Tu Qiao

Life

His father is named as 屠石菴 or 屠某; another biographical formulation calls him “屠湖子”. His grandfather appears as 屠葵軒 or 屠琛, and his great-grandfather as 屠良 or 屠子某; the lineage is traced further to 屠福, 屠慶, and 屠季. His elder brothers included 屠保, 屠佑, and 屠佺, while his younger brothers included 屠俓, 屠信, 屠佶, and 屠儼; his wife was 董氏 and his second wife was 陳氏.

In the Jiazi Zhejiang provincial examination of the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, he placed 71st and became a juren; in the Xinwei examination of the sixth year of Zhengde (1511), he placed 166th in the metropolitan examination and earned the jinshi degree, second class, 70th place. He was appointed probationary Censor of the Jiangxi Circuit, later served as Censor of Guizhou and Censor of Yunnan, inspected Zhili, and inspected the Juyong Passes.

While inspecting Juyong, he found that a long period of peace had left the defenses neglected. He surveyed the terrain, repaired castles, barriers, and tunnels, supplied the troops with firearms, and tightened inspections so that frontier commanders remained as if facing an enemy. His colleagues called him fond of stirring things up, but he did not desist. When the Zhengde emperor sent eunuch agents to capture live tigers and leopards, Tu remonstrated that the tiger was a savage beast, that bringing it back alive would expose men to its claws, and that it was unfit for the Son of Heaven to keep near; the order was dropped.

During an assignment to 江右, 寧庶人濠 was plotting a rebellion and had long used bribes to bind people inside and outside the court; he alone feared Tu Qiao. His favored garrison commander, Bi Zhen, sent a heavily laden gift from Zhejiang, but Tu rebuked the messenger and refused it. After arriving, he formed a close alliance with the military governor 孫忠烈公 and planned to eliminate the rebel's followers, but left office on account of mourning.

At the beginning of the Jiajing era, Tu entered the censorate. His first memorial urged the emperor to attend court daily, receive his ministers, seek worthy men, and pursue good government; his remonstrance was forceful and uncompromising. After clashing with the personnel office, he was sent out as prefect of Baoding and immediately prosecuted major offenders. General Chen Jin was overbearing and used the commanderies and counties as his servants; Tu cited the law and declared that a prefect was not a general's subordinate, refusing to yield. Chen Jin's supporters consequently had him transferred to Yanping Prefecture. He then rose through provincial office to become an administrative commissioner of Guangdong and was known for integrity; at four court audiences he never carried a gift.

In the Jiajing era he served as Right Assistant Commissioner in Shanxi in 1530 and Judicial Commissioner in Shandong in 1531; in 1533 he became Right Administrative Commissioner of Guangdong and in the same year Left Administrative Commissioner of Fujian. In 1536 he became Minister of the Court of Imperial Accoutrements and Minister of the Dali Court; in 1538 he became Vice Minister of Justice, and in 1544 Left Vice Minister of Justice. In 1545 he was transferred to Nanjing as Minister of Justice and was made Junior Guardian and Grand Guardian of the Heir; in 1547 he returned to the Ministry of Justice as Minister and became Left Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate in the same year.

Once he headed the Metropolitan Censorate, Tu maintained a strict moral authority. He selected censors carefully and examined their actual achievements rather than merely satisfying formal requirements; none dared violate his standards. In ordinary affairs he upheld institutional order and was measured about minor matters; when major affairs or grave doubts arose, he stood firm, taking responsibility whenever the interests of the state were at stake. He was compared with Zhao Qingxian and Wu Wenke.

Death, works, and associations

In the thirty-third year of Jiajing (1554), he was granted Shaobao. On the first day of the Yimao year, heavy fog prevailed and all water froze; an omen was read as disaster among senior ministers, and Tu fell ill and died. The emperor mourned him, posthumously named him Jiansu, and gave him lavish funeral honors. Later, when a chief censor was to be appointed, the emperor would ask, “Could he be like Tu Qiao?”

His works include *東洲雜稿*, *南雍集*, and *章奏詩文*; his poetry and prose amounted to several fascicles. 呂本 composed his tomb inscription; 張邦奇 and 龔用卿 wrote farewell pieces for him; 徐階 and 歐陽德 sent congratulations, 程文德 wrote his biography, and 張時徹, 王宗沐, and 王維楨 sent him letters.