Wang Tingxiang

Also known as Zi Ziheng · Hao Junchuan

Wang Tingxiang, courtesy name Ziheng, styled Junchuan, came from Yifeng, present-day Lankao in Henan, and became a jinshi in 1502. In the Zhengde reign he offended the eunuch Liu Jin and was demoted to a post at Bozhou, and later, after crossing other eunuchs, he was thrown into the imperial prison and sent to Ganyu as a county assistant. Early in the Jiajing reign he served as provincial treasurer of Shandong and governor of Sichuan, where he put down the Mangbu chieftain Sha Bao, then rose through the war ministry to censor-in-chief. In 1541 he was dismissed for failing to check the abuses of his colleague Guo Xun and died three years later; he was restored to rank early in the Longqing reign. In Shenyan and Yashu he argued that heaven and earth consist only of primal qi, with principle inside it, against Zhu Xi's priority of principle, and as a poet he was one of the Former Seven Masters.