HIST 11B Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Wet Nurse, Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong
Document Summary
Two bureaucracies, with grand secretaries in the middle. To get anything done, have to collab with outer bureaucracy and inner bureaucracy of eunuchs. Eunuchs get a lto of power when a young empror is on the thron or isn"t active in state affairs. Jiajing emperor"s prrevious emperor had no heir nephew of previous emperor big battle with regular bureaucracy and secretary at the time. Some people said he owed rites to doing institutional parents (emperor) than biological parents. With support of inner bureaucracy, grand secretary gets him to perform rites to institutional parents. As soon as grand secretary dies, emperor decides to perform rites to bio parents. 17 killed, many sent to prison display of moral superirority to die for principle. Hai rui, minor off with reputation for integrity, submits a memorial criticizing wangle for being a failed ruler and father. Bought a coffin and set up arrs for his funeral before submitting memorial.
