On Causes for Failure of ZHANG Ju-zheng's Reform from a Perspective of His Inspection System

The inspection system was both the political measure of ZHANG Ju-zheng's reform and the power resource giving impetus to it. He conducted a series of reform in Ming Dynasty. However, such system could not be implemented in the period of Emperor Wangli, so his reform had to stop due to lack of such impetus. Through the system, ZHANG concentrated the power of inspecting the six ministries into the cabinet with him as the head. This touched the interest of the emperor. Therefore, after his death, the system lost the support from the emperor. Due to the fact of the power concentration, the bureaucrat system from central to local resisted it in one way or another. Meanwhile, it failed to be the political conventionality in Ming Dynasty due to the short time of its implementation. After ZHANG's death in his middle age, his successors were unwilling to keep this system. Instead, they became his gravediggers.