# Li Shida
**Li Shida** (李世达; 1533–1599) was a [Ming dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/ming-dynasty) official who rose to Minister of Justice and Left Censor-in-chief, and who became known for forcing powerful eunuchs and imperial in-laws to answer to the law and for purging factional appointees as co-director of the 1590s capital evaluation (periodic Ming review grading all capital officials' performance).[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) • [2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) According to the China Biographical Database (CBDB), his courtesy name was Zicheng (子成), his studio names were Jianan (渐庵) and, in later life, Kuo'an (廓庵), and his posthumous name was Minsu (敏肃).[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Life dates | Born 1533, died 1599, aged 67 by Chinese reckoning; Ming dynasty[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) |
| Names | Courtesy name Zicheng (子成); studio names Jianan (渐庵) and Kuo'an (廓庵); birth-order name Liu (六)[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) |
| Origin | Jingyang (泾阳), Shaanxi; jinshi[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) |
| Highest offices | Minister of Justice (刑部尚书), then Left Censor-in-chief (左都御史)[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) |
| Signature acts | Stone dike at Huai'an and bypass canal at Baoying, both approved; ransom-for-grain rejected in the Zhejiang famine[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) |
| Capital evaluation | Co-directed the capital evaluation with Sun Long (孙鑨), dismissing nearly all of the grand secretariat's clients[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) |
| Posthumous honors | Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent (太子太保); posthumous name Minsu (敏肃)[8](https://escholarship.org/content/qt2bz3v185/qt2bz3v185_noSplash_4cadef8a15c059939f899a40265b7e4c.pdf) • [1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) |
## Origins and family
According to the *Ming Shi*, Li Shida was only identified as a native of Jingyang (泾阳) who earned the jinshi degree.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) The China Biographical Database supplies the family frame: his great-grandfather was Li Kuan (李宽), his grandfather Li Nai (李柰), his father Li Tingxiang (李廷相), and his mother a member of the Wang Shi (王氏) family; according to the China Biographical Database, he had several elder brothers, including Li Shiyuan (李世远), Li Shikui (李世逵), and Li Shike (李世科), and his wife was a member of the Wu Shi (吴氏) family. He was the sixth of his generation, hence the birth-order name Liu (六).[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796)
## Career
Li Shida entered service as a secretary (主事) in the Ministry of Revenue, then transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, passing through the Bureaus of Evaluations and of Selection as secretary and later division director; the history notes that he and Luguangzu (陆光祖) were both relied on by their minister.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) CBDB dates his first recorded post, secretary of the Bureau of Evaluations, to Jiajing 42 (嘉靖四十二年), with promotion to vice director and then selection secretary under Longqing.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796)
In early Longqing he observed mourning for his great-grandfather, then returned to office as Right Vice Commissioner of the Office of Transmission in Longqing 3 (隆庆三年) and Chief Minister of the Nanjing Court of the Imperial Stud in Longqing 6 (隆庆六年).[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) • [2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) He then governed Shandong (山东) as Right Assistant Censor-in-chief, and was advanced to Right Vice Censor-in-chief as Superintendent of the Grand Canal, an office CBDB dates to Wanli 5 (万历五年); the history records that he did not take up this post, being transferred instead to govern Zhejiang (浙江), after which he retired claiming illness.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) • [2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) A Ming Shi database text dates the canal appointment to Wanli 2 (万历二年) instead, one of several dating discrepancies in the source tradition.[3](https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/mid-page/7547827604533198899)
Recalled to supervise grain transport and govern Fengyang (凤阳), he faced the [Yellow River](https://www.edgepedia.org/yellow-river) encroaching southward and alarms at Huai'an (淮安), and asked that a stone dike be built to protect the city; because the lake at Baoying (宝应), the Fanguanghu (泛光湖), was dangerous with wind and waves and drowned people every year, he asked that a bypass canal (越河) be cut to lessen the force of the water. Both proposals were approved.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) A local account adds that Li's detailed planning saved more than 10,000 taels of silver against the budget.[4](https://qinfeng.gov.cn/info/1064/240820.htm)
He was promoted Right Vice Minister of War at Nanjing (Wanli 12, 万历十二年), recalled and shifted between the ministries of Revenue and Personnel, and advanced to Left Vice Minister; in Wanli 14 (万历十四年) he became Minister of Personnel at Nanjing, changing in Wanli 15 (万历十五年) to Minister of War there with duty of joint supervision of military affairs (参赞机务).[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) • [2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) He was soon summoned as Minister of Justice.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220)
## Political influence
Li Shida's influence lay in defending the independence of judicial and censorial institutions against the Wanli emperor's personal intervention. As Minister of Justice he insisted that the eunuch Zhang De (张德), who had beaten a man to death, be handed to the judicial authorities, and the eunuch was duly prosecuted.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) When the emperor secretly sent two guards to spy on a county magistrate's case and rebuked Li for the obstruction, Li answered that secret surveillance was unworthy of the state's dignity; the offending officer lost salary instead.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) The Eastern Depot eunuch Zhang Jing (张鲸), guilty of offenses but shielded by the emperor despite censors' impeachments, was banished from court after Li pressed the memorial.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) In the case of the imperial son-in-law Hou Gongchen (侯拱宸), whose servant had killed a commoner, Li asked that the master share the guilt; the son-in-law was stripped of his post.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) When the emperor tried to force the death of the condemned Jiao Wencan (焦文粲) against the law, Li persuaded the presiding official to record a lenient verdict and, questioned, answered according to the law, though the emperor in the end did not follow it.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220)
His stance on famine policy was equally principled. During a famine in Zhejiang, when some proposed letting convicts buy exemption with grain, Li replied in the history's words: "The law cannot be discarded; it is better to pardon than to redeem. Pardon means grace flows from above and the law survives; redemption means payment comes from below and people grow careless."[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) Knowledgeable contemporaries approved.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220)
As Left Censor-in-chief he impeached the police commander He Jia (何价), who had beaten three people to death, and the censor Liu Siyu (刘思瑜) who shielded him, and dismissed several censors including Han Jie (韩介). When the emperor, who disliked the remonstrance officials, accused them of private vendettas, Li argued that loyal and upright speakers should be tolerated even when their words were excessive, and that only silent conformists deserved dismissal.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) The institutional climax came in Wanli 21 (万历二十一年), when he and the Minister of Personnel Sun Long jointly directed the capital evaluation and dismissed nearly all of the grand secretariat's personal clients; when the evaluation secretary [Zhao Nanxing](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhao-nanxing) (赵南星) was impeached and demoted, Li fought for him, and when the fight failed he sought to leave, then defended the wrongly accused Zhao Yongxian (赵用贤) before resigning under attack from Yang Yingsu (杨应宿) and Zheng Cai (郑材).[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220)
## Death, titles, and heirs
According to the China Biographical Database, the record names no sons or heirs.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796)
## Assessment
The standard history presents Li Shida through a sequence of confrontations in which he upheld law and procedure against the emperor and the palace eunuchs, and its account of the ransom debate closes with the verdict that knowledgeable men approved of him.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220) [Reference](https://www.edgepedia.org/reference) works summarize his career with the phrase that he prosecuted the powerful and favored and enforced the law without bending (执法不阿).[5](https://www.70thvictory.com.tw/lishi/renwu/8/38388vb.htm)
Several facts are disputed. His death year is 1599 in CBDB, but local web sources give about 1600.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) • [6](https://www.ke263.com/list1587/434800l0.html) • [4](https://qinfeng.gov.cn/info/1064/240820.htm) The date of his appointment as Superintendent of the Grand Canal is Wanli 5 in CBDB but Wanli 2 in a Ming Shi database text.[2](https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796) • [3](https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/mid-page/7547827604533198899)
## Legacy
A local government cultural account states that Li Shida presided over the construction of the Chongwen Pagoda (崇文塔) in his home county, and that over more than thirty years of office he left more than a hundred memorials, later collected as the *Shaobao Li Gong Zouyi* (《少保李公奏议》).[4](https://qinfeng.gov.cn/info/1064/240820.htm)
## References
1. 《明史》卷二百二十 (biography of Li Shida), Wikisource transcription. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷220
2. China Biographical Database (CBDB), person 124796, 李世达. https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0124796
3. 《明史》 text with the Baoying bypass canal, 识典古籍. https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/mid-page/7547827604533198899
4. 崇文塔下忆渐庵, 秦风网 (Jingyang county cultural page). https://qinfeng.gov.cn/info/1064/240820.htm
5. 李世达介绍, 历史人物, 字典网. https://www.70thvictory.com.tw/lishi/renwu/8/38388vb.htm
6. 李世达简介, 泾阳县明代人物, ke263.com. https://www.ke263.com/list1587/434800l0.html
7. 李世达，《明史》列传原文, cnenc.net. http://www.cnenc.net/b3213906.html
8. Qt2bz3v185 noSplash 4cadef8a15c059939f899a40265b7e4c (escholarship.org). https://escholarship.org/content/qt2bz3v185/qt2bz3v185_noSplash_4cadef8a15c059939f899a40265b7e4c.pdf
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Late Ming (1521 to 1662) › Officials and grand secretaries*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license