Ming · Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official

Ma Ziqiang 馬自強

First attested AD 1553; died AD 1578

Passages
7
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Ma Ziqiang was a Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official.

PeriodMing
IdentityHistorical

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Tigan 體乾
Posthumous name Wenzhuang 文莊

Life and dates

Death

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Career and standing

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Events and relationships

References in the histories

History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 7 passages
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馬自強，字體乾，同州人．嘉靖三十二年進士．改庶吉士，授檢討．隆慶中，歷洗馬，直經筵．遷國子祭酒，振飭學政，請寄不行．遷少詹事兼侍讀學士，掌翰林院． Ma Ziqiang, styled Tigān, came from Tongzhou. He passed the jinshi in the thirty-second year of Jiajing, entered the Hanlin Academy, and was appointed reviser. During the Longqing reign he served as reader and attended the Classics Lectern. As Chancellor of the National University he vigorously reformed academic administration and refused requests for lodging of relatives in official posts. He was then made Junior Mentor and Concurrent Reader and took charge of the Hanlin Academy.
禮官所掌，宗藩事最多，先後條例自相牴牾，黠吏得恣為奸利．自強擇其當者俾僚吏遵守，諸不可用者悉屏之．每藩府疏至，應時裁決，榜之部門，明示行止，吏無所牟利．龍虎山正一真人，隆慶時已降為提點，奪印敕．至是，張國祥求復故號，自強寢其奏．國祥乃重賄馮保固求復，自強力持不可，卒以中旨許之．初，俺答通貢市，賞有定額，後邊臣徇其求，額漸溢．自強請申故約，濫乞者勿與，歲省費不貲．世宗實錄成，加太子少保． The Ministry of Rites handled more clan affairs than anything else; successive regulations contradicted one another, and clever clerks profited at will. Ziqiang chose the sound rules for his staff to follow and discarded the rest. Whenever a princely memorial arrived, he decided it promptly, posted the ruling at the ministry gate, and left clerks no room to profit. The Zhengyi Perfected Man of Longhu Mountain had already been reduced during Longqing to Supervisory Commissioner and stripped of seal and patent. Now Zhang Guoxiang sought restoration of his old title; Ziqiang shelved the memorial. Guoxiang then bribed Feng Bao heavily to press the case; Ziqiang held firm that it could not be allowed, but an edict from the inner court permitted it in the end. When Altan first opened tribute and markets, rewards had fixed quotas; later frontier officials indulged his requests until the quotas swelled. Ziqiang asked that the old agreement be enforced and excessive demands refused, saving incalculable yearly expense. When the Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong were completed, he was given the additional title of Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince.
六年三月，居正將歸葬父．念閣臣在鄉里者，高拱與己有深隙，殷士儋多奧援，或乘間以出，惟徐階老易與，擬薦之自代．已遣使報階，既念階前輩，己還，當位其下，乃請增置閣臣．帝即令居正推擇，遂以人望薦自強及所厚申時行．詔加自強太子太保兼文淵閣大學士，與時行並參機務．自強初以救吳中行、趙用賢忤居正，自分不敢望，及制下，人更以是多居正．時呂調陽、張四維先在閣．調陽衰，數寢疾不出，小事四維代擬旨，大事則馳報居正於江陵，聽其裁決．自強雖持正，亦不能有為，守位而已． In the third month of the sixth year Zhang Juzheng was about to go home to bury his father. He thought of Grand Secretaries still in their home districts: Gao Gong bore him a deep grudge, Yin Shidan had many powerful backers and might seize an opening, and only the aged Xu Jie seemed manageable—he planned to recommend Jie as his stand-in. He had already sent a messenger to Jie, but then reflected that Jie was his senior and that on returning he would have to serve beneath him, so he asked instead to add Grand Secretaries. The emperor ordered Juzheng to choose men; he recommended Ziqiang and his own protégé Shen Shixing on grounds of public esteem. An edict made Ziqiang Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuange, to join Shixing in state deliberations. Ziqiang had offended Juzheng by pleading for Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian and had not dared hope for appointment; when the order came, people praised Juzheng all the more for magnanimity. Lü Diaoyang and Zhang Siwei were already in the secretariat. Diaoyang was failing, often ill and absent; Siwei drafted minor edicts in his place, while major matters were rushed to Juzheng at Jiangling for decision. Though upright, Ziqiang could accomplish nothing and merely held his seat.