Yan Song (Ming dynasty)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yan.

Yan Song

41st and 43rd Chief Grand Secretary of the Ming dynasty
In office 1544-1545
Monarch	Jiajing
Preceded by	Di Luan
Succeeded by	Xia Yan
In office 1548-1562
Monarch	Jiajing
Preceded by	Xia Yan
Succeeded by	Xu Jie
Personal details
Born	1481
Died	1568 (aged 87)

Yan Song (Chinese: 嚴嵩; pinyin: Yán Sōng; 1480–1567), courtesy name: Weizhong (惟中), pseudonym: Jiexi (介溪), was a corrupt Ming Chinese politician, who dominated the Ming government for two decades as Grand Secretary during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor.

Biography

Early life

Yan Song was born in Fenyi (分宜), modern-day Jiangxi province. His father, a scholar who had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, put great effort into educating his son from childhood. A talented scholar, he passed the village examinations at the age of 10, and acquired the jinshi degree at the age of 25, being inducted into the imperial secretariat as an editor.

His early career was quickly cut short by a severe illness which forced Yan Song to return to his hometown, though this proved to be a blessing in disguise, since it kept him away from the imperial court just as it was under the domination of Liu Jin.

Rise to Power

Yan Song returned to Beijing not long after the fall of Liu Jin, returning to work in the Hanlin Academy in both Beijing and Nanjing.

Grand Secretary

Yan Song was the prime minister who served under the Emperor Jiajing. Yan was a close ally of Zhao Wenhua.^[1] He and his son Yan Shifan dominated court politics with the tacit consent of the fatuous monarch who shirked his responsibilities as emperor and devoted much of his time to sensual pleasures and Taoist practices. Under Yan Song, the nation fell into an era of moral decadence and corruption, where righteous officers were sidelined and the Ming national strength fell rapidly. Yan Song's wealth is said to have been so great as to have been comparable to that of the emperor. He is also well known for his corruption and had been known to openly sell government positions for cash during the Jiajing reign. However, his corruption and treachery created many political opponents. Yan Song was finally disgraced in his later years and died in poverty not long after that, while his son, Yan Shifan, was executed for collaborating with Japanese pirates who invaded Chinese coastal provinces at the time.

He was the subject of the Chinese opera called Beating Yan Song (打嚴嵩 Dǎ Yán Sōng).

References