Literary inquisition
Chinese | |
---|---|
Other name | speech crime |
Literal meaning | imprisonment due to writings |
The literary inquisition (simplified Chinese:
In general, there are two ways a literary inquisition could be carried out. First is that the conviction came from the writing itself. That is, the writing was the direct cause of the persecution. The second is that the writing was used as a tool to provide legitimate evidence for a predetermined conviction.[3] Such persecutions could owe even to a single phrase or word which the ruler considered offensive. Some of these were due to the naming taboo, such as writing a Chinese character that was part of the emperor's personal name. In the most serious cases, not only the writer, but also their immediate and extended families, as well as those close to them, would also be implicated and killed.
Early history (pre-960)
[edit]The earliest recorded literary inquisition occurred in 548 BC in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period. Recorded in the Zuo zhuan, the powerful minister Cui Zhu (
Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
[edit]One major case during the Han dynasty was that of Yang Yun (杨恽). Emperor Xuan first discharged him from his position in the government under the accusation of defamation. In 54 BC, he was sentenced to death by waist chopping because of his complaints of his unfair treatment written in a letter to his friend Sun, which was considered disrespectful and outrageous to the Emperor. His friends still in court were also discharged from their positions.[3][4] In 208 AD, Kong Rong, a lead figure of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an in the late Eastern Han dynasty, was killed by warlord Cao Cao for his letters to Cao disagreeing and criticizing his rule and practice, including Cao's ban on alcohol for its potential negative impact on the nation. His wife and two sons were also killed.[3][4] In the Three Kingdoms period, the death of Ji Kang was also related to his writing. In response to Sima Zhao's offer of a position as civil official, Ji Kang wrote a letter ("
Southern and Northern dynasties (420–589)
[edit]During the Northern Wei dynasty, prime minister Cui Hao carved Guo Shu ("
Sui dynasty (581–618)
[edit]In 609, Xue Daoheng, the grandfather of Xue Yuanchao, was sentenced to death by Emperor Yang of Sui dynasty. In response to Emperor Yang's attempt to keep Xue from retiring, Xue wrote an essay praising the previous Emperor Wen. Emperor Yang considered this response as a mockery and found it offensive. The direct cause of Xue's death was his saying in reminiscence of Gao Jiong (
Tang dynasty (618–907)
[edit]During the Tang dynasty, the Jizhou (
Song dynasty (960–1279)
[edit]The Song dynasty marked the rise of literary inquisition both in its number of cases and in its use. During the Song dynasty, the number of literary inquisition cases reached over one hundred.[10] The concept of literary inquisition started to take formal shape in this time period. Unlike isolated cases in previous dynasties, literary inquisition in the Song dynasty became a tool in political struggles, consciously and purposefully used by opposing political parties to suppress and eliminate opponents.[3][4][7][11] However, because the founding emperor of the Song dynasty, Emperor Taizu, vowed to not kill any scholar or intellectuals who wrote to comment or address on political issues, intellectuals involved in literary inquisition in the Song dynasty were often exiled instead of sentenced to death.[4]
Wang Anshi case
[edit]In 1079, the poet Su Shi of the Song dynasty was jailed for several months and later exiled by the Emperor Shenzong due to an accusation of writing and disseminating poems alleged to slander the court.[12] This case was also related to the political context at that time. The state was undergoing socioeconomic reforms, the New Policies, led by Chancellor Wang Anshi. Su Shi, a conservative at the time, had however expressed his disagreement with certain practices of this reform. Such action triggered the anger of people in support of the reform, which included several persons from the Censorate (yushitai,
Liu Zhi case
[edit]During the reign of Zhao Xu (1091), Liu Zhi (刘挚) was impeached and demoted for some of his letters.[14][15][16]
Huang Tingjian case
[edit]During the reign of Zhao Ji (1111), Huang Tingjian (
Yue Fei case
[edit]The Southern Song, especially during Qin Hui's tenure as the Chancellor, marked the rise of extensive and systematic use of literary inquisition for political purposes.[3][11] In face of invasion from the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the northern part of China, the debate in the court was between the "pro-war party" led by Yue Fei and the "anti-war party" advocating peace treaties with Jin. As the leader of the "anti-war party", Qin Hui used literary inquisition as a tool to intimidate or eliminate his political opponents in order to reach political conformity on the threat of Jin invasion.[3][4][11] Qin Hui specifically targeted the leading figures of the "pro-war party", Zhao Ding (赵鼎), Hu Quan (
Li Guang was also punished for his outspoken criticism of Qin Hui being a traitor. Qin Hui thus accused Li of resentment and ill will, and exiled him to today's Guangxi province in 1141. In 1150, he was further exiled to Hainan because of his attempt to compose a "private history" (
Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
[edit]The literary persecutions during the Ming dynasty were some of the most severe persecutions in Chinese history. The Ming was notorious for their vast executions and extensive literary purges, sometimes executing tens or hundreds of thousands of people at a time. Before he became emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor), the Ming dynasty's founder, was illiterate and had been a beggar. While he established his empire, he surrounded himself with scholars, while he learned to read and familiarize himself with history. He sent out requests to scholars for their presence, but some declined for fear of being executed if they made a mistake. On occasion the emperor, who was learning to read, would order the execution of someone who had written something he misunderstood.[18]
Li Chenggui Korean case
[edit]After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, Li Chenggui (
Zhu Jiyou case
[edit]In 1404 during the reign of Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di), Zhu Jiyou (
Qu You case
[edit]In 1442 during the reign of Zhu Qizhen, he ordered books written by Qu You (瞿佑) to be banned, including the collection of novels called "Cutting Lights and Newspeak" (《剪燈
Liu Yan and Huang Jian case
[edit]In 1456, Liu Yan (
Han Bangqi case
[edit]In 1514, Han Bangqi (
Wu Ting case
[edit]In 1525, Wu Ting (
Jiang Rubi and Ouyang Qu case
[edit]In 1537, during the Yingtianfu (
Shandong case
[edit]In 1543, Ye Jing (
Hu Yizong case
[edit]In 1550, Hu Yizong (
Li Mo case
[edit]In 1556, Li Mo (
Gao Qiyu case
[edit]In 1579, Gao Qiyu (
Li Zhi case
[edit]During the reign of Ming Shenzong, Li Zhi (
Liu Duo and Wei Zhongxian case
[edit]In 1625, Liu Duo (
Qing dynasty (1644–1912)
[edit]The Qing dynasty was founded by the Manchu people, an ethnic minority that destroyed the Ming dynasty. Like the Ming dynasty before them, the Qing elites were also sensitive to public sentiments towards them.[38] Writers and officials usually took the stance of drawing distinctions between the Han Chinese and the Manchus; the latter were traditionally viewed as barbarians in Han Chinese culture. However, while the Manchus were in charge, writers resorted to veiled satire.[39] According to Gu Mingdong, a specialist in Chinese literature and intellectual thought,[40] the Manchus became almost paranoid about the meanings associated with the Chinese characters for 'bright' and 'clear', 'Ming' and 'Qing' respectively.[38] One inquisition was the "case of the History of the Ming Dynasty" (
Under the Qing dynasty, literary inquisition began with isolated cases during the reigns of the Shunzhi and Kangxi emperors, and then evolved into a pattern. There were 53 cases of literary persecution during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.[41] Between 1772 and 1793, there was an effort by the Qianlong Emperor to purge what he considered to be evil books, poems, and plays. He set out to get rid of works by Ming loyalists who he believed were writing subversive anti-Qing histories of the Manchu conquest. The scale of the destruction cause by this "literary holocaust" is uncertain due to gaps in the imperial archives, however as many as 3,000 works may have been lost. An estimated 151,723 volumes were destroyed by the inquisition in this period. Amongst the works subject to this treatment were books considered disrespectful towards the Qing emperors or previous ethnic minority dynasties that could be viewed as analogous to the Qing. From 1780 onwards, plays could also be destroyed if they were vulgar or contained anti-Manchu material. Writers who criticised the Qing dynasty could expect to have their entire work erased, regardless of content.[42] The inquisition was often used to express local ambitions and rivalries that had little to do with the ruler's own political interests. It thus generated interclass, as well as intraclass, warfare. For example, commoners could lay charges against scholars.[43]
In 1799, Emperor Jiaqing announced that treating literary inquisition cases as the same level as treason and rebellion was legally unjust and inappropriate, and ordered previous cases to be reviewed. In this way, he ended the era of extensive literary inquisitions under Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong that lasted nearly 150 years.[44][45]
Examples
[edit]- 1661 to 1663: The Ming History case, the first famous case of literary inquisition in Qing dynasty. The Qing government took many issues with an unofficial history of Ming. Writers of this history, as well as some people related to the writers, (70 people in all) were executed. Among the issues were:
- Referring to ancestors of the Qing Emperors with impolite names.
- Referring to the ancestors of Qing Emperors as “贼” [bandit] and the armies of Qing as “
夷 ” [derogatory word, roughly "foreign barbarian"].
- 1753: The Qianlong Emperor's frequent tours of Jiangnan were partly funded by local governments, and therefore indirectly by the local people. One local official by the name of Lu Lusen, using a higher ranking minister's name, Sun Jiajin, sent a memorial to the emperor, pleading with him to stop the tour for the sake of the local people. The text achieved widespread popular support. Eventually Lu Lusen was sentenced to death by slow slicing for sedition, his two sons were beheaded, and more than a thousand relatives and acquaintances were either executed, exiled, or thrown into jail according to the notion of "collective responsibility" that automatically applied in cases of sedition.[46]
- 1755: A Provincial Education Commissioner named Hu Zhongzao (
胡 中藻 ) wrote a poem in which the character qing清 , the name of the dynasty (but also meaning "clear" or "transparent"), was preceded by zhuo (浊), which means "murky" or "muddy". The Qianlong Emperor saw this and many other formulations as the taking of a position in the factional struggle that was taking place at the time between the Han Chinese official Zhang Tingyu and the Manchu official Ertai, who had been Hu's mentor. Hu was eventually beheaded.[47] - 1778: The son of a poet from Jiangsu called Xu Shukui (
徐 述 夔) had written a poem to celebrate his late father. The Qianlong Emperor decided that the poem was derogatory towards the Manchus, and ordered that Xu Shukui's coffin be unearthed, his corpse mutilated, and his children and grandchildren who were over 16 beheaded. His grandsons under 15 were spared and made slaves of officials.[48] - Cai Xian (蔡顯) wrote a poem No colour is true except for red, alien flowers have become the kings of flowers to show that he preferred red peonies over purple peonies, and stated that the 'red peony is the king of peonies' and 'peonies of other colours are aliens'. The family name of the Ming emperors is Zhū (
朱 ), which also means 'red' in Chinese. The Qianlong Emperor then accused Cai Xian of attempting to attack the Manchus by innuendo and ordered Cai's execution. - In 1730, Xu Jun (
徐 骏) wrote a poem清 风不识字,何故 乱 翻 书。 [The clear [Qing] winds cannot read, so why do they flip the book pages?] This was interpreted as insinuating that the Manchu rulers of Qing were illiterate. For this and similar poems, he was executed.[49]
See also
[edit]- Human rights in China
- Index Librorum Prohibitorum
- Political repression
- Oprichnina, Ivan the Terrible's Russian Tsardom , 1565-1572 A.D
- Treason by the Book
Notes
[edit]- ^ The wuxia writer Louis Cha used this case as a prologue for his novel The Deer and the Cauldron.
References
[edit]- ^ Li Ping (2020-09-11). "Editorial: Conviction by speech, what pretext?". Apple Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
- ^ Han yu da ci dian. Luo, Zhufeng., 罗竹风. (2nd (2003 printing) ed.). Shanghai: Han yu da ci dian chu ban she. 2001. ISBN 978-7543200166. OCLC 48854704.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Qiguang., Hu;
胡 奇 光 . (1993). Zhongguo wen huo shi (1st ed.). Shanghai: Shanghai ren min chu ban she. ISBN 978-7208015852. OCLC 31125076. - ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zhongqin., Li;
李 钟琴. (2008). Zhi ming wen zi : Zhongguo gu dai wen huo zhen xiang (Di 1 ban ed.). Hefei Shi: Anhui ren min chu ban she. ISBN 9787212032289. OCLC 276910255. - ^ Yelin., Wang;
王 业霖. (2007). Zhongguo wen zi yu (1st ed.). Guangzhou Shi: Hua cheng chu ban she. ISBN 9787536049109. OCLC 192095474. - ^ Ku & Goodrich 1938, p. 255
- ^ a b c d e f Canglin., Xie; 谢苍霖. (1991). San qian nian wen huo. Wan, Fangzhen.,
万 芳 珍 . (1st ed.). Nanchang Shi: Jiangxi gao xiao chu ban she. ISBN 978-7810331173. OCLC 29495277. - ^ 《
法 苑 珠 林 》、《资治通 鉴》卷 一 百 十 四 - ^ 《
舊 五 代 史 ·卷 133·世襲 列傳 二 :高 季 興 馬 殷 劉 言 錢 鏐》 - ^ Hu, Sichuan (2008). "
宋 代 文字 狱成因 浅 探 / The Study on the Reasons of Song Dynasty's Literary Inquisition".安康 学院 学 报 / Journal of Ankang Teachers College. 2 (2018): 78 – via cnki.net. - ^ a b c d e f g Hartman, Charles (2003). "The Misfortunes of Poetry Literary Inquisitions under Ch'in Kuei (1090–1155)". Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews. 25: 25–57. doi:10.2307/3594281. JSTOR 3594281.
- ^ a b Hartman, Charles (1993). "The Inquisition against Su Shih: His Sentence as an Example of Sung Legal Practice". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 113 (2): 228–243. doi:10.2307/603027. JSTOR 603027.
- ^ Censorship : a world encyclopedia. Jones, Derek. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 2001. ISBN 978-1579581350. OCLC 48764337.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ 《
宋 史 》卷 340刘挚传 - ^ 《
續 資 治 通 鑒長編 》卷 467 - ^ 《
宋 史 》卷 342郑雍传 - ^ 《续资
治 通 鉴长编拾补》卷 21 - ^ Ku & Goodrich 1938, pp. 255–257
- ^
明 ·劉 辰 《國 初 事蹟 》Ming dynasty, Liu Chen, "Guochu Shiji" - ^ 《
明太 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 《
明 英 宗 實錄 》卷 九 十 - ^ 《
明 英 宗 實錄 ·廢帝 郕戾王 附錄 》 - ^ 《
明 武 宗 實錄 》 - ^
月俸 百 千 官 二 品 ,朝廷 雇 我 作閒 人 - ^
幸 得 太平 無 一事 ,江南 閒 煞老尚書 - ^ 《
明世 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 《
國 榷》卷 五 十 六 世 宗 嘉 靖 十 六 年 - ^ 《
明世 宗 實錄 》卷 二 百 零 四 - ^ 《
國 榷》卷 五 十 八 世 宗 嘉 靖 二 十 二 年 - ^ 《
國 朝 獻 徵 錄 》卷 六 十 五 御 史 葉 經傳 - ^
穆 天 八 駿 空 飛電 ,湘行英 皇 淚 不磨 - ^ 《
明世 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 《
明世 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 《
明神 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 敢倡
亂 道 ,惑世誣民 - ^ 《
明神 宗 實錄 》 - ^ 《
明 熹宗實錄 》 - ^ a b Gu 2003, p. 126
- ^ Ku & Goodrich 1938, p. 254
- ^ Faculty: Gu, Ming Dong, University of Texas at Dallas, archived from the original on 2010-06-04, retrieved 2010-07-13
- ^ Wong 2000
- ^ Woodside 2002, pp. 289–290
- ^ Woodside 2002, p. 291
- ^ Li, Xuanli;
李 绚丽 (2013). "略 论嘉庆朝文字 狱政策 终止的 文化 意 义 / On Cultural Significance of Policy Termination for Literary Inquisition in Jiaqing Years".教育 文化 论坛 / Tribune of Education Culture. 3 (2013): 60 – via cnki.net.{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Cao, Zhimin (2014). "
朱 珪的理念 与 嘉 庆朝文字 狱的终结 / Zhu Gui's Benevolent Policy and the Termination of Literary Inquisition in Jiaqing Dynasty".北京 科技 大学 学 报(社会 科学 版 ) / Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing (Social Sciences Edition). 2 (2014): 72 – via cnki.net. - ^ "'Kang-Qian shengshi' de wenhua zhuanzhi yu wenziyu Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine" “
康 乾 盛 世 ”的 文化 專制 與 文字 獄 [Cultural despotism and literary inquisitions in the 'Kangxi-Qianlong golden age'], in Guoshi shiliujiang國史 十 六 講 [Sixteen lectures on the history of China]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006. Retrieved on 10 November 2008. - ^ Guy 1987, p. 32
- ^ Schmidt 2003, p. 379
- ^ 《
清 稗 類 鈔·卷 二 十 六 •第 六 十 六 》:世 宗 嘗微服 游 於市,就一書肆翻閱書籍,時 微風 拂 拂 ,吹書頁 上下 不 已 。一 書 生見 狀 ,即 高吟 曰:「清風 不 識字 ,何 必來翻 書 ?」世 宗 以為譏 諷也,旋下詔 殺 之 。
Cited works
[edit]- Gu, Ming Dong (2003), "Literary Openness: A Bridge across the Divide between Chinese and Western Literary Thought", Comparative Literature, 55 (2): 112–129, doi:10.1215/-55-2-112, JSTOR 4122488
- Guy, R. Kent (1987), The Emperor's Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
- Ku, Chieh-Kang (December 1938), "A Study of Literary Persecution under the Ming", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 3 (3/4), translated by Luther Carrington Goodrich: 254–311, doi:10.2307/2717839, JSTOR 2717839
- Schmidt, J. D. (2003), Harmony Garden: The Life, Literary Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei (1716–1798), New York and London: Routledge, ISBN 9780700715251
- Wong, Kam C. (December 2000), "Black's Theory on the Behavior of Law Revisited IV: the Behavior of Qing Law", International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 28 (4): 327–374, doi:10.1006/ijsl.2000.0130
- Woodside, Alexander (2002), "The Ch'ien-Lung Reign", The Cambridge History of China: The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, vol. 9, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-24334-6, archived from the original on 2014-01-03, retrieved 2016-02-12
- Li, Zhongqin (2008). Zhi ming wen zi : Zhongguo gu dai wen huo zhen xiang. Anhui ren min chu ban she. ISBN 9787212032289.
Further reading
[edit]- Goodrich, Luther Carrington (1935), "The Literary Inquisition of Ch'ien-Lung", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 8 (4): 1131, doi:10.1017/S0041977X00082495, S2CID 162765665, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2010-07-13
- Kessler, Lawrence D. (1971), "Chinese Scholars and The Early Manchu State", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 31: 179–200, doi:10.2307/2718716, JSTOR 2718716
- Yang, Fengcheng; et al. (1992), Qian wenziyu (Literary Inquisition Through the Ages: A Factual Record of the Qing Dynasty), Haikou: Nanhai chubanshe
- Zhongguo da baike quanshu. First Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. 1980–1993.