The Dawn of a New Reign and Its First Literary Persecution

In the inaugural year of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign (1662), while the young emperor ascended the throne at just eight years old, a devastating famine gripped the Shanghai region. Yao Tinglin, a thirty-five-year-old county clerk residing east of the Huangpu River, documented how local officials organized gruel kitchens at Guangfu Temple and Jishan Temple to relieve starving populations. Amid these hardships, Yao attended his cousin’s sixtieth birthday celebration where shocking news circulated about a wealthy family from Nanxun Town executed for privately compiling national history – the first major literary persecution case of Kangxi’s era.

Yao’s account, preserved in his “Chronicle of Years,” contained several inaccuracies – mistaking the location as Jiaxing rather than Huzhou and identifying the family as Zhu rather than the actual culprit Zhuang Tinglong. Yet his record proves remarkably precise regarding the case’s timing and outcome, noting it concluded in Kangxi 1 (1662), contradicting official records that place the resolution in Kangxi 2 (1663). The sensitivity surrounding this case meant few dared document it, leaving scant historical materials beyond scattered private notes – not even included in the Qing court’s official “Archives of Literary Persecutions.”

The Rise and Fall of the Zhuang Family Scholarly Dynasty

The case centered on the prominent Zhuang family of Nanxun Town, Huzhou Prefecture – renowned literati known locally as the “Nine Dragons of Zhuang” for their exceptional scholarship. The family patriarch Zhuang Yuncheng, a late-Ming tribute student and remnant of the Fushe literary society, reportedly mastered geomancy. After allegedly discovering hidden treasure in Xiajiayuan, the family relocated from their ancestral Suzhou home to Nanxun, establishing themselves among Zhejiang’s intellectual elite.

Zhuang Tinglong, Yuncheng’s son, emerged as a prodigy – achieving the prestigious “selected tribute” status at nineteen before tragically losing his sight. Inspired by the ancient historian Zuo Qiuming who composed the “Guoyu” after becoming blind, Tinglong resolved to achieve literary immortality. He acquired draft Ming historical materials from former Grand Secretary Zhu Guozhen’s estate and assembled scholars to compile the “Ming History Compendium” (Mingshu or Mingshi Gai). After Tinglong’s premature death, his grieving father vowed to publish the work before arranging posthumous heirs.

The Fatal Text: Content That Shook the Empire

The controversial text contained several inflammatory elements: it recognized the Southern Ming’s Hongguang, Longwu and Yongli reign periods as legitimate rather than using Qing dating from 1644; frankly discussed the Jianzhou Jurchens (Qing ancestors); and included passages like “the mighty army perished in foreign lands” – all considered treasonous. The printing bore the mark “Qingmei Tang Collection,” the studio name of Tinglong’s father-in-law Zhu Youming, who financed publication to burnish his own reputation despite being a nouveau riche social climber despised by literati.

Zhu Youming’s rise itself read like a morality tale – son of a carpenter who allegedly murdered a merchant and Buddhist monk to steal hidden treasure, then married into aristocracy. His purchase of Zhu Guozhen’s studio plaque (originally inscribed by master calligrapher Dong Qichang) and erasure of the attribution epitomized his cultural pretensions. The “Ming History Compendium” listed twenty-four renowned scholars as editors across its hundred volumes.

The Informant and the Empire’s Response

The case unraveled when disgraced former magistrate Wu Zhirong, dismissed for corruption, discovered the text at Zhu Youming’s home. After failed blackmail attempts against Zhuang Yuncheng, Wu acquired an original edition and escalated accusations to Beijing. Despite initial local official dismissals (after Zhuang’s bribes and text revisions), the regents – dominated by Oboi during Kangxi’s minority – dispatched investigators. Yuncheng died mysteriously in prison during winter 1662, possibly poisoned.

The verdict proved draconian: eighteen Zhuang family members were executed (including posthumous disinterment and corpse burning for Tinglong); Zhu Youming’s family suffered collective punishment; editors faced horrific fates – already-deceased Dong Eryou was exhumed and mutilated; Zhang Jun drowned himself; Hu fled to become a monk; ten others including Pan Chengzhang and Wu Yan were executed at Hangzhou’s Bijiao Market on Dragon Boat Festival 1663. Preface author Li Lingxi (a Board of Rites vice minister) and his sons were killed; military officials received demotions while their secretaries were executed; local educators and prefectural staff were beheaded or strangled for “concealment.”

Cultural Terror and Its Aftermath

This literary inquisition claimed over seventy lives with hundreds exiled. Informant Wu Zhirong prospered, receiving confiscated Zhu properties and promotion to Right Assistant Censor. Only renowned poet Zha Jizuo escaped punishment, allegedly through protection from General Wu Liuqi whose early poverty Zha had alleviated.

The case’s timing during Kangxi’s regency suggests Oboi’s influence in its excessive severity. Kangxi’s reign (1662-1722) witnessed twenty-odd literary persecutions, with the Zhuang case and later Dai Mingshi’s “Nanshan Collection” case (1711) being most notorious. Scholar Quan Zuwang warned intellectuals in “Jieqi Pavilion Collection” that these served as dire warnings against trespassing literary taboos.

The Southern Tour and Imperial Benevolence

Kangxi’s celebrated southern tours presented a counterpoint to such repression. His second tour in 1689 saw him pardon 2.2 million taels of Jiangnan’s tax arrears, personally distributing alms to beggars and fishermen. At Suzhou, he famously declared “You Jiangnan people all have longevity!” while enjoying local sights and witty exchanges with monks. These carefully staged displays of imperial magnanimity – six tours total – became hallmarks of Kangxi’s public image, though their extravagance (particularly after 1700) strained local finances.

The Contradictions of Kangxi’s China

Beneath the surface of proclaimed prosperity, records like Yao Tinglin’s “Chronicle of Years” and Ye Mengzhu’s “Compendium of Worldly Affairs” reveal constant hardships: the 1662 famine and epidemic; 1663 storms; 1670 floods; 1679 plagues; 1688 crop failures. Local officials like corrupt Jiaxing Prefect Zhang Hanjie extorted taxes through torture, driving commoners to suicide over trivial debts. Even in relatively prosperous Jiangnan, farmers might toil all year only to face beatings for tax arrears.

The Kangxi era thus presents profound contradictions – simultaneous cultural repression and patronage, proclaimed prosperity alongside widespread suffering, centralized control paired with localized corruption. These tensions would continue shaping Qing society long after the emperor’s death, leaving complex legacies for historians to unravel. The literary inquisitions particularly cast long shadows over intellectual life, reminding scholars of the perilous boundaries surrounding historical writing in imperial China.