Ming · Royal Family Member

Eldest Imperial Son 皇長子

Attested AD 1582 - AD 1598

Passages
2
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Eldest Imperial Son was a Royal Family Member.

PeriodMing
IdentityHistorical

Life and dates

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Events and relationships

  • His birth prompted Zhang Siwei’s reform memorial; at sixteen his coming-of-age and marriage rites were debated.
    Biographical event · Participant
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 7

References in the histories

History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 2 passages
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初，四維曲事居正，積不能堪，擬旨不盡如居正意，居正亦漸惡之．既得政，知中外積苦居正，欲大收人心．會皇子生，頒詔天下，疏言：「今法紀修明，海宇寧謐，足稱治平．而文武諸臣，不達朝廷勵精本意，務為促急煩碎，致徵斂無藝，政令乖舛，中外囂然，喪其樂生之心．誠宜及此大慶，蕩滌煩苛，弘敷惠澤，俾四海烝黎，咸戴帝德，此固人心培國脈之要術也．」帝嘉納之．自是，朝政稍變，言路亦發舒，詆居正時事． Siwei had long endured humbling himself before Juzheng; the drafts he prepared did not always suit Juzheng's mind, and Juzheng in turn grew to dislike him. Once in power, knowing how deeply the court and country had resented Juzheng, he sought to win people back on a broad scale. When a prince was born and an edict went out to the empire, he submitted a memorial: 'Law and discipline are now clear, the realm is at peace, and the age may be called well governed. Yet civil and military officials, missing the court's intent to govern with vigor, have turned urgent, harsh, and petty; levies know no bounds, orders go awry, and uproar inside and outside the court has killed the people's will to live in peace. On this great occasion we should sweep away vexing severity, spread broad grace, and let all under heaven cherish the emperor's virtue—this is how to nourish popular sentiment and strengthen the state's lifeline.' The emperor praised and accepted it. From then on court policy shifted somewhat, the censorate grew bolder, and denunciations of Juzheng's era multiplied.
時兩宮災，彗星見，日食九分有奇，三殿又災，連歲間變異迭出．志臯請下罪己詔，因累疏陳時政缺失．而其大者定國本、罷礦稅諸事，凡十一條．優詔報聞而已．皇長子年十六時，志臯嘗請舉冠婚禮．帝命禮官具儀．及儀上，不果行．二十六年三月，志臯等復以為言，終不允． Both palaces burned, a comet appeared, a solar eclipse covered more than nine-tenths of the sun, and the three main halls burned—calamities piled up year after year. Zhigao asked for a self-reproach edict and submitted successive memorials on policy failures, chief among them fixing the succession and abolishing mining taxes, eleven items in all. He received only favorable acknowledgments. When the eldest imperial son was sixteen Zhigao asked that his coming-of-age and wedding rites be held; the emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to prepare the ritual, but when it was submitted it was not carried out. In the third month of the twenty-sixth year Zhigao raised it again; in the end the emperor refused.