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Late Chapter 1 Culture and Fu 5Han's Late Ming Chapter 1 • Culture and fu 5han's Earl~ A PERIOD OF HETEROGENEITY In the mid~ seventeenth century, around the time of the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty, the literatus Xu Shipu (1608-58) wrote a letter to a friend. In a reminiscent mood, musing on the glories of the recent past, he listed the great men of the long Wanli reign (1573-1620 ), which, in retrospect, marked the beginning of the late Ming period. Xu grouped these men accord­ ing to their various strengths and accomplishments. Even today his list serves as a quick summary of the period's cultural achievements: In the reign of Emperor Shenzong [r. 1573-1620 ], cultural activities in the nation flourished. The moral integrity of Zhao Nanxing [1550-1627 ], Gu Xiancheng [1550- 1612 ], Zou Yuanbiao [1551-1624 ], and Hai Rui [1514-87 ]; the investigation of moral principles by Yuan Huang [1533-1606]; the erudition ofJiao Hong [1541-162o]; the calligraphy and painting ofDong Qichang [1555-1636); the astronomical calendars of Xu Guangqi [1562-1633] and Matteo Ricci [1552-1610]; the drama ofTang Xianzu [1550-1616]; the herbal medicine ofLi Shizhen [1518-93); the paleography of Zhao Yiguang [1559-1625]; as well as the pottery ofShi Dabin, the metallurgy of Master Gu, the ink-sticks of Fang Yulu [ca. 1541-1608] and Cheng Junfang [1541-after 1610 ], the jades ofLu Zigang, and the seal carvings of He Zhen [1535-1604]-all these were equal to those of the ancients. But for the nearly fifty years of the W anli reign, there was no excellent poetry. Beginning with Wang Shizhen [1526-go] and Li Panlong [1514-70 ], poetry became trite; with Yuan Hongdao [1568-1610] and Xu Wei [1521- 93], it turned frivolous; and when Zhong Xing [1574-1624] and Tan Yuanchun [1586-1637] took the lead, it became feeble. 1 Brief and hardly complete, Xu's listing represents a typical retrospective view, such as might have been held by any of the literati who lived through the end 5 of the Ming and into the early years of the Qing dynasty.2 From morality to philosophy, from the visual arts to literature and drama, from astronomical calendars to traditional medicine, from paleographical scholarship to ink mak­ ing and jade carving, Xu lists a wide range of accomplishments in which he believed that contemporary achievements equaled those of the ancients. But it is more than a long list: it is a skeletal outline of an unusual era of dramatic social, economic, political, philosophical, and artistic transformation, and each of the individuals mentioned (and there were many whom Xu omit­ ted) was a key figure in an exciting and vibrant period characterized not only by great achievements and noble causes but also by widespread corruption and decadence, a period that ended with the Ming dynasty foundering beneath a wave of domestic upheaval and the tide of the Manchu invasion. The decline of morality played a critical role in the increasing political in­ stability of the late Ming, and political instability was a key to the dynasty's collapse. Xu Shipu lists four figures regarded as models of moral integrity: Zhao Nanxing, Gu Xiancheng, Zou Yuanbiao, and Hai Rui. Including the upright and outspoken official Hai Rui in this list was chronologically awk­ ward because, unlike the other three, whose political careers began (and in Gu's case, also ended) in the Wanli reign, Hai Rui served as an official mainly during the Jiajing (1522-66) and Longqing (1567-72) reigns, returning to office in the Wanli period only after a long period of forced retirement from 1570 to 1585 and for only two years (1585-87). Although not particularly popular among his fellow officials, Hai achieved national repute for his courageous stance against corruption. Thus, despite limited and interrupted service, Hai Rui was esteemed in the late Ming as a moral hero and symbol of social con- science.. 3 The other three moral heroes were deeply involved in the politics of the Wanli and Tianqi (1621-27) reigns.4 The Wanli reign began well, in relative peace. The capable Zhang Juzheng ( 1525-82) exercised strong control over the state apparatus as grand secretary for the first ten years of the W anli period, where the emperor was still young. After Zhang's death in 1582, the political situation at court rapidly deteriorated. From then until the dynasty's downfall, late Ming politics were disrupted by intensifying factional disputes that gradu­ ally destabilized the dynasty. The most striking disruption was the political battle between the Donglin movement and its opponents beginning in the last decade of the sixteenth century.5 In the face of prevalent political corruption, Donglin partisans led by Gu Xiancheng launched a moral crusade in the 1590s. Zhao N anxing was a stalwart supporter of the movement, and Zou Yuanbiao was deeply sympathetic to it. At times, the Donglin faction triumphed, remov­ ing, for example, corrupt officials from posts in Beijing during the early 162os. But the movement was brutally repressed by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568- r627) and his followers. In 1627 Wei Zhongxian was forced to commit 6 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life .
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