Gui E

Gui E (1478–1531) was a Chinese scholar-official during the Ming dynasty. In the 1520s, he gained favor with the Jiajing Emperor by supporting him in the Great Rites Controversy. This led to Gui E being appointed as chancellor of the Hanlin Academy, followed by successive appointments as minister of justice, rites, personnel, and grand secretary.

Gui E
桂萼
Grand Secretary
In office 1529, 1529–1531
Monarch	Jiajing
Minister of Personnel
In office 1527–1529
Monarch	Jiajing
Preceded by	Li Chengxun
Succeeded by	Fang Xianfu
Minister of Rites
In office 1527
Monarch	Jiajing
Preceded by	Wu Yipeng
Succeeded by	Fang Xianfu
Acting Minister of Rites
In office 1527
Monarch	Jiajing
Preceded by	Luo Qinshun
Succeeded by	Li Chengxun
Personal details
Born	1478
Died	1531 (aged 52–53)
Education	jinshi degree (1511)
Courtesy name	Zishi[a]
Art name	Jianshan[b], Gushan[c]
Posthumous name	Wenxiang[d]
Chinese name
Chinese	桂萼
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guì È

Life

Gui E was born in 1478^[1] in An'ren County (present-day Yujiang County) in northern Jiangxi Province. He received a Confucian education and applied for the civil service examinations. He passed the provincial examinations in 1507 and the metropolitan and palace examinations in 1511, earning the rank of jinshi.^[1] He then began his career as a county magistrate, serving in Dantu (丹徒) and Wukang (武康). However, due to his hot temper, he frequently got into disputes with his superiors^[1][2] and was punished with caning and dismissal from service. Despite being reinstated in 1517, he was demoted three years later due to another dispute.^[2]

After the accession of the Jiajing Emperor, Gui E returned to civil service in 1521 as the magistrate of Cheng'an County (成安). He was later promoted to secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice. In late 1523, he submitted a memorandum to the emperor in which he supported the emperor's position in the Great Rites Controversy.^[2][3] To demonstrate his support, he included the older memoranda of Xi Shu and Fang Xianfu with his submission.^[2] The emperor received the memorandum in February 1524 and submitted it for comment. As a result, he received 82 letters with 250 signatures from Beijing officials who unanimously condemned Gui E's memorandum.^[3] Despite this, the emperor summoned him to Beijing, where he arrived in June 1524 with several other supporters of the emperor. In July, the emperor appointed him chancellor of the Hanlin Academy, along with Zhang Cong. This appointment was met with opposition from the academy's leadership and dozens of censors. They argued that careerists who were trying to please the emperor should not be appointed to high offices. In response, the emperor declared that Gui E and Zhang Cong were loyal, honest, and qualified. This led to over seventy supervisory secretaries and censors demanding the execution of those in question for misleading the emperor. Additionally, thirty-six junior members of the academy resigned in protest.^[4] The dispute continued to escalate, culminating in a public demonstration by hundreds of officials outside the Zuoshun Gate in the imperial palace in August 1524. As a result, they were beaten, arrested, and punished.^[5]

In August 1527, Gui E was appointed as the acting minister of justice.^[6] A month later, he was appointed as the minister of rites, and by the end of the year, he became the minister of personnel. In the spring of 1529, he was promoted to the position of grand secretary. In the autumn of the same year, he, along with Zhang Cong, was accused of corruption by the censors, leading to their dismissal by the emperor.^[7] Another censor later declared Gui and Zhang innocent, stating that they were victims of manipulation by Senior Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing. After careful consideration, the emperor removed the old and ailing Yang from office in October 1529 due to his advanced age, and reinstated Zhang and Gui E in December.^[7]

Gui E fell ill in 1531 and requested a leave of absence from his duties. He returned to his hometown in Jiangxi and died on 3 October 1531.^[8]

Notes

1. simplified Chinese: 子实; traditional Chinese: 子實; pinyin: Zǐ​shí
2. simplified Chinese: 见山; traditional Chinese: 見山; pinyin: Jiànshān
3. Chinese: 古山; pinyin: Gǔshān
4. Chinese: 文襄; pinyin: Wénxiāng