Zhao Shichun

Life

His father reportedly told friends, “This child is unusual.” In 1522, the first year of the Jiajing reign, he placed third in the Shaanxi provincial examination and obtained the juren degree; in 1526 he passed the examination as a jinshi, was placed third in the second class, and was selected as a shujishi. In the eleventh month of 1527 he was appointed a section director in the Ministry of Punishments and transferred to the Military Storehouse Office of the Ministry of War; after submitting the Memorial on Exalting the Foundations of Governance, in which he urged attention to the foundations of governance and the valuing of talent, he was imprisoned and reduced to commoner status.

After some time he was recalled as a Hanlin compiler and concurrently served as a collator in the Office of the Classics of the Heir Apparent. On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month of the nineteenth Jiajing year (1540), he joined Luo Hongxian and Tang Shunzhi in a memorial asking that the heir apparent hold court at the Wenhua Hall on New Year's Day of the following year to receive the officials' congratulations; he was again reduced to commoner status. After Anda's forces reached the capital, he was recalled as an official in the Ministry of War, helped administer the capital garrison, and trained civilian militia; he later served as Director of the Bureau of Military Operations, Surveillance Commissioner in Shandong, and Assistant Surveillance Commissioner there.

The date of his promotion is given either as the twelfth month of 1552, the thirty-first Jiajing year, or as 1553, the thirty-second; he became Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and governor of Shanxi. He was known for his bold spirit, skill at riding and archery, and desire to distinguish himself through military achievement. Accounts of the campaign differ: one says that he fought Anda's forces at Guangwu and was defeated, though the world admired his courage despite the failed campaign; another says that Anda attacked Shenci, the Ming army was ambushed at Dachongling, General Li Lai was killed, and the army was destroyed, with Shichun escaping alone. In the eleventh month of 1553 he was dismissed and placed on inactive status, then returned home. He died in the twelfth month of the first Longqing year (1567), aged fifty-nine; the death year is also given as 1568.

Literary work and writings

Shichun had a powerful memory and wrote in a bold, expansive manner; his poetry and prose were spirited and self-assertive and did not readily submit to formal rules. He was ranked with Tang Shunzhi and Wang Shenzhong, and is also described as one of the “Eight Talents of the Jiajing era.”

His works included the Jungu Collection (浚谷集), in a seventeen-volume version and also a sixteen-volume version; the ten-volume Zhao Jungu Literary Collection (趙浚谷文集) is also known. In his later years he compiled the Pingliang Prefecture Gazetteer (平涼府志); the title also appears in a thirteen-volume form as the Pingliang Prefecture Gazetteer (平涼府通志).