Zhang Juzheng

Zhang Juzheng (26 May 1525 – 9 July 1582) was a prominent grand secretary during the reigns of Ming emperors Longqing and Wanli. In 1547, he passed the highest level of official examinations and was granted the rank of jinshi. He then served at the Hanlin Academy. In 1567, the Longqing Emperor appointed him as grand secretary, and upon the ascension of the Wanli Emperor in 1572, he became the head of the grand secretaries.

During the early years of the Wanli Emperor's reign, Zhang played a crucial role as the Emperor's mentor and de facto ruler of China due to the Emperor's immaturity. His decisive foreign and economic policies led to one of the most successful periods in the Ming history. Influenced by the Mongol raids of the 1550s, Zhang aimed to "enrich the country and strengthen the army" through legalistic methods rather than Confucian principles. He played a key role in centralizing the administration, limiting various privileges, and revising land tax exemptions. After Zhang's death in 1582, many of his reforms and policies were reversed, and in 1584 his family was stripped of their accumulated property and wealth. He was not rehabilitated until more than half a century later, just before the fall of the Ming dynasty.