Ministers › Remonstrators

Yang Lian

Late Ming censor of the Donglin group who impeached the eunuch Wei Zhongxian on twenty-four counts in 1624 and died under torture in prison the next year

Also known as Zi Wenru · Hao Dahong

Roles: RemonstratorsExemplary Magistrates

Yang Lian, courtesy name Wenru, styled Dahong, came from Yingshan in Huguang (modern Guangshui, Hubei) and passed the jinshi examination in 1607. Rated the most upright magistrate in the empire while at Changshu, he was called to court as a supervising secretary. When Emperor Guangzong died in 1620, he and Zuo Guangdou insisted that the consort Li leave the Qianqing Palace so that Xizong could take the throne, the episode known as the Removal from the Palace case. In 1624, as vice censor-in-chief, he charged the eunuch Wei Zhongxian with twenty-four great crimes. The next year Wei used the Wang Wenyan case to accuse him of taking bribes from Xiong Tingbi, and he was thrown into the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison, where Xu Xianchun tortured him to death. Early in the Chongzhen reign he was posthumously made minister of war and named Zhonglie. He is counted among the Former Six Gentlemen who died in that purge.

Life and times

1572 CEBornMing
1624Purge of the Donglin FactionTook partage 52Under the Tianqi Emperor the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke dominated the court; after Yang Lian's memorial of twenty-four crimes, Donglin officials were dismissed and died in prison until the Chongzhen Emperor's accession brought Wei's fall and suicide.
1. Yang Lian Impeaches Wei ZhongxianIn 1624 the vice censor-in-chief Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian for twenty-four great crimes, but the Tianqi Emperor kept Wei and rebuked Yang.
2. Six Gentlemen Die in Imperial Prison1625age 53In 1625 Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and four other Donglin officials were framed by Wei Zhongxian's faction and died under torture in the imperial prison.
1625 CEDied

Yang Lian

Life and times

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