DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOLAR-OFFICIAL IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY CHINA: THE INTERLACED CAREERS OF WANG SHIZHEN AND ZHANG JUZHENG

The careers of two famous officials in sixteenth-century China demonstrate important distinctions and tensions in society and politics. The two were the canny and politically astute Zhang Juzheng (1525–1582) and the talented but unconventional literary leader Wang Shizhen (1526–1590). They can be said to represent different types of scholar-official in mid-Ming. This point and an analysis of their relationship form the following discussion, which delves into their partially overlapping lives. Zhang Juzheng was a year older than Wang Shizhen; but they passed the jinshi examination together and began their official careers at the same time. Ultimately, their fates were utterly different. Despite several years of setback, when Zhang returned to obscurity, his political career was generally a success, sheerly in terms of power: he was able to develop his talents and opinions fully, becoming eventually an imperial tutor and a Grand Secretary, with close access to the emperor. After his death, however, his property was confiscated and his family destroyed, descendants left scattered and poverty-stricken. Wang Shizhen's career was tortuous in another, less extreme, way. Of his roughly forty years in official service, more than twenty were a downturn, with Wang living in forced retirement. When Zhang attained the zenith of his power, Wang was forced yet again to resign and return home. All that was left to a deeply disheartened Wang Shizhen was self-cultivation and Daoist studies. In his capacity as historian, however, Wang Shizhen took up the brush to record what he knew of Zhang Juzheng.