Introduction: A Society on the Brink

The late Qing Dynasty was a period of profound transformation and turmoil in China. As the 19th century drew to a close, the empire faced internal decay, foreign encroachment, and social unrest. The traditional Confucian order that had sustained Chinese civilization for millennia was crumbling under the weight of corruption, inefficiency, and popular discontent. It was against this backdrop of institutional failure that the story of Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage unfolded—a case that would come to symbolize the injustices permeating Qing society and ultimately contribute to calls for judicial reform.

This narrative from Yu Hang County, Zhejiang Province, reveals much about late imperial China’s social dynamics, legal system, and gender relations. The case demonstrates how personal vendettas could manipulate judicial processes, how women occupied vulnerable positions in society, and how ordinary citizens navigated a bureaucratic system often stacked against them. The story’s enduring significance lies in its embodiment of the struggle for justice within a system resistant to change.

The Scholar and The Vegetable: Principal Characters

Yang Naiwu was a xiucai—a holder of the lowest degree in the imperial examination system—who lived in Yu Hang County during the 1870s. Though not wealthy, he enjoyed the comfortable life of a lower gentry member. What distinguished Yang was his uncompromising moral character and his willingness to speak truth to power. In a society where officials expected deference, Yang’s vocal criticism of corruption made him enemies among the local bureaucracy. His education and status provided some protection, but also made him a target for those who resented his principles.

The woman who would become known as Little Cabbage embodied the precarious position of women in late Qing society. Born into poverty, she lost her father early and followed her mother to Yu Hang after her remarriage. Her beauty and gentle nature made her both admired and vulnerable in equal measure. At seventeen, following social conventions of the time, her family arranged her marriage to Ge Pinlian, a tofu seller of modest means.

A Fateful Living Arrangement

The young couple’s financial circumstances led them to rent a room in Yang Naiwu’s house—a common practice where gentry families with extra space supplemented their income through rentals. This arrangement set in motion the events that would ultimately destroy multiple lives.

Ge Pinlian’s work required him to stay at the tofu workshop for extended periods, often returning home only once every ten to fifteen days. During his absences, the Yang family developed a protective relationship with Little Cabbage. They frequently invited her to share meals, and Yang himself, recognizing her intelligence, taught her to read and write—an unusual opportunity for a woman of her social standing in this period.

This kindness, however, bred suspicion in Ge’s mind. In a society that strictly separated genders and placed enormous emphasis on female chastity, any interaction between an educated man and a beautiful young woman invited gossip and doubt. Ge’s suspicions grew until he attempted to catch them in an impropriety, secretly returning home unexpectedly. Finding nothing amiss did little to assuage his concerns, and the couple eventually moved out to avoid further speculation.

Escalating Misfortunes

The change in residence brought no relief to the troubled couple. Instead, their situation deteriorated dramatically. Little Cabbage suffered two sexual assaults—first by the county magistrate’s son, then by a local ruffian. These violations highlight the extreme vulnerability of women without powerful protectors in late Qing society.

Rather than sympathizing with his wife’s trauma, Ge Pinlian grew increasingly suspicious about her previous relationship with Yang. He responded not with protection but with violence, severely beating Little Cabbage. This reaction reflects the patriarchal norms of the time, where women were often blamed for sexual violence committed against them, and where a husband’s honor was tied to his wife’s perceived chastity.

The Petition System: Justice for Sale

To understand how this personal tragedy became a major judicial case, one must examine the Qing legal system and its petitioning process. Ordinary citizens seeking redress for grievances faced a daunting bureaucratic apparatus. The normal judicial channels often proved unresponsive to those without connections or wealth, leading to the development of alternative methods for seeking justice.

The most dramatic form of appeal involved intercepting the emperor’s procession—a practice known as “appealing to the heavenly presence.” This required precise timing, courage, and luck, as petitioners had to throw themselves before the imperial carriage with their written complaint. Unsurprisingly, specialized intermediaries emerged to facilitate this process. Often beggars or wanderers who knew the routes and schedules of officials, these petition brokers would—for a fee—attempt to deliver appeals on behalf of those wronged by local authorities.

Some local officials even supported this shadow system, providing food and lodging to petition brokers along their routes. This apparent contradiction—officials facilitating challenges to their own system—reflects the complex nature of Qing bureaucracy, where different factions might support petitioners as a way to undermine rivals.

A Mysterious Death and Rush to Judgment

The case took its dramatic turn one early winter day when Ge Pinlian suddenly fell ill. He developed alternating chills and fever, with red, swollen knees. Despite his wife’s urging that he rest, the diligent tofu seller continued working until he could no longer stand. On his way home, he bought and ate some rice flour balls, after which he began vomiting violently.

By the time he reached home, Ge was shaking uncontrollably. Little Cabbage helped him to bed, covered him with multiple quilts, and—at his request—asked their landlord to purchase medicine. After taking the herbal preparation, Ge’s condition worsened. He developed rattling breathing and began foaming at the mouth. A doctor was summoned and diagnosed sha sickness , prescribing a preparation of evergreen and turnip seeds. This treatment failed, and Ge died shortly after.

The family initially accepted this as a natural death, but the local magistrate saw an opportunity. Having long harbored resentment toward Yang Naiwu for his criticism of official corruption, the magistrate seized upon Ge’s death as a chance for revenge. Without proper investigation, he ordered the arrest of both Yang and Little Cabbage, accusing them of adultery and murder.

Investigation and Torture: Forced Confessions

The legal proceedings that followed demonstrated the worst aspects of Qing jurisprudence. The magistrate conducted not an investigation to determine truth, but rather an inquest to confirm his predetermined conclusion. Under the Qing legal system, confession was considered the “king of evidence,” leading to the widespread use of torture to extract admissions of guilt.

Little Cabbage, vulnerable and terrified, was the first to break. After suffering severe torture, she confessed to poisoning her husband in an adulterous plot with Yang. When Yang maintained his innocence, he too was subjected to brutal treatment until he provided a matching confession. The magistrate had achieved his objective—not justice, but vengeance disguised as legal judgment.

The case then moved through the normal judicial channels, with each level of bureaucracy ratifying the previous decision. The prefectural and provincial courts reviewed the case but conducted no independent investigation, instead relying on the documents prepared by the Yu Hang magistrate. The confessions obtained through torture formed the evidentiary foundation for the conviction, and both defendants were sentenced to death.

The Appeal: A Long Road to Justice

What transformed this local tragedy into a national cause célèbre was the persistence of Yang’s family and the emerging power of the press. Yang’s sister, convinced of her brother’s innocence, embarked on the arduous journey to Beijing to appeal directly to the central authorities. This was an extraordinary undertaking for a woman of the time, reflecting both her courage and her devotion to her brother.

Meanwhile, the case attracted the attention of Shanghai-based newspapers, particularly Shen Bao, which began reporting on the apparent injustices in the judicial process. The emerging modern press created public pressure that reached the highest levels of government. Several officials, including censors whose duty was to check bureaucratic abuse, began questioning the verdict.

The attention eventually forced a reinvestigation, which revealed that Ge had likely died of natural causes—possibly meningitis or another infectious disease—rather than poisoning. The original autopsy had been conducted incompetently, with the examining doctor mistaking decomposition for signs of poisoning. In 1877, after multiple reviews, the case was finally overturned by the Board of Punishments, and all wrongly convicted officials were punished.

Legacy and Historical Significance

The Yang-Wu case became one of the four great wrongful convictions of the Qing Dynasty, symbolizing judicial corruption and the urgent need for reform. The case exposed several critical problems: overreliance on confession evidence, the use of torture in judicial proceedings, the vulnerability of women within the legal system, and the potential for personal vendettas to pervert justice.

The exonerations came too late for many of those involved. Yang Naiwu, though cleared, had been tortured and spent years in prison, emerging broken in health and spirit. He lost his scholarly status and lived out his days in obscurity. Little Cabbage, whose real name was Bi Xiugu, entered a convent after her release, seeking solace from a world that had treated her cruelly.

Historians view the case as both a symptom of Qing decline and a catalyst for change. It contributed to growing calls for judicial reform that would eventually lead to modernization of China’s legal system in the early 20th century. The case also demonstrated the increasing power of public opinion, as mediated through the emerging press, to influence even the traditionally insular Qing bureaucracy.

Conclusion: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied

The story of Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage transcends its specific historical moment to speak to universal themes of justice, power, and resilience. It illustrates how legal systems can be manipulated by those in authority, but also how truth can eventually prevail through persistence and public scrutiny. The case remains relevant today as a reminder of the importance of judicial independence, the dangers of confirmation bias in legal proceedings, and the enduring human capacity to seek justice against overwhelming odds.

In the end, the tragedy lies not only in the suffering of the individuals involved, but in the recognition that their ordeal was not unique—countless similar injustices undoubtedly occurred without receiving similar attention or redress. The Yang-Wu case endures in historical memory precisely because it was exceptional in its outcome, not in its circumstances. It stands as both a condemnation of a flawed system and a testament to those who struggled to make it more just.