The Reappraisal Of Wangzhen

How to evaluate Wangzhen, historians keep a traditional attitude that due to the autarchy of Wangzhen, Ming Dynasty goes towards to the decline.But with the recent changes of the eunuch perspective and the deepening of research, this rigid solid evaluation criteria didn’t suite to the study of eunuch history, especially of individuals. How to get rid of such a rigid single evaluation model as far as possible and restore the image of the individual as a complete “man” become increasingly important topic.This paper noted that Wangzhen was mainly active in the Zhengtong years, but the research couldn’t just stay in this era. Firstly，Wangzhen is the sign of eunuch politics to vertex. He is almost the representative character of Imperial power. Secondly, he is in a critical period of political change in the early Ming Dynasty, so he is also the promoter of the early Ming regim transform. Once again, he is also the one who promotes the rise of the knowledge eunuch class and eventually participate in the highest political level. Thus the evaluation ofWangzhen consists of not only the moral dimension but also the political factors.To demonstrate the relevant issues, this paper is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces the evolution of the early Ming Dynasty eunuch system and the life of Wangzhen. From the abolition of the prime minister, Ming Dynasty set off a wave of reform. Cabinet and Silijian’s status became outstanding. He served Renzong and Yingzong one after another, and became the shepherd of Silijian. The second chapter describes the bilateral relations between Wangzhen and aristocracy、cabinet and other officeholder, in onder to demonstrate the different roles of Wangzhen in the political activities to explain the status changes of Slijian and the impact to the system reform. The third chapter focuses on the two battles to demonstrate Wangzhen’s frontier ideas. This is also the reason why Wangzhen is much criticism. The fourth chapter explaines the relationship between Wangzhen and Ming Dynasty institutional changes. Because of Wangzhen’s deeply loved, Silijian’s status improved and finally on a par with cabinet. This on the other hand mustered a further rise of the knowledge eunuch, and eventually became the institutional guarantee of eunuchs politics.