Zhao Hui

Zhao Hui (1398–1478), courtesy name Mengyang, pseudonym Cun Gu Dao Ren, was a marquis of the Ming Dynasty and the son of Zhao He. He was a descendant of the Song imperial family; his great-grandfather Zhao Sheng served as a regional governor under the Yuan Dynasty and was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor. His grandfather Zhao Ying was appointed to a military post in Shaanxi at the beginning of the Ming Hongwu era, with the rank of head of the guards, and was awarded the title of Grand Protector. His father, Zhao He, received a command position in the imperial guards during the early Yongle period and was killed in battle during campaigns in Annam.

Zhao Hui lost his father at the age of seven and was raised by his mother, Sun Shi. In the 11th year of Yongle (1413), he served as a thousand-household guard at Jinchuan Gate. In his twenties, he was selected by Emperor Ming Chengzu to be a prospective match for Princess Baoqing. He served in various official capacities across six reigns: Ming Chengzu, Ming Renzong, Ming Xuanzong, Ming Yingzong, Ming Dazong, and Ming Xianzong. He was responsible for overseeing affairs in Nanjing, managing the Imperial Clan Office, supervising the Ming Chang Mausoleum, overseeing southern equine affairs, and held these positions for nearly twenty years.

His family was lavish, with numerous concubines and courtiers totaling over a hundred, and he enjoyed wealth and prosperity for more than sixty years. He died on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in 1478 at the age of eighty-one. His writings in *Shuyuan Zaiji* record that he “consumed women's Yin fluids and lunar water,” indicating indulgent or decadent tastes.