Cheng Wende

Life

Cheng Wende's family belonged to Yongkang. His great-grandfather was Cheng Yongyan and his grandfather Cheng Shigang; his father Cheng Kui (1469–1537) passed the jinshi examination in the twelfth year of the Hongzhi era, was long denied promotion for offending the eunuch Liu Jin, and after Liu Jin's execution rose to vice commissioner of the Sichuan provincial surveillance commission. His mother was of the Zhao family. He had an elder brother, Cheng Wensi, and two younger brothers, Cheng Wemo and Cheng Wenxun; he married Pan Cui, and his father-in-law was Pan Xizeng (1476–1532).

His early teachers included Hu Lian and Lin Wenjun; at fourteen he studied under Zhu Fang and Li Cang, and at fifteen he entered the county school as a licentiate (xiucai). At eighteen he went to Lanxi to study under Zhang Mao, and later to Yuyao to study under Wang Shouren (Wang Yangming); he also studied under Zhan Ruoshui.

In 1519, the fourteenth year of the Zhengde era, he passed the Zhejiang provincial examination, where accounts differ as to whether he ranked eighth or tenth. In 1529, the eighth year of the Jiajing era, he placed fourth in the metropolitan examination and second in the palace examination (bangyan), and was appointed a compiler of the Hanlin Academy; his father Cheng Kui received the honorary rank of zhongxian dafu.

In 1532, the eleventh year of Jiajing, the jinshi Yang Ming (楊名) impeached the minister of personnel Wang Hong, the Marquis of Wuding Guo Xun, and the court officials Chen Daoying and Jin Yunren. The enraged Jiajing Emperor had Yang thrown into prison, where under interrogation he said that the draft memorial had been shown to Cheng Wende; Cheng was accordingly arrested and thrown into the imperial prison, and after being tortured he declared himself the chief instigator, and was demoted to the post of dianshi of Xinyi county. On the way to his place of exile he passed through Wuzhou, where the supreme commander of Liangguang, Tao Xie, retained him as lecturer at the Lingbiao Academy; the following year he reached Xinyi and was invited to lecture at the Gaoming Academy.

In 1535, the fourteenth year of Jiajing, after Wang Hong was dismissed from office, Cheng Wende was promoted to magistrate of Anfu county in Jiangxi, where he founded the Fugu Academy and governed well; he soon left office for mourning after his father's death. When the mourning period ended he was appointed to the Ministry of War at Nanjing, first as secretary and then as vice director, and in 1541, the twentieth year of Jiajing, was promoted to director. He was afterwards appointed deputy education commissioner of Guangdong but did not take up the post, and instead became chancellor of the Nanjing Imperial College and then vice minister of Rites. When Altan Khan raided the capital, Cheng Wende guarded the Xuanwu Gate; of the nine gates of the capital, only the Xuanwu Gate admitted the refugees who crowded towards the city, saving tens of thousands of lives. He was soon transferred to the post of left vice minister of Personnel.

In 1553, the thirty-second year of Jiajing, he served as chief examiner of the metropolitan examination and concurrently as a Hanlin academician, and was placed in charge of the Household Administration of the Heir Apparent, where he instructed the shujishi. The following year famine struck Beizhili, Nanzhili, Henan and Shandong; his memorial requesting relief was approved. While serving at the Western Park (Xiyuan), he was troubled by the expense of the annual Daoist rituals held in the palace, and his qingci prayers and his "Lantern Festival Lyrics" (元宵詞) carried reproachful words, for which the Jiajing Emperor came to resent him. When the post of minister of Rites fell vacant and the court recommended Cheng Wende, Yan Song and his son were in power, and Yan Shifan's demand for a bribe was refused. The next year, when the Nanjing post of minister of Personnel fell vacant, Yan Song memorialised that Cheng's qingci writings were deceitful towards the throne, and Cheng was transferred to right vice minister of Works at Nanjing. He then memorialised for his release from office, urging the emperor to enjoy peace and quiet; the emperor regarded this as slander and dismissed him to commoner status. Returning home, he devoted himself to writing.

After Cheng Wende's death, the censor Wang Haowen asked that he be shown consideration; he was posthumously granted the office of minister of Rites and the posthumous name Wengong (文恭), though accounts differ as to whether this grant was made at his death or in the early Wanli era. His tomb is today a protected cultural relic site of Yongkang City.

Scholarship and writings

Cheng Wende was a member of the Yaojiang (Yangming) school and has been classed as a Neo-Confucian philosopher; he took students and lectured. He exchanged letters and discussed learning with Luo Hongxian, Wang Ji, Nie Bao, Tang Shunzhi and Ouyang De, among others. After his death Luo Hongxian composed his epitaph and a sacrificial address, Jiang Bao wrote a portrait encomium and a colophon, and Huang Fengxiang wrote a preface for his collected manuscripts.

He wrote the Songxi ji (Collected Works of Songxi) and left the Cheng Wengong yigao (程文公遺稿, also given as 程文恭遺稿), which preserves his letters, including those addressed to Wang Ji and Zhang Cong and replies to Nie Bao, Pan En and Shi Jian. He also composed conduct records (xingzhuang) for Pan Xizeng and Tu Qiao and a biography of Sun Chi.