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Xu Jie
Ming grand secretary from Huating who replaced Yan Song as head of the cabinet in 1562 and drafted the Jiajing emperor's testament ending the court's Daoist rites
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zi Zisheng · Hao Cunzhai
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Xu Jie, courtesy name Zisheng, came from Huating in Songjiang and placed third in the palace examination of 1523. When he argued to Zhang Cong's face against stripping Confucius of his royal title, he was demoted to judge of Yanping prefecture. In 1552 he entered the Grand Secretariat as minister of rites, deferring outwardly to Yan Song while winning the Jiajing emperor's confidence with prayer texts of his own. When Yan Song was forced to retire in 1562, Xu took his place at the head of the cabinet. On the emperor's death he and Zhang Juzheng drafted the testamentary edict that ended the Daoist rites, building works, jewel purchases and silk weaving, and restored officials punished for their remonstrances. Worn down by quarrels with Gao Gong and others, he retired in 1568, and he died in 1583 in his eighty-first year, receiving the posthumous name Wenzhen.
Life and times
Dates 1503 CE–1583 CE