊。今所進璽，形色、篆紐皆不類，蓋後人仿為之。且帝王受命在德不在璽，太祖制六璽，列聖相承，百三十餘載，天休滋至，受命之符不在秦璽明矣。請姑藏內府。」帝是其言，薄賞得璽者。

In the thirteenth year of Hongzhi (1500) he replaced Xu Qiong as minister of Rites. When Baoding presented a white magpie, he memorialized condemning the offering. Shaanxi grand coordinator Xiong Chong presented a jade seal obtained by a commoner in Hu County, believing the Qin imperial seal had reappeared. Han led his colleagues in saying: "The Qin seal was completely destroyed; this is fully recorded in the annals. The seal now presented differs in form, color, and seal script and knob—it is clearly a later imitation. Moreover, emperors receive the Mandate through virtue, not through a seal; the Founding Emperor fashioned six seals, successive sage rulers have handed them down for more than a hundred and thirty years, Heaven's favor has ever increased—the token of the Mandate plainly does not lie in the Qin seal. I ask that it be stored for the time being in the inner treasury." The emperor approved his view and gave a modest reward to the man who had obtained the seal.

京師星變、地震、雨雹，四方多變異。瀚條上軍民所不便進者，請躬行節儉以先天下。光祿寺逋行戶物價至四萬餘兩。瀚言由供億之濫，願敦儉素，俾冗費不生。所條奏，率傅正議。十五年卒，贈太子太保，謚文穆。

In the capital there were changes in the stars, earthquakes, and hail; throughout the realm portents multiplied. Han itemized what army and people found burdensome to submit and asked that the emperor personally practice frugality to lead the empire. The Court of Imperial Entertainments owed market households more than forty thousand taels in goods prices. Han said this arose from wasteful provisioning and wished to promote plain living so that superfluous expenses would not arise. The items he memorialized mostly upheld principled counsel. In the fifteenth year (1502) he died; he was posthumously enfeoffed as grand mentor of the Heir Apparent and granted the posthumous title Wenmu.

張昇，字啟昭，南城人。成化五年進士第一。授修撰，歷諭德。弘治改元，遷庶子。

Zhang Sheng, whose style name was Qizhao, came from Nancheng. He took first place in the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Chenghua (1469). Appointed compiler, he served as preceptor. When Hongzhi began a new reign era, he was transferred to vice director of the Household of the Heir Apparent.

大學士劉吉當國，昇因天變，疏言：「陛下即位，言者率以萬安、劉吉、尹直為言，安、直被斥，吉獨存。吉乃傾身阿佞，取悅言官，昏暮款門，祈免糾劾，許以超遷。由是諫官緘口，奸計始遂。貴戚萬喜依憑宮壺，凶焰熾張，吉與締姻。及喜下獄，猶為營救。父存則異居各爨，父歿則奪情起官。談笑對客，無復戚容。盛納艷姬，恣為淫黷。」且歷數其納賄、縱子等十罪。吉憤甚，風科道劾昇誣詆，調南京工部員外郎。吉罷，復故官，歷禮部左、右侍郎。十五年代傅瀚為尚書。

Grand Secretary Liu Ji held power; Sheng, citing heavenly portents, memorialized: "Since Your Majesty's accession, critics have generally singled out Wan An, Liu Ji, and Yin Zhi; An and Zhi were dismissed, but Ji alone remained. Ji then threw himself into fawning flattery, seeking to please remonstrating officials; at dusk he would knock at their doors, praying to escape impeachment and promising rapid promotion. By this means the remonstrators fell silent, and his wicked schemes succeeded. The imperial kinsman Wan Xi relied on the inner palace women; his violent arrogance blazed, and Ji contracted a marriage alliance with him. When Xi was thrown into prison, Ji still worked to rescue him. While his father lived he lived apart and kept separate kitchens; when his father died he left mourning early to resume office. He chatted and laughed with guests and showed no grief. He kept many beautiful concubines and indulged in lewd excess." He also enumerated ten crimes, including accepting bribes and indulging his sons. Ji was furious; he prompted the censorial officials to impeach Sheng for slander, and Sheng was transferred to assistant department director in the Ministry of Works at Nanjing. When Ji was dismissed, Sheng returned to his former post and served as left and right vice minister of Rites. In the fifteenth year (1502) he replaced Fu Han as minister.

孝宗崩，真人陳應衤盾、西番灌頂大國師那卜堅參等以祓除，率其徒入乾清宮，昇請置之法。詔奪真人、國師、高士等三十餘人名號，逐之。昇在部五年，遇災異，輒進直言。亦數為言者所攻，然自守謹飭。

When Xiaozong died, the True Man Chen Yingxiang, the Tibetan anointment grand state preceptor Napojianzan, and others entered the Palace of Heavenly Purity to perform purification rites, leading their followers; Sheng requested that they be punished by law. An edict stripped more than thirty True Men, state preceptors, lofty masters, and the like of their titles and expelled them. Sheng was in the ministry five years; whenever portents occurred he promptly submitted forthright counsel. He was also often attacked by remonstrators, yet he kept himself strict and orderly.

武宗嬉遊怠政，給事中胡煜、楊一渶、張襘皆以為言，章下禮部。昇因上疏，請親賢遠佞，克謹天戒。帝是之而不能用，昇遂連疏乞休，不允。正德二年，秦府鎮國將軍誠漖請襲封保安王，昇執不可。忤劉瑾，謝病。詔加太子太保，乘傳歸，月米、歲夫如制。卒於家。

The Wuzong Emperor played and neglected government; supervising secretaries Hu Yu, Yang Yihao, and Zhang Gui all spoke out; their memorials were sent to the Ministry of Rites. Sheng therefore submitted a memorial asking to cherish the worthy and keep flatterers at a distance, and to heed heaven's warnings. The emperor approved but could not act on it; Sheng then submitted memorial after memorial begging to retire, without success. In the second year of Zhengde (1507), the defending state general of the Princedom of Qin, Chengji, requested inheritance of the title Prince of Bao'an; Sheng firmly refused. Offending Liu Jin, he pleaded illness and withdrew. An edict added the title grand mentor of the Heir Apparent; he returned home by post carriage with monthly grain and annual corvée laborers as prescribed. He died at home.

吳寬，字原博，長洲人。以文行有聲諸生間。成化八年，會試、廷試皆第一，授修撰。侍孝宗東宮，秩滿進右諭德。孝宗即位，以舊學遷左庶子，預修《憲宗實錄》，進少詹事兼侍讀學士。

Wu Kuan, whose style name was Yuanbo, came from Changzhou. His learning and personal conduct won him renown among fellow students. In the eighth year of the Chenghua reign (1472), he topped both the metropolitan and palace examinations and was appointed a reviser at the Hanlin Academy. He attended Prince Xiaozong in the Eastern Palace, and when his term ended was promoted to right sub-reader. When Xiaozong came to the throne, he was moved to left assistant to the heir apparent as a former tutor, took part in compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong, and was promoted to junior tutor of the heir apparent while retaining his posts as reader and Hanlin academician.

弘治八年擢吏部右侍郎。丁繼母憂，吏部員缺，命虛位待之。服滿還任，轉左，改掌詹事府，入東閣，專典誥敕，仍侍武宗東宮。宦豎多不欲太子近儒臣，數移事間講讀。寬率其僚上疏曰：「東宮講學，寒暑風雨則止，朔望令節則止，一年不過數月，一月不過數日，一日不過數刻。是進講之時少，輟講之日多，豈容復以他事妨誦讀。古人八歲就傅，即居宿於外，欲離近習，親正人耳。庶民且然，矧太子天下本哉？」帝嘉納之。

In the eighth year of the Hongzhi reign (1495), he was promoted to right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel. When he entered mourning for his stepmother, the Ministry of Personnel post was left vacant by imperial order until he could return. When his mourning was over he resumed office, moved to the left vice ministership, took charge of the Household of the Heir Apparent, entered the Eastern Lodge to handle edicts and patents exclusively, and continued to attend Prince Wuzong in the Eastern Palace. The eunuchs mostly did not want the crown prince close to Confucian tutors, and repeatedly used other duties to interrupt his lectures. Kuan led his colleagues in submitting a memorial: "Lectures in the Eastern Palace stop for cold, heat, wind, and rain, and stop on the new and full moon and on festival days; in a year there are at most a few months of instruction, in a month at most a few days, and in a day at most a few brief sessions. Time spent lecturing is therefore little and days without lectures are many—how can other business be allowed to obstruct study yet again? In antiquity a child of eight took a tutor and lodged apart from home, precisely to leave bad company and keep company with upright men. Even commoners did this—how much more so the crown prince, upon whom the realm itself depends?" The emperor approved the memorial and accepted its advice.

十六年進禮部尚書，余如故。先是，孝莊錢太后崩，廷議孝肅周太后萬歲後，並葬裕陵，祔睿廟，禮皆如適。至是，孝肅崩，將祔廟，帝終以並祔為疑，下禮官集議。寬言《魯頌·宮》、《春秋》考仲子之宮皆別廟，漢、唐亦然。會大臣亦多主別廟，帝乃從之。時詞臣望重者，寬為最，謝遷次之。遷既入閣，嘗為劉健言，欲引寬共政，健固不從。他日又曰：「吳公科第、年齒、聞望皆先於遷，遷實自愧，豈有私於吳公耶。」及遷引退，舉寬自代，亦不果用。中外皆為之惜，而寬甚安之，曰：「吾初望不及此也。」年七十，數引疾，輒慰留，竟卒於官。贈太子太保，謚文定。授長子奭中書舍人，補次子奐國子生，異數也。

In the sixteenth year he was promoted to minister of rites; his other posts remained unchanged. Earlier, when Empress Dowager Qian of Xiaozhuang died, the court had debated that after Empress Dowager Zhou of Xiaosu passed away she should be buried with the emperor at Yuling, enshrined in the temple of Emperor Ruizong, and accorded rites equal to those of the principal consort. When Xiaosu died and the time came to enshrine her in the ancestral temple, the emperor still doubted joint enshrinement and ordered the ritual officials to deliberate. Kuan argued that the "Gong" ode in the Lu Eulogies and the Spring and Autumn Annals' account of Zhongzi's separate temple both prescribed separate shrines, as did Han and Tang practice. Many senior ministers also favored a separate shrine, and the emperor accepted their view. Among the most esteemed literary officials of the day, Kuan stood first and Xie Qian second. After Qian entered the Grand Secretariat, he once told Liu Jian that he wished to bring Kuan into the cabinet to share power, but Jian firmly refused. On another occasion he said: "Lord Wu's rank, age, and reputation all precede my own; I truly feel ashamed before him—how could I show favoritism toward him?" When Qian retired and recommended Kuan to succeed him, that recommendation too went unheeded. Court and country alike regretted the missed appointment, but Kuan was entirely at peace and said: "My early ambitions never reached this far." At seventy he repeatedly asked to retire on grounds of illness, but each time the emperor comforted him and kept him on; he died in office at last. He was posthumously enfeoffed as grand mentor of the heir apparent and given the posthumous name Wending. His eldest son Yi was appointed a secretariat secretary, and his second son Huan was enrolled as a student at the Imperial Academy—an exceptional honor.

寬行履高潔，不為激矯，而自守以正。於書無不讀，詩文有典則，兼工書法。有田數頃，嘗以周親故之貧者。友人賀恩疾，遷至邸，旦夕視之。恩死，為衣素一月。

Kuan's conduct was lofty and unsullied; he did not affect moral display, but held himself upright by principle. He read widely in every field, wrote poetry and prose with classical restraint, and was also accomplished in calligraphy. He owned several qing of land and often used the income to support impoverished relatives and old friends. When his friend He En fell ill, he moved into his house and attended him morning and night. When En died, he wore plain white mourning for a full month.

傅珪，字邦瑞，清苑人。成化二十三年進士。改庶吉士。弘治中，授編修，尋兼司經局校書。與修《大明會典》成，遷左中允。武宗立，以東宮恩，進左諭德，充講官，纂修《孝宗實錄》。時詞臣不附劉瑾，瑾惡之。謂《會典》成於劉健等，多所糜費，鐫與修者官，降珪修撰。俄以《實錄》成，進左中允，再遷翰林學士，歷吏部左、右侍郎。

Fu Gui, whose style name was Bangrui, came from Qingyuan. He passed the civil examinations as a jinshi in the twenty-third year of the Chenghua reign (1487). He was selected as a probationary palace scholar. During the Hongzhi reign he was appointed a compiler and soon also served as collator in the Directorate of Classics. When the Da Ming Collected Statutes were completed, he was promoted to left assistant director. When Wuzong ascended the throne, he was promoted to left sub-reader through his former service in the Eastern Palace, served as a lecturer, and helped compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong. At the time the literary officials would not attach themselves to Liu Jin, and Jin hated them for it. Jin claimed that the Collected Statutes compiled under Liu Jian and others had wasted vast sums, struck the offices of those who had compiled it, and demoted Gui to reviser. Soon afterward, when the Veritable Records were completed, he was promoted to left assistant director, then to Hanlin academician, and served successively as left and right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

正德六年，代費宏為禮部尚書。禮部事視他部為簡，自珪數有執爭，章奏遂多。帝好佛，自稱「大慶法王」。番僧乞田百頃為法王下院，中旨下部，稱大慶法王與聖旨並。珪佯不知，執奏：「孰為大慶法王？敢與至尊並書，大不敬。」詔勿問，田亦竟止。

In the sixth year of the Zhengde reign (1511), he replaced Fei Hong as minister of rites. The Ministry of Rites had lighter duties than other ministries, but from Gui's tenure onward its firm disputes with the throne made memorials multiply. The emperor favored Buddhism and styled himself the "Dharma King of Great Celebration." A Tibetan monk requested a hundred qing of land for a subsidiary monastery of the dharma king; an imperial rescript reached the ministry placing the Dharma King of Great Celebration on equal footing with the throne's own edict. Gui feigned ignorance and submitted a firm memorial: "Who is this Dharma King of Great Celebration? To place him on equal footing with the sovereign in writing is gross disrespect." An edict ordered that the matter not be pursued, and the land grant was stopped in the end.

珪居閑類木訥者。及當大事，毅然執持，人不能奪，卒以此忤權幸去。教坊司臧賢請易牙牌，制如朝士，又請改鑄方印。珪格不行。賢日夜騰謗於諸閹間，冀去珪。流寇擾河南，太監陸訚謀督師，下廷議，莫敢先發。珪厲聲曰：「師老民疲，賊日熾，以冒功者多，僨事者漏罰，失將士心。先所遣已無功，可復遣耶？今賊橫行郊圻肘腋間，民囂然思亂，禍旦夕及宗社。吾儕死不償責，諸公安得首鼠兩端。」由是議罷。疏上，竟遣訚，而中官皆憾珪。御史張羽奏雲南災。珪因極言四方災變可畏。八年五月，復奏四月災，因言：「春秋二百四十二年，災變六十九事。今自去秋來，地震天鳴，雹降星殞，龍虎出見，地裂山崩，凡四十有二，而水旱不與焉，災未有若是甚者。」極陳時弊十事，語多斥權幸，權幸益深嫉之。會戶部尚書孫交亦以守正見忤，遂矯旨令二人致仕。兩京言官交章請留，不聽。

In ordinary times Gui seemed dull and slow of speech. But when great affairs were at stake he held firm with a resolve no one could shake, and in the end lost office for offending the powerful favorites. Zang Xian of the Music Bureau asked to replace his tally-plaques with ones like those of court officials, and also requested a newly cast square seal. Gui blocked both requests and refused to carry them out. Xian spent day and night spreading slander among the eunuchs, hoping to drive Gui from office. Roaming bandits ravaged Henan; the eunuch Lu Yan sought overall command of the campaign; the matter was sent to court for debate, and no one dared speak first. Gui said sharply: "The army is worn out and the people exhausted; the bandits grow fiercer by the day; many claim false credit while those who ruin campaigns escape punishment—this destroys the morale of officers and soldiers. The commanders already sent have achieved nothing—can we send them out again? Now the bandits roam the capital's outskirts and even its very gates; the people clamor with thoughts of revolt, and disaster may strike the altars of state at any moment. Even our deaths would not discharge our responsibility—how can you gentlemen sit on the fence like rats with two holes?" On that basis the proposal was dropped in deliberation. When the memorial reached the throne, Yan was dispatched anyway, and the inner officials all resented Gui. Censor Zhang Yu memorialized about disasters in Yunnan. Gui thereupon spoke at length about the alarming calamities and portents appearing in every direction. In the fifth month of the eighth year he again memorialized about the disasters of the fourth month, saying: "In the 242 years covered by the Spring and Autumn Annals there were only sixty-nine recorded calamities and portents. Since last autumn alone there have been earthquakes, thunder in a clear sky, hail, falling stars, dragons and tigers appearing, earth splitting and mountains collapsing—forty-two in all, not counting floods and droughts; never have calamities been so severe." He then set forth ten current abuses at length, his words largely censuring the powerful favorites, who hated him all the more deeply for it. As it happened Minister of Revenue Sun Jiao had also offended the throne by upholding rectitude, and a forged edict then ordered both men to retire. Remonstrating officials in both capitals submitted successive memorials asking that the two be retained, but the throne would not listen.

珪歸三年，御史盧雍稱珪在位有古大臣風，家無儲蓄，日給為累，乞頒月廩、歲隸，以示優禮。又謂珪剛直忠讜，當起用。吏部請如雍言，不報。而珪適卒，年五十七。遣命毋請恤典。撫、按以為言，詔蔭其子中書舍人。嘉靖元年錄先朝守正大臣，追贈太子少保，謚文毅。

Three years after Gui retired, Censor Lu Yong praised his conduct in office as having the bearing of the great ministers of old, noted that his household had no savings and daily living was a burden, and asked that monthly grain and annual retainers be granted as a mark of special favor. He also argued that Gui was upright, frank, and loyal in remonstrance and ought to be recalled to office. The Ministry of Personnel requested acting on Yong's proposal, but received no reply. Gui happened to die just then, at the age of fifty-seven. His final instructions were that no posthumous honors be requested. The provincial governor and surveillance commissioner appealed on his behalf, and an edict granted his son the post of secretariat secretary by hereditary privilege. In the first year of the Jiajing reign (1522), when upright ministers of the previous reign were honored, he was posthumously enfeoffed as junior guardian of the heir apparent and given the posthumous name Wenyi.

劉春，字仁仲，巴人。成化二十三年進士及第。授編修，屢遷翰林學士。正德六年擢吏部右侍郎，進左。八年代傅珪為禮部尚書。淮王祐棨、鄭王祐檡皆由旁支襲封，而祐棨稱其本生為考，祐檡並欲追封入廟。交城王秉杋由鎮國將軍嗣爵，而進其妹為縣主。春皆據禮駁之，遂著為例。

Liu Chun, whose style name was Renzhong, came from Ba. He passed the palace examination as a jinshi in the twenty-third year of the Chenghua reign (1487). Appointed a compiler, he was repeatedly promoted until he reached Hanlin academician. In the sixth year of the Zhengde reign (1511) he was promoted to right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, then to the left post. In the eighth year he replaced Fu Gui as minister of rites. Princes Youqi of Huai and Youji of Zheng had both inherited their titles from collateral lines, yet Youqi called his biological father "father," and Youji also sought posthumous enfeoffment and installation in the ancestral temple. Prince Bingfang of Jiaocheng had succeeded to the title from the rank of state guardian general and sought to elevate his younger sister to county princess. Chun rejected all these petitions on ritual grounds, and his rulings were established as precedents.

帝崇信西僧，常襲其衣服，演法內廠。有綽吉我些兒者，出入豹房，封大德法王。遣其徒二人還烏思藏，請給國師誥命如大乘法王例，歲時入貢，且得賫茶以行。春持不可。帝命再議，春執奏曰：「烏思藏遠在西方，性極頑獷。雖設四王撫化，其來貢必有節制，使不為邊患。若許其賫茶，給之誥敕，萬一假上旨以誘羌人，妄有請乞，不從失異俗心，從之則滋害。」奏上，罷賫茶，卒與誥命。春又奏：「西番俗信佛教，故祖宗承前代舊，設立烏思藏諸司，及陜西洮、岷，四川松潘諸寺，令化導番人，許之朝貢。貢期、人數皆有定制。比緣諸番僻遠，莫辨真偽。中國逃亡罪人，習其語言，竄身在內，又多創寺請額。番貢日增，宴賞繁費，乞嚴其期限，酌定人數，每寺給勘合十道，緣邊兵備存勘合底簿，比對相同，方許起送。並禁自後不得濫營寺宇。」報可。廣東布政使羅榮等入覲，各言鎮守內臣入貢之害。春列上累朝停革貢獻詔旨，且言四方水旱盜賊，軍民困苦狀，乞罷諸鎮守臣。不納。

The emperor deeply trusted Western monks, often wore their robes, and preached the dharma at the Inner Works. One monk named Chuoji Wo Xie'er moved freely in and out of the Leopard Quarter and was enfeoffed as the Great Virtue Dharma King. He sent two disciples back to U-Tsang to request a state preceptor patent on the model granted the Great Vehicle Dharma King, yearly tribute missions, and permission to carry imperial tribute tea for the journey. Chun maintained that this could not be allowed. The emperor ordered further deliberation; Chun submitted a firm memorial: "U-Tsang lies far in the west, and its people are by nature extremely stubborn and fierce. Although four kings were established to pacify and convert them, their tribute missions must be strictly limited so that they do not become a border menace. If we allow them to carry tribute tea and grant them patents of appointment, they may falsely invoke imperial authority to entice Qiang tribes and make reckless demands—refusal would alienate foreign peoples, and compliance would multiply the harm." When the memorial reached the throne, the tribute tea was denied, but in the end the patent was granted. Chun also memorialized: "The western tribes believe in Buddhism by custom; therefore our imperial ancestors, following earlier dynasties, established the various offices of U-Tsang and the monasteries at Tao and Min in Shaanxi and Songpan in Sichuan to guide and convert the tribal peoples and permit them to come in tribute. The periods and numbers of tribute missions were each fixed by regulation. Recently, because the tribes are remote and obscure, true and false envoys can no longer be distinguished. Fugitive criminals from China, having learned tribal languages, slipped in among them, and many also founded monasteries and requested imperial plaques. Tribal tribute missions increase daily while banquets and rewards grow extravagantly costly; I ask that deadlines be strictly enforced, numbers of envoys set appropriately, that each monastery be issued ten tally-verifications, that border military officials keep the tally registers, and that missions be permitted to depart only when the tallies match. And forbid henceforth the indiscriminate founding of monasteries." The throne approved the proposal. Guangdong administrative commissioner Luo Rong and others came to audience and each spoke of the harm caused by resident eunuchs' tribute missions. Chun listed edicts of successive reigns halting and abolishing tribute missions, described floods, droughts, and banditry across the realm and the distress of soldiers and civilians, and asked that all resident eunuch officials be abolished. The proposal was rejected.

春掌禮三年，慎守彜典。宗藩請封、請婚及文武大臣祭葬、贈謚，多所裁正。遭憂，服闋起南京吏部尚書。尋以禮部尚書專典誥敕，掌詹事府事。十六年卒。贈太子太保，謚，文簡。

Chun held the rites portfolio for three years and carefully upheld the canonical ritual code. When imperial clansmen petitioned for enfeoffment or marriage, and when civil and military officials sought funeral rites, posthumous honors, and posthumous titles, he corrected many such requests. After a bereavement, when his mourning period ended he was recalled as Minister of Personnel at Nanjing. Soon afterward he was appointed Minister of Rites, charged exclusively with drafting edicts and patent letters, and directed the affairs of the Household of the Heir Apparent. In the sixteenth year he died. He was posthumously honored as Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous title Wenjian.

劉氏世以科第顯。春父規，御史。弟臺，雲南參政。子彭年，巡撫貴州右副都御史。彭年子起宗，遼東苑馬寺卿。起宗子世賞，廣東左布政使。臺子鶴年，雲南布政使，以清譽聞。鶴年孫世曾，巡撫雲南右副都御史，有征緬功。皆由進士。

The Liu clan had been prominent for generations through the examination system. Chun's father Gui served as a censor. His younger brother Tai served as administration vice commissioner of Yunnan. His son Pengnian served as vice censor-in-chief and governor of Guizhou. Pengnian's son Qizong served as director of the Liaodong Stud Farm Directorate. Qizong's son Shishang served as left administrative commissioner of Guangdong. Tai's son Henian served as administrative commissioner of Yunnan and was known for his reputation for integrity. Henian's grandson Shizeng served as vice censor-in-chief and governor of Yunnan, with merit in the campaign against Burma. All had entered office through the metropolitan examination.

吳儼，字克溫，宜興人。成化二十三年進士。改庶吉士，授編修，歷侍講學士，掌南京翰林院。正德初，召修《孝宗實錄》，直講筵。劉瑾竊柄，聞儼家多資，遣人啖以美官。儼峻拒之，瑾怒。會大計群吏，中旨罷儼官。瑾誅，復職歷禮部左、右侍郎，拜南京禮部尚書。

Wu Yan, styled Kewen, was a native of Yixing. He passed the metropolitan examination in the twenty-third year of Chenghua. He was transferred to Hanlin Bachelor, appointed compiler, served successively as expositor and reader, and directed the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. At the start of the Zhengde reign he was summoned to compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong and served in the imperial lecturing presence. When Liu Jin usurped power, hearing that Yan's family was wealthy, he sent men to lure him with a fine office. Yan sternly refused, and Jin grew angry. At the grand evaluation of officials, an edict from the inner court removed Yan from office. After Jin was executed, Yan was restored to office, served successively as left and right vice minister of rites, and was appointed Minister of Rites at Nanjing.

十二年，武宗北巡，儼抗疏切諫。明年復偕諸大臣上疏曰：「臣等初聞駕幸昌平，曾具疏極論，不蒙采納。既聞出居庸，幸宣、大，宰輔不及知，群臣不及從，三軍之士不及衛，京師內外人心動搖。徐、淮以南，荒饉千里，去冬雨雪為災，民無衣食，安保其不為盜。所禦之寇尚遠隔陰山，而不虞之禍或猝起於肘腋，臣所大懼也。」不報。

In the twelfth year, when Emperor Wuzong toured the north, Yan submitted a forceful memorial strongly remonstrating. The following year he again joined the senior ministers in a memorial, saying: "We first heard that Your Majesty would visit Changping and submitted a memorial arguing at length, but it was not accepted. Now we hear that Your Majesty has passed through Juyong and proceeded to Xuanfu and Datong; the chief ministers had no advance knowledge, the assembled officials could not follow, the soldiers of the three armies could not guard, and hearts within and outside the capital are unsettled. South of Xu and Huai, famine stretches a thousand li; last winter snow and rain brought disaster, and the people lack food and clothing—how can one ensure they will not turn to banditry? The enemy we guard against is still far beyond the Yin Mountains, yet unanticipated calamity may suddenly arise at our very side—this is what we greatly fear." No response was given.

十四年卒官。贈太子少保，謚文肅。

In the fourteenth year he died in office. He was posthumously honored as Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous title Wensu.

顧清，字士廉，松江華亭人。弘治五年舉鄉試第一。明年，成進士，改庶吉士，授編修。與同年生毛澄、羅欽順、汪俊相砥以名節。進侍讀。

Gu Qing, styled Shilian, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. In the fifth year of Hongzhi he placed first in the provincial examination. The next year he passed the metropolitan examination, was transferred to Hanlin Bachelor, and appointed compiler. With his examination cohort Mao Cheng, Luo Qinshun, and Wang Jun he sharpened one another in reputation and integrity. He was promoted to reader.

正德初，劉瑾竊柄，清邑子張文冕為謀主，附者立尊顯。清絕不與通，瑾銜之。四年摘《會典》小誤，挫諸翰林，清降編修。又以諸翰林未諳政事，調外任及兩京部屬，清得南京兵部員外郎。會父憂，不赴。瑾誅，還侍讀，擢侍讀學士掌院事。尋遷少詹事，充經筵日講官，進禮部右侍郎。時澄已為尚書，清協恭守職，前後請建儲宮，罷巡幸，疏凡十數上。世宗嗣位，為御史李獻所劾，罷歸。

At the start of the Zhengde reign, when Liu Jin usurped power, Qing's fellow townsman Zhang Wenmian served as chief strategist; those who attached themselves to him were swiftly elevated. Qing utterly refused to have dealings with them, and Jin bore a grudge. In the fourth year, seizing on a minor error in the Collected Statutes, Jin humbled the Hanlin academicians; Qing was demoted to compiler. On further grounds that Hanlin scholars were unfamiliar with state affairs, they were transferred to outside posts and subordinate positions in both capitals; Qing was assigned as secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of War. Just then his father died, and he did not take up the post. After Jin was executed, Qing returned as reader, was promoted to reading bachelor, and directed academy affairs. Soon afterward he was transferred to junior tutor of the heir apparent, served as daily lecturer at the classics colloquium, and was promoted to right vice minister of rites. By then Mao Cheng was already minister; Qing worked collaboratively and diligently in office, and submitted more than a dozen memorials requesting the establishment of a crown prince and the cessation of imperial tours. When Emperor Shizong succeeded to the throne, he was impeached by censor Li Xian and dismissed to return home.

清學端行謹，恬於進取。家居，薦者相繼，悉報寢。嘉靖六年，詔舉老成堪用內閣者，廷推及清，乃以為南京禮部右侍郎。上言：「錦衣職侍衛，祖宗朝非機密不遣。正德間，營差四出，海內騷然，陛下所親見。近乃遣千戶勘揚州高瀹爭私財事，囚其女婦，憯毒備加。請自今悉付所司，停旗校無遣。」從之。

Qing's learning was upright, his conduct careful, and he was indifferent to advancement. While at home, recommenders came one after another, but all nominations were shelved. In the sixth year of Jiajing, an edict called for recommendations of seasoned men fit for the grand secretariat; the court nomination reached Qing, and he was appointed right vice minister of rites at Nanjing. He memorialized the throne: "The duty of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is attendance and protection; in the reigns of our ancestral emperors they were not dispatched except on confidential matters. During the Zhengde period, commissions were sent out in all directions and the realm was thrown into turmoil—Your Majesty saw this with your own eyes. Recently a chiliarch was sent to investigate a private property dispute involving Gao Yue of Yangzhou; his daughters and daughters-in-law were imprisoned and subjected to every cruelty. I ask that henceforth all such matters be entrusted to the proper offices and that banner officers and guard deputies cease to be dispatched entirely." The throne assented.

屢疏引疾，詔進尚書致仕。時方進表入都，道卒。謚文僖。

He repeatedly memorialized citing illness; an edict promoted him to minister and granted him retirement. Just then, as he was submitting a memorial on the road to the capital, he died en route. He was given the posthumous title Wenxi.

劉瑞，字德符，內江人。父時斅，官山東僉事，以廉惠稱。瑞舉弘治九年進士，選庶吉士，授檢討。好學潔修，遇事輒有論建。清寧宮災，請罷醮壇。時召內閣講官延訪治道，又言：「故閹李廣門下內臣，宜悉治罪。前太監汪直，先帝罪人，今來覬用，當斥遠之。副使楊茂元、郎中王雲鳳以直言獲罪，宜召復其官。京師之萬春宮，興濟真武廟、壽寧侯第，在外之興、岐、衡、雍、汝、涇諸府，土木繁興，宜悉罷不急者。都勻之捷，鄧廷瓚冒其功。賀蘭之征，王越啟其釁。請追正欺罔之罪。」報聞。闕里廟成，遣大學士李東陽祭告。瑞請更定先師封謚，不果行。

Liu Rui, styled Defu, was a native of Neijiang. His father Shixiao served as surveillance vice commissioner of Shandong and was known for integrity and benevolence. Rui passed the metropolitan examination in the ninth year of Hongzhi, was selected as Hanlin Bachelor, and appointed reviser. He loved learning and cultivated purity in conduct; whenever events arose he had proposals to offer. When the Qingning Palace burned, he requested that Daoist altars of supplication be abolished. At the time the throne summoned grand secretariat lecturers to consult on the Way of governance, and he also said: "The palace eunuchs who were under the disgraced eunuch Li Guang should all be punished. The former superintendent Wang Zhi was a criminal of the late emperor; now that he has come seeking employment again, he should be repudiated and kept at a distance. Vice commissioner Yang Maoyuan and director Wang Yunfeng were punished for forthright speech; they should be recalled and their offices restored. In the capital—the Wanchun Palace, the Xingji Zhenwu Temple, and the mansion of the Marquis of Shouning; in the provinces—the princely establishments at Xing, Qi, Heng, Yong, Ru, and Jing—construction projects flourish everywhere; all non-urgent works should be abolished. At the victory at Duyun, Deng Tingzan usurped the credit. In the campaign at Helan, Wang Yue provoked the conflict. I ask that the crime of deception be investigated and corrected." Acknowledgment was returned. When the Confucius temple at Qufu was completed, Grand Secretary Li Dongyang was dispatched to offer sacrifice and announcement. Rui requested that the enfeoffment title and posthumous title of the Sage be revised, but this was not carried out.

劉瑾用事，瑞即謝病。貧不能還鄉，依從母子李充嗣於澧州。瑾榜瑞為奸黨，又以前薦雍泰除其名，罰米輸塞上。坐是益困，授徒自給。

When Liu Jin wielded power, Rui immediately pleaded illness and withdrew. Too poor to return home, he relied on his maternal cousin Li Chongsi at Lizhou. Jin listed Rui among the faction of villains, and because he had previously recommended Yong Tai, struck his name from the rolls and fined him grain to be delivered to the frontier. For this he grew ever poorer and supported himself by teaching pupils.

瑾誅，以副使督浙江學校，召為南京太僕少卿。嘉靖二年，由南太常卿就遷禮部右侍郎。因災變偕同官條上六事，且言齋醮無益且妨政，織造多費且病民。帝多納用之。大禮議起，瑞偕九卿合疏。極言大宗、小宗之義，凡數千言。四年卒官。贈尚書。隆慶初，謚文肅。

After Jin was executed, he served as education intendant of Zhejiang and was summoned as vice director of the Nanjing Court of the Imperial Stud. In the second year of Jiajing, from vice director of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Sacrifices he was directly promoted to right vice minister of rites. In response to natural calamities he joined his colleagues in submitting six items in sequence, and also stated that fasting and Daoist rites were of no benefit and obstructed governance, while excessive weaving and manufacturing wasted resources and harmed the people. The emperor accepted and enacted much of this. When the Grand Rites controversy arose, Rui joined the nine chief ministers in a joint memorial. He expounded at length on the principles of the major and minor lineages, in several thousand words altogether. In the fourth year he died in office. He was posthumously honored as minister. At the start of the Longqing reign he was given the posthumous title Wensu.

贊曰：周洪謨等以詞臣歷卿貳。或職事拳拳，或侃侃建白，進講以啟沃為心，守官以獻替自效。於文學侍從之選，均無愧諸。

The chronicler commends: Zhou Hongmo and the others rose from literary officials to vice-ministerial rank. Some were scrupulous in their duties, some spoke forthrightly in memorials; in lecturing they took nourishing the ruler as their aim, in holding office they took offering counsel and replacement as their service. Among those chosen for literary service at court, none fell short of the standard.

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