. He held influential positions during the reigns of the
emperors in the early 16th century, serving in the northwestern frontier province of Shaanxi and various central government offices. These included the positions of minister of revenue, minister of personnel, and grand secretary. In 1526 and 1527–1529, he was appointed as the head of the
. He was also highly regarded as a poet during his time.
Biography
Yang Yiqing was born in 1454 in Yunnan, and later resided in Zhenjiang Prefecture (present-day Dantu, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province). Yang Yiqing received a Confucian education and successfully passed the civil service examinations. In 1472, at the age of eighteen, he passed the highest level of the examinations, known as the palace examination, in Beijing. This achievement marked the beginning of his career in the civil service.
He spent numerous years serving in the northwestern frontier of Shaanxi Province. Eventually, he was promoted to the position of grand coordinator (xunfu), where he was responsible for overseeing both the civil and military departments of the province. During his time in this role, he made efforts to revive a project to construct defensive walls in Ordos, as part of a larger plan to reclaim the area. His plans were met with opposition from Liu Jin, the most influential eunuch in the Forbidden City and a close advisor to the Zhengde Emperor. As a result, he was only able to complete a 20 km section of the wall. He ultimately resigned from his position in April 1507.
As a seasoned general and experienced politician, Yang Yiqing was well-versed in the issues and people of the northwest. In 1510, he was tasked with quelling the rebellion led by the Prince of Anhua in Ningxia, alongside the eunuch Zhang Yong. Upon his arrival, Yang Yiqing discovered that the rebellion had already been suppressed by local commanders. He then organized an investigation into the events and successfully calmed the situation. During the campaign, Yang Yiqing warned Zhang Yong of the danger posed by Liu Jin, who was plotting a coup. In response, Zhang Yong joined forces with other influential eunuchs, known as the "Eight Tigers", and overthrew Liu Jin in September 1510.
In September 1510, with the support of Zhang Yong, he was appointed as the minister of revenue. In January 1511, he was further promoted to the position of minister of personnel. In 1514, he was honored with the prestigious title of Junior Tutor. In March 1515, Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe resigned due to the loss of his father, and in May, Yang Yiqing succeeded him as the grand secretary.
In 1516, Yang Yiqing utilized the floods and celestial events to denounce the emperor's favored individuals, but due to Zhang Yong's loss of favor with the emperor, Yang Yiqing's support among the emperor's entourage was weakened. This led to the commanders of the Imperial Guard, Jiang Bin and Qian Ning, taking offense to the criticism and subsequently having Yang Yiqing dismissed in September 1516. Yang Yiqing then returned to his hometown of Dantu. In September 1520, he had the opportunity to meet with the Zheng Emperor once again as the emperor was traveling from Nanjing back to Beijing via Dantu.
In the spring of 1521, the Zhengde Emperor died and the Jiajing Emperor took the throne. He remembered that his father had ranked Yang Yiqing among the three most outstanding men in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, along with Li Dongyang and Liu Daxia. As a result, he bestowed gifts upon Yang Yiqing upon his accession. Yang Yiqing then supported Zhang Cong, the leader of a group of officials who also supported the emperor, in the Great Rites Controversy. In January 1525, with the backing of Zhang Cong and another of the emperor's supporters, Gui E, Yang Yiqing was reappointed as the supreme commander of the three military regions in Shaanxi. He was given the formal titles of minister of war and censor-in-chief, making him the first former grand secretary in Ming China to hold a military command.
In early 1525, Yang successfully repelled a raid by 10,000 horsemen from Qinghai in Shanxi. Later that year, he was summoned to Beijing and, after six months, with the support of Zhang Cong and Gui E, he was appointed grand secretary and formally minister of personnel. As Yang had seniority, he took over the leadership of the Grand Secretariat from the previous Senior Grand Secretary Fei Hong. He was entrusted with the honorable task of completing the Veritable Records (Shilu) of the Jiajing Emperor's father, who had been posthumously honored as emperor. In March 1527, with the agreement of Zhang and Gui, he successfully obtained the resignation of Fei Hong and became senior grand secretary. In September 1527, he received the high honorific title of "Left Pillar of the State". As senior grand secretary, Yang recognized the issue of land ownership in the eight prefectures of the metropolitan area, where eunuch bureaus, imperial relatives, and powerful families had taken control of most of the land. He proposed an investigation into how these individuals had acquired the land and suggested solutions to address the problem. In late 1527, he successfully advocated for the return of Zhang Yong, who had been in exile for ten years. Zhang Yong was then appointed as commander of the combined training divisions stationed around Beijing.
In October 1527, Zhang Cong was appointed as grand secretary, followed by Gui E in March 1529. The group of officials supporting the emperor in the Great Rites Controversy had already lost unity, leading to divisions within the Grand Secretariat. As a result, Yang Yiqing was dismissed in October 1529. He faced further accusations of accepting a bribe from Zhang Yong and was stripped of his titles and ranks in March 1530. He died without any children six months later. In 1548, the Jiajing Emperor rehabilitated him and granted him the posthumous name Wenxiang as a sign of special recognition.
Yang Yiqing was a highly capable and educated man, particularly skilled in military and border affairs. He recognized and promoted numerous talented individuals, such as Jiu Yue, Wang Yangming, and Wang Tingxiang. His abilities were often compared to those of the renowned Tang statesman Yao Chong (651–721). Yang Yiqing also wrote several books of memoirs and notes. As a poet, he strived to break away from the traditional cabinet style of poetry and instead focused on expressing his personal thoughts and emotions. Along with Li Dongyang, he was considered one of the most prominent literary figures of his time.
Yang Yiqing (24 December 1454 – 5 September 1530), courtesy name Yingning, art name Sui'an, was a Chinese scholar-official, military general, and writer during the Ming dynasty. He held influential positions during the reigns of the Zhengde and Jiajing emperors in the early 16th century, serving in the northwestern frontier province of Shaanxi and various central government offices. These included the positions of minister of revenue, minister of personnel, and grand secretary. In 1526 and 1527–1529, he was appointed as the head of the Grand Secretariat. He was also highly regarded as a poet during his time.