The Theory Of Yang Wei

Yangwei(1517-1608),born in Haifeng Shangdong(now Wudi county, Shandongprovince), styled Boqian, was also known by his literary name Mengshan and wascalled “Mr. Ershan”. He became a chin-shih in26th year of Jiajing’s reign of MingDynasty (1547A.D.) and was an official during reign of Emperors of Jiajing,Longqing and Wanli with highest position of minister of personnel. He is known as anpolitician and litterateur in middle and later period of Ming Dynasty. During hispolitical career, being loyal to his emperors and country, caring for people’s sufferings,achieving outstanding political performance, contributing a lot to national economyand people’s livelihood, he performed immortal exploits for the country. As an official,Yangwei did not seek fame or wealth and he kept abiding by his principles andbalancing allegiance and filial piety by devoting himself both for the country and hisfamily. He was also brilliant and made friends with many distinguished men, and nowwe still can appreciate his poems and essays. Showing great enthusiasm in publicwelfare and spreading cultures, he made great contribution on regional construction.As an official through three emperors’ reign over sixty years, Yangwei did notperform as well as Gaogong and Zhang Juzheng, however he tried to help MingDynasty get rid of decline with his talent, courage and insight, and his actions had aprofound impact on political situation then and later ages. This paper mainly consistsof six parts to describe Yangwei’s whole life and his political philosophy.Part I introduces early experience of Yangwei, including his living environment,family education and early learning experience. As the saying goes “human beings areshaped by the land around them”, it is of great importance for us to understand theformation of Yangwei’s political philosophy and his later behaviors throughdescription of his early experience.Part II introduces Yangwei’s political career. Viewing from social backgroundand taking political experience as mainline, this part elaborates Yangwei’s achievements as an official. Yangwei started his political career as an official at thebottom of political structure, then a magistrate of Wujin county, later the commanderof border-provinces, and finally became minister of personnel, from which we couldsee Yangwei’s political talents and military skills. Through analysis of Yangwei’spolitical experiences of different periods, we could have a more comprehensive graspof his life story.As the main part, Part III emphasizes on analyzing Yangwei’s philosophy as anofficial and corresponding practices including aspects of political and militaryphilosophies. Being an official, Yangwei cared for people’s livelihood and took peopleas the foremost, thus his measures were all based on benefiting the people andreceived respect and support from in return. As an politician, Yangwei paid attentionto the interests of the whole and abided by the principles and discussed nationalaffairs imperturbably, as a result, most of his views that conducive to current situationwere accepted. It is because he obeyed the rules without concerning for personal gainsor losses that Yangwei could get promoted for several times. For guarding the borders,Yangwei defend tenaciously and attacked the northern ethnic minorities by surprise.During those period, his military exploits were remarkable and was called “the rightarm of the Great Wall”.Part IV discusses Yangwei’s literary achievements and interpersonalcommunication. Excellent literary attainments and distinguished literary achievementsshow Yangwei’s great talent and enriches treasury of classical literature. Besides,Yangwei’s way to dealing with officials, poets, scholars and other people is alsoembodied in his works.Part V is about Yangwei’s personality. Yangwei’s practice “filial piety takespriority among all virtues” has been spread as a well-known touching story. And hischoices of being an official when engaging in politics otherwise being a teacherbenefit a lot on people and imperial court. Yangwei pursued value of aiming atharmony and kept honest and upright, which is praised by people and regarded as themodel.Part VI discusses Yangwei’s influence on his family and local society. Yangwei had remarkable achievements though he was only a chin-shih when entering politics.And three generations above Yangwei in his family all got honored of minister ofpersonnel benefited from him which helped Yang’s family to develop. At the sametime, Yangwei devoted to cultural construction in hometown and made outstandingcontribution to local society.The end of this paper points out Yangwei’s limitation as an individual to practiceunder background of that time while affirming his achievements.