Gao Panlong

Gao Panlong

Gao Panlong (1562-1626) was born in Wuxi (today's Wuxi, Jiangsu Province) in southern Zhili. He was called "Mr. Jingyi" in the world. Ming Dynasty statesman, thinker, Donglin Party leader, "Donglin eight gentlemen" one. He is the author of 12 volumes of Gao Zi's book.

Wanli seventeen years (1589) in Jinshi. Later, when his father died, he returned home to keep filial piety. Wanli 20 years (1592) was appointed pedestrian Secretary pedestrian. In the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), gaopan longshangshu impeached Wang xijue, the first assistant, and was demoted to Jieyang, Guangdong.

In the 23rd year of Wanli (1595), Gao Panlong resigned and returned home. Together with Gu Xiancheng, he rebuilt Donglin Academy and taught at home for more than 20 years. In the first year of Tianqi (1621), gaopanlong was reappointed and appointed Guanglu Shicheng. He has successively served as Shaoqing of Taichang, youshaoqing of Dali temple, taipuqing, youshilang of Ministry of punishment, zuodu censor of duchayuan, etc.

In 1626, Cui Chengxiu falsely accused Gao Panlong and others of corruption by faking a memorial of Li Shi, the tax Commissioner of Zhejiang Province. Wei Zhongxian took the opportunity to search for Donglin Party members. In March of that year, Gao Panlong was humiliated and drowned himself at the age of 64.

In the early years of Chongzhen (1628), the imperial court presented the crown prince, Taibao and Minister of the Ministry of war as gifts for gaopan longpingfan, with the posthumous title of "Zhongxian".

Life of the characters

Early experience

Gao Panlong, a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, was named Jingyi. His grandfather Gao Jingcheng was a magistrate of Huangyan County in Zhejiang Province. His father Gao Jicheng had five children, and Gao Panlong ranked second. Later, Gao Jingcheng's younger brother Gao Jingyi was adopted as an heir because he had no children.

Gao Panlong was good at reading and etiquette when he was young. In 1586, Li Yuanchong, the magistrate of Wuxi County, invited Luo Maozhong and Gu Xiancheng of Jiangyou school to give lectures. Influenced by them, Gao Panlong began to devote himself to the study of Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism and determined his academic direction.

Wanli seventeen years (1589), gaopan Longzhong Jinshi. Soon after Gao Jingyi died, Gao Panlong returned home and kept filial piety for his father for three years.

New to officialdom

In the 20th year of Wanli (1592), when Gao Panlong's mourning period expired, he was appointed by the imperial court as the Minister of pedestrians, who was in charge of such ceremonial affairs as the transmission of imperial edicts and canonization. Because of his leisurely work, Gao Panlong read a large number of books in the Department, deeply studied the works of Ercheng and Zhuzi, and copied Xue Wenqing's Shudu Lu by himself, praising his attitude of "never underestimate a word, never underestimate a word, never underestimate a smile". Gao Panlong also compiled the Japanese provincial edition, which attached the quotations of the great scholars of the first dynasty to the chapters and sentences of Da Xue as a guide for beginners. In order to resist Wang Yangming's idea that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism should be integrated into Chongzheng edition.

At that time, Zhang Shize, the governor of Sichuan Province, presented his book "the beginning of University", slandering Cheng Zhu's study and asking for it to be published all over the world. Gao Panlong strongly objected to it and refuted its absurdity. As a result, the book was not published.

Demoted officials released

During this period, the emperor Shenzong of Ming Dynasty ignored the government affairs for a long time, and the parties in the court and eunuchs ran wild, which led to the chaos of government affairs and the decline of national strength. Gao Panlong immediately appeared in the first task of the day, saying that if he wanted to change the precarious situation of the imperial dynasty, he must first change the original, and then "eliminate the punishment and killing", "hold the court to speak", "use the admonishment officials" and "distribute the internal funds" to reform politics. But the memorials were left by the emperor.

In the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), Zhao Yongxian and Li Shida were dismissed from office. Most of the comments in the court were attributed to Wang xijue. Gao Panlong and the censor yuan kelishang accused Wang xijue of rejecting dissidents. They thought that the emperor should not reprimand the minister without reason, and reprimanded Zheng CAI and Yang Yingsu for slandering and framing. Yang Yingsu impeached Gao Panlong with arrogant and absurd words. The Ministry of justice requested a light punishment for the two, and Shenzong ordered that Panlong should be demoted as a canon of Guangdong Jieyang.

Gao Panlong took office in Jieyang by sea. He made strict rules on the ship and asked himself to be calm to cultivate virtue and not be disturbed by the outside world. After arriving at Jieyang, he taught apprenticeship in Guanya every day and trained many students. In addition, he visited the local officials and punished local tyrants. During his stay in Jieyang for six months, Gao Panlong met Lu Cuiming and his teacher Xiao Zilu, who had a profound influence on his academic thought.

Lecture at home

In February of the 23rd year of Wanli (1595), Gao Panlong returned home on personal leave after seven months in office. Soon after his family died of illness, he stopped working. Since then, he has been lecturing in his hometown for more than 20 years. Although some officials recommended it many times, the emperor ignored it.

Gao Panlong built a "water residence" on the Bank of lacquer Lake (today's East Bank of Li Lake) and named it "Kelou" as a place for reading and sitting. In addition to studying hard, Gao Panlong also took part in lectures and soon became a great master of Confucianism. At that time, Gao Panlong and Gu Xiancheng had similar ideals and deep friendship. In 1604, with the support of Changzhou magistrate and Wuxi magistrate, Gao Panlong and Gu Xiancheng initiated the reconstruction of Donglin Academy and held the "Donglin conference" every year. It was presided over by Gu Xiancheng at the beginning. After Gu Xiancheng died in 1612, it was presided over by Gao Panlong until the Academy was demolished in 1625. At that time, whether they knew them or not, the literati and bureaucrats in and out of the government praised Gao and Gu unanimously.

In the process of lecturing, Gao Panlong used his own political ideal and personality standard to evaluate the government and judge the figures. At that time, many scholars with similar interests came in droves. Li Sancai, Zhao Nanxing, Zou yuanbiao, Yang Lian and other upright officials in the dynasty also exchanged voice with them. In fact, Donglin Academy has become the center of public opinion. The opposition hated this very much, slandered it as "Donglin Party", and slandered them as forming a party for personal gain by taking advantage of lectures.

Return to office

In July 1620, Emperor Shenzong passed away, and the crown prince Zhu Changluo ascended the throne, which was called mingguangzong. Mingguangzong died in January, and his eldest son Zhu ascended the throne from school.

After Xizong ascended the throne, Donglin Party members rose again because of their support and meritorious service. Gao Panlong was appointed as the Minister of Guanglu temple, and in the first year of Tianqi (1621), he became the Minister of Guanglu. In the first month of the second year of Tianqi (1622), Guangning (now the north town of Liaoning Province), an important town outside the pass, fell, and the Ming army was forced to retreat to Shanhaiguan. The news shocked the government and the public. Gao Panlong wrote one after another to reform politics in order to save the country's endangered fate. In the book of unconventional employment, he proposed to employ unconventional personnel and strengthen the preparation for war and defense, and recommended sun Chengzong, the right servant of the Ministry of rites, to be the defense minister to deal with the war. His opinion was approved by the emperor. Sun Chengzong also lived up to people's expectations and recovered the land to the west of Guangning and Liaohe River. The border was quiet for four years.

In April 1622, Gao Panlong went up to discuss the three cases (Li attack case, Hong Wan case, and Yi Gong case) and demanded that Zheng Yangxing, Li Ruzhen, Cui Wensheng and others be punished. The emperor was displeased and blamed Gao Panlong for his many words, but he eventually sent Zheng Yangxing back to his native place.

At that time, sun Shenxing accused Fang Congzhe of his predecessor in the case of Hongwan, and Gao Panlong also blamed Fang Congzhe with allusions from the spring and Autumn Annals. Wang Zhidao defended Fang Congzhe and was severely reprimanded by Gao Panlong Shangshu. Soon after, Gao Panlong was transferred to be Shaoqing of Taichang, and he went to another book, Gongchen Shengming Wuxue Yaoshu, to clarify the importance of reading to Xizong. Fang Congzhe's school deliberately picked out the words accusing the emperor of unfilial in Shuzhong and angered Xizong, who wanted to severely punish Gao Panlong. Ye Xianggao tried his best to save him, and then he was able to give up his salary for one year.

In September 1622, Gao Panlong was transferred to the right Shaoqing of Dali temple. In November, he was promoted to taipuqing, the right servant of the Ministry of punishment.

In August of the fourth year of Tianqi (1624), Gao Panlong was promoted to be the censor of zuodu in duchayuan. He impeached Cui Chengxiu in the book of impeachment of corrupt censors. The book reveals that Cui Chengxiu was corrupt, extravagant and wasteful when he patrolled Huaiyang area. Zhao Nanxing, the Minister of the Ministry of official affairs, reviewed the facts and asked Cui Chengxiu to guard the frontier. Cui Chengxiu went to Wei Zhongxian overnight and recognized Wei Zhongxian as his adoptive father.

At this time, Wei Zhongxian led the eunuch Party's power expanded day by day and controlled both inside and outside the court. Donglin Party members such as Yang Lian wrote to impeach Wei Zhongxian one after another, and the fight between the two sides entered a white hot stage.

Framed suicide

At this time, Wei Zhongxian was taking the opportunity to persecute Donglin Party members wantonly, saying that Gao Panlong and Zhao Nanxing formed a clique for personal gain, and the emperor ordered to severely reprimand them. Not long after that, you Fengxiang, the Nanjing censor, took up the post of magistrate, attacking Gao Panlong for favoritism and excluding his colleagues.

After Gao Panlong and others were dismissed, the eunuch Party headed by Wei Zhongxian controlled the power of the imperial court and compiled blacklists such as Jinshen bianlan, Dianjianglu, tianjianlu, and tongtongtonglu, which listed the officials who were not attached to themselves and attacked them. In August of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Wei Zhongxian took Donglin Academy as the starting point and demolished all the academies in China.

In February of the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Cui Chengxiu was not reconciled to gaopanlong's dismissal, but wanted to get rid of him. So he faked the memorial of Li Shi, the tax Commissioner of Zhejiang Province, falsely accused Gao Panlong and Zhou Qiyuan of corruption, and sent Tiqi to arrest them. In March, Gao Panlong went to visit Yang Shi's ancestral hall. When I got home, I enjoyed the flowers with my brother Gao Shihe and his students in the back garden pool and talked and laughed freely. At this time, someone came to report that Zhou Shunchang had been arrested. When Gao Panlong heard that Zhou Shunchang had been arrested, he looked calm and said with a smile, "I thought I would die.". After returning home, I talked and laughed with my wife as usual. He wrote a letter to his two grandchildren, told them to hand it to the school official the next day, and then dismissed them behind closed doors. Not long after, Gao Panlong's sons came to explore. They found that Gao Panlong had sunk in the pond. He was sixty-four years old.

The descendants open Gao Panlong's letter. It's a will. It's written on it

Chinese PinYin : Gao Pan Long