Qianlong's Expansion 1736-99
Emperor Yongzheng had written the name of his successor and locked it in a casket, enabling his fourth son to become Emperor Qianlong in 1736 without controversy at the age of 24. He also inherited his father's advisors, Oertai and Zhang Tingyu. A faction criticized Oertai for forcing defeudalization and Sinicization on the Miao people in the southwest, causing devastation and misery. In the mid-1730s Chen Hongmou (1696-1771) helped organize 650 charitable schools for the Miao in Yunnan. He also compiled a critical anthology of educational writings called Bequeathed Guidelines of Five Kinds that began appearing in 1739 and became very influential. In 1737 Qianlong tried to ban making liquor from grain in northern China, but this was ineffective and not enforced. He reduced the influence of eunuchs by decreeing in 1742 that they could not rise above the fourth grade in the civil service. Oertai continued to dominate policy until he died in 1745. After the Miao rebellion supported by the Hmong and Yao peoples was put down in 1740, Chinese moneylenders invaded and with usury managed to take over much land. Soldier colonists used Miao and Yao as slaves to work the abandoned or confiscated lands. Qianlong had Zhang Guangsi executed in 1749 for having suppressed the Miao. The examinations had minority quotas, but many Chinese claimed to be Miao or Yao in order to pass. Competition became stiffer with increased population, as the total number of positions for magistrates in the empire was surpassed by the number of Zhuren degrees earned every third year. Another Miao rebellion would erupt at the end of Qianlong's reign in 1795 to try to expel the intruders and recover their land.
During Qianlong's long reign the Qing empire nearly doubled both in territory and population. Chinese partible inheritance meant that land was equally divided between sons, and the average farm decreased to about 2.5 acres. Peanuts, corn (maize), and sweet potatoes were introduced from America and could grow on hillsides. Rice production increased, but the price increased fivefold in the second half of the 18th century, as did the price of cotton cloth. Cultivating land on the military frontiers allowed the reduction of taxes. Qianlong continued the Qing policy of relying on Manchu governors in the provinces with mostly Han Chinese as prefect administrators and county magistrates. He instructed the governors to prosecute corrupt prefects and magistrates and arrest provincial students who bully people or cause trouble. Hang Shizhun criticized the Emperor's favoring of Manchus and frontier Chinese over qualified Chinese scholars, but he was dismissed in 1743. Qianlong wanted to leave a literary legacy and composed more than 42,000 poems and many prose works. He collected paintings and imposed his calligraphy on them. Missionaries helped design a summer palace for Qianlong that was completed in 1747 and was embellished with paintings by Guiseppe Castiglione and Jean-Denis Attiret. In 1747 he tried to stop the selling of Miao children by Sichuan racketeers. Qianlong was deeply upset by the death of a son and his empress in 1748, and he punished more than a hundred senior officials for not mourning the empress properly. He also punished military officers who failed in battle. After two years of war the Qing were defeated by the Golden Stream (Jin Chuan) people in Sichuan in 1749, and he had two grand secretaries and an imperial commissioner put to death.
Just as the Chinese empire was ruled by the edicts of the emperor without a legislature, the local counties were under the jurisdiction of the magistrates, who acted as investigators, judges, and juries. Suspects were harshly treated in jails and were often tortured into confessing. For the convicted with money, small amounts of silver could be paid to avoid flogging; 720 taels covered banishment, and 1,200 taels got one a reprieve from beheading or strangulation. Sometimes allowances were made based on the ability to pay. A gentleman who had passed the examinations could not be prosecuted by a magistrate until he had been stripped of that status, and such gentlemen were also exempt from corvée labor service and the poll tax. The baojia system organized ten jia of one hundred households each into a bao. The headman was responsible for registering everyone and maintaining law and order. The baojia concept made everyone in the community responsible for all, and friends and neighbors might be penalized for the illegal acts of others. This community process also helped relieve those in need.
In the late 1750s the Manchu bannerman Zhaohui led the Qing army in the conquest of extensive western territory that was named Xinjiang, meaning "new territories." When the cities of Kashgar and Yarkand were captured in 1759, many Dzungars were slaughtered. The name Dzungars was wiped out, and those left were called Oloths. The Qing government paid about 20,000 troops more than three million taels annually to garrison Xinjiang. The Manchus allowed the Muslims to keep their religious traditions, and they did not have to shave their heads and wear a queue. Trade in copper, gems, saltpeter, wool, and slaves prospered, but the Qing government controlled the mining of gold and jade. More Mongolian tribes were also brought into the Qing empire. About half of the 200,000 banner soldiers were stationed near Beijing, and more than 600,000 troops in the Green Standard army were used for fighting wars against the Miao and in Xinjiang. Qianlong tried to unify the diversity of the empire and in 1764 relaxed the ban on inter-marriage with Chinese minorities. In the late 1760s Qing forces fought Burma over control of the Shan people. Chinese merchants imported much cotton from Burma up the Irrawaddy River. Qianlong tried to impose a trade embargo to punish King Hsinhpyushin; but this was not effective and only made the local people unfriendly.
The Qing army managed to pacify the Tibetans in western Sichuan between 1771 and 1776. Qianlong celebrated the victory by having Jin Chuan monks executed and exhibiting others in caged carts in Beijing. These two wars cost the Qing twice as much as the entire conquest of Xinjiang. In 1774 Muslim troops were sent to quell a White Lotus rebellion in Shangdong led by Wang Lun, an expert in martial arts and herbal healing. His followers captured towns and part of Linqing before they were slaughtered by the Chinese army. Customs taxes on growing commerce quadrupled between 1735 and 1795, helping the Beijing treasury to increase from 40 million taels in 1750 to 80 million in 1780. However, Hong Liangji warned in his book On Clothes and Food that the increasing population was consuming supplies that would no longer be there for the next generations. Yang Xifu (d. 1768) had given four reasons for the increase in poverty: population growth, concentrated land ownership, local granaries setting rice prices, and increased consumption. For a while the new land in the west absorbed many of the unemployed poor people from the interior, but late in Qianlong's reign the population of China surpassed 300 million. He rejected proposals to restrict migration because he believed that peasants should be free to move where they can find opportunity. He listened to the advice of Zhili governor Sun Jiagan not to disturb the rights of Chinese cultivators who had taken over lands from Manchu bannerman unable to farm. In 1778 Qianlong announced that he would retire at the end of 1795 at the completion of China's sixty-year cycle and so as not to surpass the 61-year reign of his grandfather Kangxi.
The immense project of compiling The Complete Works of the Four Treasuries began in 1773 and was completed in 1784. The four categories were classics, history, philosophy, and literature. Scholars collected 11,000 works and published 3,457 of them in 79,070 volumes. Ming founder Yongle was considered a usurper, and his Encyclopedia of 11,095 volumes was criticized for its antiquated arrangement and Daoist prayers. Emperor Qianlong ignored the literati who wanted him to close urban teahouses and wine shops or ban embroidered robes, because he believed that making them illicit would just increase their value. While scholars were searching from house to house for books, a great inquisition was carried out. In twenty years 151,725 books were destroyed, having more than 3,000 different titles of which 2,000 were lost to posterity. Books were condemned for anti-Manchu references or for containing geographical and other information that might affect national defense, and in the 1780s plays with vulgar language were also censored. In 1777 Wang Xihou was executed for having compiled a dictionary that criticized the dictionary of Kangxi's administration. Even stone texts were effaced and replaced with new messages. Qianlong also attempted to eradicate Christianity in 1746 and again in 1784. The Emperor executed 56 Gansu officials in 1781 for selling examination degrees. Yet late in his reign Qianlong began to sell lower degrees to raise money.
In 1781 Qianlong announced his plan to add 20,000 troops, but his advisor Agui opposed the spending. Some had become quite wealthy, and salt merchants contributed twelve million taels for half the cost. Zhao Yi (1727-1814) argued that the state would become bankrupt unless it used peasant militias and minority soldiers. Muslims in Gansu revolted twice in the 1780s. In 1787 a Qing army of 60,000 was used to defeat the Triad rebellion on Taiwan. The Emperor had to recruit Chinese peasants to fight but had no plan for demobilization after the war. The Qing court was allied with the Le dynasty of Vietnam and punished the Chinese miners who had caused a disturbance at Hanoi in 1767. When the Tay-son brothers led a revolt in 1786, the Le heir fled to Guangxi and appealed for Chinese help. After Nguyen Hue moved Vietnam's capital to south of Hanoi, Governor Sun Shiyi of Guangxi and Guangdong proposed the conquest of Vietnam. His soldiers occupied the capital but were attacked while they were celebrating the new year of 1789; they lost 4,000 men and fled back to Guangxi. These invasions harmed Chinese commercial interests. Learning from the quagmire in Burma, Qianlong made peace with the Nguyen ruler, who was willing to pay tribute. In 1791 Qianlong banned the use of Nepalese money in Tibet and ordered Gurkha merchants to leave. The Qing army invaded in 1792 and drove the Gurkhas back to Nepal, which began sending tribute to the Qing capital every five years.
During the 18th century the Chinese economy greatly developed. A favorable balance of trade with other countries imported increasing silver. Paper notes also helped the money supply. A warming trend in the climate coupled with improvements in the soil, farming tools, irrigation and drainage, and intensive cultivation increased productivity in grain and other foods. This prosperity and additional territory allowed reductions in taxes for most of the century, and China was powerful enough to deter or defeat rebellions and foreign aggression. Community organizations helped collect taxes and the command economy with mutual cooperation relieving the poor and famines. Many people migrated to new regions and formed market towns. Commerce and industry grew; but still 94% of the people lived in rural communities, and 80% were farmers. In the Canton area 20,000 people processed iron and marketed its products. Most communities were primarily self-sufficient with the customary economy being about three-quarters of the total economy.
Emperor Qianlong became enamored of the young bannerman Heshan in 1775 and promoted him quickly to the grand council, police commandant, revenue minister, lieutenant general, and to authority in the Four Treasuries office. In 1786 Heshan became grand secretary and began receiving graft for appointing his friends and relatives throughout the empire. During his reign Qianlong prosecuted thirty governors for corruption; but when he began confiscating the supplementary salaries of officials, many turned to embezzling funds to pay fines or give requested donations. Yet while he punished provincial officials, Qianlong failed to purge the corrupt officers in his capital. He no longer received the secret memorials as his father and grandfather had, and thus he was blind to the corruption. Qianlong ordered prefectures and counties to provide relief for those in need, and charitable granary networks were established to stave off famines. By 1792 more than 20,000 peasants were being fed in the capital's soup kitchens even though they were only used temporarily by itinerant laborers. Many avoided urban soup kitchens because of epidemic diseases.
The British East India Company had been trading informally with the Chinese at Canton (Guangzhou), Zhousan, and Xiamen (Amoy) since the 1630s. In 1699 they established a factory at Canton. Thirteen Hong merchants had factories or commercial agencies outside the city walls of Canton. In 1720 they organized a guild that was called the Cohong. Three percent of business transactions were put into the Consoo (Gongsuo) fund to relieve those who became insolvent. In 1759 trader James Flint was arrested and imprisoned three years for violating Qing laws. In 1760 maritime trade was limited to Guangzhou and was conducted each year only between October and March. After 1785 the Hong merchants had to pay an annual tribute of 55,000 taels to the imperial court. The foreign factories at Canton were under strict rules that prohibited women, firearms, or loans to Hong merchants, nor were they allowed to have Chinese books or learn Chinese. The silver the British paid for silk, porcelain, tea, and other goods went from three million taels in the 1760s to sixteen million taels in the 1780s. To reverse this trend, they began trading opium they brought from India, and this went from one thousand chests of opium in 1773 to 4,054 chests in 1790. By 1800 the English were buying 23 million pounds of tea annually. George Macartney arrived as the special envoy of George III in 1792. He refused to prostrate himself on the floor before Emperor Qianlong but said he would bow on bended knee as he would to King George. In 1793 he was received by the powerful Heshan, but the Emperor refused to make any special trade agreement with the English.
Although Qianlong announced his abdication at the end of 1795, he continued to rule through Heshan, who took over numerous offices and acquired an enormous fortune. When Qianlong died in 1799, Qianlong's son, Emperor Jiajing, accused Heshan of corruption and forced him to commit suicide. By various means Heshan had amassed 800,000,000 taels. The main charge was that he had embezzled money that was supposed to be used to quell the White Lotus rebellion that began in 1796, and then he lied that the war was going well. The White Lotus religion worshiped the Eternal Mother, and the rebellion went on until 1804.
Jiajing Era 1799-1820
Confucian Intellectuals in the Qing Era
During the last years of the Ming dynasty, a group of Chinese literati formed the Society of Renewal to revive the Donglin party that had been crushed by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Jin Shengtan wrote essays on popular literature and plays, but he was beheaded for siding with students protesting at the funeral ceremonies for Emperor Shunzhi in 1661. Huang Zongxi (1610-96) opposed rule by eunuchs or the Manchus. In 1649 he went to Nagasaki to organize resistance. In 1662 he published A Plan for the Prince, arguing for the liberal principles that the prince and ministers should serve the people rather than the reverse. He recommended that basic laws replace imperial edicts and that a prime minister and other ministers should have more power. He suggested curtailing eunuchs by reducing the number of emperor's wives. Examinations should be broader, and advancement should also be by recommendations. "Eight-paragraph essays" and poems had to follow rigid formulas using antithetical comparisons, and one could be eliminated by the wrong use of a word, by breaking the rhyme scheme, or by poor calligraphy. Only by passing the governmental examinations could one enter the class of gentlemen. Yet the exams did allow extraordinary opportunities to intelligent men who studied hard. The best half of about 20,000 civilian positions were filled by those with degrees. In 1679 Huang declined to work on the Ming history project. Instead he wrote a history of Chinese philosophy during the Song and Yuan eras, but it was unfinished at his death.
Wang Fuzhi (1619-92) also belonged to the Renewal Society. After supporting the southern Ming emperor Yongle, he retired to write. He believed that societies are transformed by natural evolution and continually make progress, and he argued that the modern concept of private property made the ancient ideal of equal land division obsolete. Gu Yenwu (1613-82) became very influential even though his book was not published until 1695. His foster mother fasted to death in protest of the Qing regime. He pioneered historical criticism and philology, and he also analyzed the political decadence of the late Ming era. He found that the central administration and its provincial agents had become divorced from the people. Because civil servants were not trusted, numerous regulations were imposed from above, reducing initiative and adaptability to local conditions. He urged more local autonomy. Gu was also a geographer, economist, and strategist, and he traveled extensively for 22 years to do his research. He criticized the influence in the Ming era from the Song Neo-Confucians and the idealistic Wang Yangming, whom he noted had been affected by Chan Buddhism. Gu proposed going back to the early commentaries from the Han dynasty, and his new textual criticism became known as "Han Learning." His research methods emphasized originality, utility, and extensive evidence.
Yen Yuan (1635-1704) turned against Neo-Confucian idealism for a more practical approach. In 1696 he was put in charge of an academy in Hebei and implemented a curriculum that included military training, archery, riding, boxing, mechanics, mathematics, astronomy, and history. He believed that real knowledge must have practical application. Although he was little known by his contemporaries, his ideas were promoted by his disciple Li Gong (1659-1733). Dai Zhen (1723-77) proposed the motto, "One must not let oneself be deceived either by others or by oneself."6 He criticized the distortions of the Neo-Confucian philosophers on the work of Mencius. He believed that the morality of practical life is based on the instincts of survival, hunger, sexual desire, and other needs and passions, and that these are all manifestations of the Way (Dao). He argued that the principles of the Song philosophers prevented the young and humble from expressing themselves and fulfilling their goals. Dai Zhen rejected meditation and sudden enlightenment and recommended study, investigation, reasoning, and sincere action. Zhang Xuecheng (1736-96) recommended studying the regional histories of China because the Way is known through its historical manifestations. Because of the intense competition for limited government positions, many scholars spent their time teaching in the academies and writing on the classics and histories. Bi Yuan (1730-97) was governor of Shaanxi and organizing the writing of thirty-three regional histories. Confucian philosophy in the 18th century emphasized evidential research (kaozheng).
Chen Hongmou (1696-1771) was one of the most successful governors in Chinese history. He believed that everyone could be educated, including women of every class. Some women managed to become recognized as poets. Yuan Mei (1716-98) was a poet who advocated rights for women; he opposed polygamy (though he had concubines) and the binding of little girls' feet, an aristocratic custom that had begun in the Song era. The early Qing rulers banned foot-binding, but they soon stopped enforcing it in Chinese households. Yuan Mei studied Manchu in Beijing but failed his Manchu exams in 1742. After his father died, he resigned from his official position and made his living the rest of his life by his writing. In 1753 he moved his mother, wife, and concubines to Harmony Garden. Yuan Mei recognized the love of wealth and sex as natural human desires and suggested that without them the human race would have become extinct. He also observed that some people who do not have feelings often act in wicked ways. He disliked religions like Buddhism that tried to deny human desires. He also criticized Confucian traditions that follow a narrowly defined straight line of transmission through the Neo-Confucian Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi. He believed that art is the Dao (Way) taking form. Pursuing art with refinement expresses the Dao, but in imitation both the Dao and art are lost. Yuan found that singing poems is pleasant to the feelings and that nothing stops anger better than poetry. He wrote that when one is at peace, nature and inspiration are revealed.
China continued to be a patriarchal society, and many women were confined to the home, where they were taught to spin and weave. Widows were expected to be chaste, but married men could take concubines. Age was greatly respected, and the younger were expected to defer to the older. Profound thinkers such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Goethe, and Adam Smith admired Chinese culture. Leibniz gathered material from Jesuits and in 1697 published a book on new Chinese things. During the European era of enlightenment Voltaire, Holbach, and Diderot argued that Confucian society in China proved that a culture could be ethical without being Christian.
Theater in the Qing Era
Li Yu (1611-80) wrote several comedies in the 1660s, but the two most famous plays of the early Qing era are The Palace of Eternal Youth by Hong Sheng and The Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren.
Hong Sheng (1645-1704) spent more than ten years working on The Palace of Eternal Youth and completed it in 1688. The story is based on Bai Juyi's poem "The Everlasting Sorrow." The play was immediately popular, but production the next year during a period of national mourning drew the attention of the censor. Emperor Kangxi read the play, dismissed the producer, expelled Hong Sheng from the Imperial College, and struck numerous scholars from the Official List. The story of a tragic romance at court during the An Lushan rebellion was apparently too controversial for this insecure Manchu emperor. Hong Sheng retired in Hangzhou to a life of poetry and wine until he fell into a river and drowned.
The play is set at the court of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-56), who is called by his popular name Ming Huang. He was known for patronizing musicians, dancers, and actors in his Pear Garden Academy. The Tang empire had been expanded, but later in his reign military expenses of guarding the new frontiers caused hardships for the peasants. An Lushan is a Tatar general about to be executed, but he persuades the eunuch Gao Lishi and the Emperor to give him another command. Ming Huang falls in love with the beautiful Yang Yuhuan and in 1745 makes her his main concubine. He elevates her three sisters as duchesses, and Lady Yang is sometimes jealous of them. Her cousin, Yang Guozhong, becomes prime minister. Efforts to bring Lady Yang fresh lychee fruit by special couriers causes the death of two blind peasants. On the seventh day of the seventh moon in 1751 the Emperor and Lady Yang vow undying love to each other. In 1755 An Lushan rebels, and the Emperor has to flee. Some guards mutiny and kill Yang Guozhong and the Guo duchess, blaming their family for ruining the empire. To help the Emperor escape, Lady Yang takes her own life. Two years later he finds that her body has vanished. A necromancer finds her on a fairy mountain and takes the gold hairpin and jewel box the Emperor had given her back to him. Ming Huang stops eating and dies so he can be with Lady Yang, a goddess of the moon.
Kong Shangren (1648-1718) was a descendant of Confucius and became a doctor in the Imperial College. The Peach Blossom Fan was produced in 1699 and also was a long southern drama (in 40 scenes) and an immediate success. This romantic drama poignantly portrays the fall of the Ming dynasty between 1643 and 1645. In a house of pleasure run by Li Zhenli a 16-year-old girl is named Fragrant Princess by the painter and poet, Yang Wencong. Hou Fangyu has just passed the examination, and he writes a poem on her fan. She rejects expensive clothes sent by the corrupt dramatist and politician, Ruan Dacheng. General Zuo Liangyu says that his troops are hungry and that he is having difficulty restraining them. Yang tells Hou that Ruan may arrest him because he is a confederate of Zuo; but a stronger motivation is that he is jealous of Hou's relationship with Fragrant Princess. News arrives that Emperor Chongzhen has hanged himself. Hou travels to Shi Kefa, who has been promoted to President of the Board of War in Nanjing. Hou explains the reasons why they should not support Prince Fu as emperor. Shi refuses to see the resentful Ruan. Ma Shiying brags of his new power for having made Prince Fu the Hongguang emperor. Hongguang appears, and a eunuch announces that Ma is now prime minister and minister of war. Ma accepts Ruan as his private secretary. Yang becomes a councilor in the ministry of ceremonies. He summons Fragrant Princess, but she is contracted to Hou and refuses to go. The poet Ding comments, "No matter how rich you are, you cannot buy what is not for sale. Both threats and coercion are useless."7 In the on-going civil war Gao Jie tells Shi why he became a rebel. Shi pardons him and assigns him to defend the Yellow River region, sending Hou to advise him.
Yang Wencong tells Ma Shiying why Fragrant Princess refused Tian's proposal, and Ma sends men to force her. Her foster mother Li urges her to accept the 300 taels and submit, but Fragrant Princess says that Ruan and Tian are part of eunuch Wei's clique. She beats off Yang with her fan and knocks her head on the floor until she faints. Li tells Yang that she will impersonate the girl. Yang paints the fan with leaves so that the blood stains resemble peach blossoms and shows it to Fragrant Princess. She asks her singing teacher Su to take the fan to Hou. Ma and Ruan come for her, and she accuses them of promoting their personal ambition and pandering to the Emperor's lust. Yang stops the angry Ruan, who is kicking her, but Ruan and Ma order her to work in the Inner Court. The Emperor tells Ruan that he appreciates his new play, Swallow Letter, and he orders Fragrant Princess to memorize her role. Disregarding Hou's warning, General Gao is invited to a dinner by a disgruntled commander and is murdered. Traveling Su meets Li, who was driven out of Tian's house by his shrewish wife, and she is now married to a boat officer. Li and Su find Hou, and Su gives him the fan. Hou finds the painter Lan living in the room of Fragrant Princess. Hou meets with the bookseller Cai and two scholars of a club reviving the Donglin party, for which they are arrested by Ruan. Judge Zhang is a reclusive Daoist and keeps them in protective custody.
Su insists on seeing General Zuo so that they can impeach Ma and Ruan. At the first anniversary of Emperor Chongzhen's death, a messenger brings the public impeachment for seven crimes. Ma and Ruan decide to appeal to northern generals against the large forces of Zuo and go into hiding. When General Zuo Liangyu learns that his son has let his troops pillage and loot, he kills himself. General Shi Kefa with only three thousand men gallantly tries to defend Yangzhou from the northern army. Rioters strip Ruan and Ma of their possessions. They learn that the northern troops have crossed the Yangzi and that Hongguang has fled Nanjing. Su finds Fragrant Princess and tells her the prisoners are freed. They decide to go to Zhang's retreat. Hongguang asks General Huang Degong for protection; but two generals named Liu arrive and abduct Hongguang to take him to Beijing, as Tian wounds Huang, who commits suicide. Shi Kefa has fled fallen Yangzhou and learns that Nanjing is besieged; so he drowns himself. Hou and his friends go to the retreat of Zhang, who commemorates the Ming martyrs. The ghosts of Shi Kefa, Zuo, and Huang appear, but the apparitions of Ma and Ruan fall from the ridge of the immortals. Zhang notes the karmic circle. Finally Hou and Fragrant Princess are reunited, but Zhang persuades both to become Daoists. In an epilog three years later a Manchu official tries to track down the retired scholars, who flee into the hills.
Wu Jingzi's Novel The Scholars
Wu Jingzi (1701-54) was from a scholarly family in the province of Anhui. He passed the first preliminary government examination in 1720, but after his father's death he squandered his inheritance by his extravagant generosity. He lived in Nanjing and wrote poetry and prose to amuse his friends. In 1736 he passed up an opportunity to take a special imperial examination. His proudest achievement was contributing the remainder of his fortune to renovate a temple dedicated to past sages. He spent about ten years writing his great satirical novel, The Scholars, and completed it in 1750, though it was not published until about 1770.
The first chapter is a prolog and describes Wang Mian, who lived during the end of the Yuan dynasty and had already been the subject of two biographies. Young Wang has to take care of water buffaloes but studies as he does so. One day after it rains, he notices the beauty of plants and flowers and decides to learn how to paint. Wang masters astronomy, geography, classics, and history, but he does not seek an official position. He even declines to accept an invitation from the magistrate because he and the wealthy Wei oppress the common people. Wang makes a living selling his paintings and also writes great essays. Before his mother dies, she makes Wang promise he will not become an official. Wang Mian tells the future founder of the Ming dynasty who has become the Prince of Wu that goodness and justice can win over the people; even the weak people of Zhejiang will not submit to force. Later when Zhejiang authorities intend to offer him a position, Wang escapes to live in the mountains as a hermit.
The rest of The Scholars is fictional and follows the lives of various intellectuals from 1487 to 1595. Many of the characters are based on people Wu knew, and Du Shaoqing is considered autobiographical. During the Ming dynasty even a young man under twenty years old who has passed the exams is considered senior to any old man who has not. In the second chapter the elderly Zhou Jin manages to pass the exam and become an examiner.
Poor Kuang Zhaoren is given money and a warm coat by Ma Qunshang so that he can return home. There Kuang works hard selling cooked pork and bean curd, studying while he dutifully takes care of his ailing father. They are nearly forced to leave their house, but then it burns down. They rent a place at a monastery. Kuang is helped by the village leader Pan and Magistrate Li, and he passes the examinations. His examiner emphasizes that moral character is more important than literary attainment. When they learn that Kuang has placed first on the prefectural exam, suddenly the family is thrust into the aristocratic class. Before he dies, Kuang's father tells him to take care of his worthless brother and warns him about putting fame and rank above virtue, advising him to marry a humble girl rather than try to improve his status by marrying into a rich family. Magistrate Li has been dismissed, and people demonstrate to block his removal. When the ringleaders are rounded up, Kuang is suspected and flees to Hangzhou.
On the way Kuang Zhaoren meets Jing Lanjiang, who tells him that many intellectuals have a low opinion of bagu (eight-paragraph) essays. Jing has his poetry published in anthologies. He brings Kuang into a circle of wine-drinking poets, and Kuang makes money editing 300 essays. The bailiff Pan warns Kuang about Jing and his friends but pays Kuang to forge a writ in a plot to abduct a woman for a wealthy man. Kuang also trades clothes with Jin Yan and takes an exam for him. Pan arranges for Kuang to marry the daughter of a runner. Reinstated, Li invites Kuang to Beijing, and Kuang sends his wife to his family in the country against her wishes. He passes the exam and is recommended for the Imperial College, but he learns that Pan has been accused of many serious crimes. Kuang does not admit he has a low-class wife, and Censor Li offers him a marriage to his niece with the wedding expenses paid. She is beautiful, and Kuang is very happy; but he learns his first wife died because she was so unhappy. Kuang declines to visit Pan in prison because he fears it will ruin his reputation. Kuang Zhaoren has ignored the advice of his dying father, and his story offers an ironic contrast to the reclusive virtue of Wang Mian.
Generous Du Shaojing often invites friends for dinner. Bao Dingxi has come to him to borrow money to finance an opera troupe. Du declines to go see Magistrate Wang and even regrets that he passed the district examination. Du orders a servant to pawn a chest of clothes so that he can pay for the funeral of his tailor's mother. Du is taking care of the ailing Lou and tells his steward, Whiskers Wang, to sell some of his land for 1300 taels. When Magistrate Wang loses his position, Du offers him a place to stay. Before he goes home to die, Lou gives Du this warning and advice,
You will soon come to the end of your property!
I like to see you acting in a just and generous manner,
but you must consider with whom you are dealing.
The way you are going on,
all your money is being tricked out of you
by people who will never repay your kindness;
and while we say charity expects no reward,
you should distinguish between those who deserve help
and those who don't.8
However, Du continues to be reckless with his money. He gives up his house and moves to Nanjing, where he rents a house. He provides money for the Lou clan to buy a burial ground. Du is invited to the provincial capital for an exam, but he declines a position and runs out of money on his way home. He donates 300 taels for a temple commemorating Dai Bo of the 12th century BC. He pretends to be ill to avoid working for Governor Li. Gao criticizes Du for going through an estate of 60,000 taels in less than ten years; but others admire Du, and his writing is valued. Zhuang Shaoguang helps arrange the sacrifice at the new temple and refuses to accept any position in Beijing; but he is asked to propose educational reforms and agrees to submit them. The Emperor gives him a house by Lotus Lake in Nanjing, where he can write. When Zhuang's guest Lu Xinhou is arrested for having banned books, Zhuang sends letters to high officials, resulting in Lu's release and the informer being punished.
Yu Yude becomes a teacher and tries to perform acts of kindness secretly. After failing, he passes the palace examinations and is admitted to the Hanlin Academy. Zhuang persuades Du to receive Dr. Yu, and they become good friends. Yu pays Du to write an epitaph. Yu agrees to be the master of sacrifice for the ceremony at the Dai Bo temple. As an examiner, Yu does not turn in a scholar for cheating so that he will not lose face. Filial Guo notes that Du Shaojing is famous throughout the empire for his liberality. Yu and Du gather money to help Guo in his career. After many more episodes, in the last chapter four new characters are introduced, but they are more like the reclusive Wang Mian; the Dao Bo temple has fallen into ruins. At the end of the novel Old Yu has cast off his official robes and has decided to practice religion alone. Wu Jingzi has written a realistic comedy of manners that satirizes the rigidity of the examination system and the limitations of office holding. Even though Du appears somewhat foolish financially, the theme of private charity shines through and is brought to greater perfection in the example of Dr. Yu.
Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber
Cao Xueqin (c. 1715-63) was known as the grandson of Cao Yin, who served Emperor Kangxi as Textile Commissioner in Suzhou and died in 1712. The fortunes of the Cao family were declining, and in 1727 Li Xu was imprisoned for having offered sing-song girls to Prince Yinsi. The next year Xueqin's father Cao Fu and Sun Wencheng were dismissed and had their estates confiscated. Cao Xueqin drew on the difficult experiences of his family to write what many consider the greatest Chinese novel. David Hawkes has translated it into English as The Story of the Stone in five volumes, but it is more generally known as The Dream of the Red Chamber. The first chapter states that Cao Xueqin worked on it for ten years and revised it five times, but he died before it was finished. Manuscripts were passed around the family for comments, and texts of the first eighty chapters dated 1754 and 1760 have survived. Alterations were probably made to keep it from being destroyed during Qianlong's literary inquisition, and Gao E edited and published the completed version with 120 chapters in 1792.
Cao Xueqin began the novel by explaining to the reader its mythical origin. The Goddess Nuwa repairs the heavenly dome but leaves one stone unused that she gives supernatural powers. A Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest find the stone, which asks them to take it into the dusty world. The monk transforms it into a pendant of translucent jade. The stone also has provided dew to nourish a plant that later incarnates as Black Jade, and it is found in the mouth of Baoyu (Precious Jade) when he is born. Zhen Shiyin, while reading in his home at Suzhou, falls asleep and meets the Buddhist and the Daoist, who proposes they go down to the mortal world along with descending spirits to save a few. They show the stone that is labeled "Precious Jade of Spiritual Understanding" to Shiyin. On an arch to the Illusion Land is written a couplet suggesting that truth and fiction, the real and unreal can change into each other. As the two immortals pass through the archway, Zhen Shiyin wakes up at home. The barefoot monk is with the lame Daoist and advises Shiyin to sacrifice his baby daughter, Lotus (Caltrop), to the Buddha, or she will bring misfortune upon her parents. The monk and the Daoist separate and agree to meet later.
Young Jia Yucun notices a pretty maid (Apricot), and she returns his glance. When Shiyin hears poor Jia Yucun reciting poetry, he offers to pay his expenses to the capital to take the exams. A careless servant loses little Lotus in town, and two months later Shiyin's house is burned down in a big fire. He takes his family to his wife's father Feng Su. After two years, Shiyin's money is gone, and he goes off with the lame Daoist. The new prefect is Jia Yucun, and he summons Apricot and marries her. Yucun is arrogant and corrupt, and he is removed for malfeasance. He gets a job tutoring five-year-old Black Jade (Lin Daiyu), the daughter of salt commissioner Lin Ruhai. She goes to live with her grandmother and meets her cousin Jia Baoyu, who considers girls more pure than men. Baoyu has a jade pendant; but he throws it down because neither of his sisters nor Black Jade have one. Lotus has been sold to Feng Yuan and then to Xue Pan, whose servants have killed Feng Yuan. Lady Wang, Baoyu's mother, lavishes affection on Black Jade. After visiting Jia Rong's wife Qinshi in her room, Baoyu dreams of the disillusionment goddess, who tells him that his licentiousness is pleasing to maidens. Baoyu then has his first sexual experience with his maid Pervading Fragrance (Aroma).
Lady Wang's niece Phoenix (Xifeng) is married to Jia Lian and helps hungry relatives by giving them twenty taels of silver. Baoyu gets Qinshi's brother Qin Zhong into his school. Baoyu shows Precious Virtue (Xue Baochai) his magic jade, and he sees her golden locket. She advises him that drinking heated wine is less harmful than cold wine. School-kids get into a fight, and Jia Rui is blamed for not controlling the situation. Qinshi is ill. Phoenix puts off enamored Jia Rui by standing him up in the cold and by sending disguised Jia Rong, enabling Jia Qiang to blackmail Rui for fifty taels. Rui still sees Phoenix in a magic mirror. Black Jade leaves to visit her ill father. Qinshi dies, and commentators have suggested she committed suicide because of her adultery. Phoenix is put in charge of her elaborate funeral, magnified by Jia Zhen's thousand-tael bribe that gives Jia Rong official rank. Phoenix strictly commands the servants and has one flogged for being late. Phoenix reluctantly agrees to help an old nun at a convent and makes 3,000 taels by getting a viceroy to break up a proposed marriage, though the two disappointed lovers commit suicide. Qin Zhong persuades a pretty nun to give in. His father finds out and gives Qin a thrashing, and both father and son soon die. Black Jade's father dies too, and Phoenix's husband Jia Lian brings her back to the home of her Grandmother Jia. Cardinal Spring (Jia Yuanchun), Baoyu's older sister, is promoted to imperial concubine, and she is allowed to visit her family in Prospect Garden.
Each family member has two older women as servants and four maids, not counting those who do the cleaning. Much of the novel is a realistic portrayal of the sisters, cousins, and their maids in the Jia household and their interactions with each other, often involving jealousy. Baoyu likes to spend most of his time with these women and enjoys the taste of perfumed lip rouge. When Phoenix's daughter comes down with smallpox, Jia Lian moves to the outer compound and sleeps with the cook's wife. After Lian comes back to Phoenix, his maid Patience finds a strand of hair but does not tell Phoenix. During a game of conundrums, Baoyu's father Jia Zheng becomes depressed by the unfortunate images and quits, allowing his son to relax. The imperial concubine suggests that Baoyu, his sisters, Black Jade, and their maids move into Prospect Garden that had been made elegant for her visit. Grandmother Jia approves, and Zheng urges his son Baoyu to study. Mingyen secretly gets novels and plays for Baoyu, who is inspired by the Romance of the Western Chamber. He loves the intelligence of Black Jade, but they often argue. Jia Huan, Baoyu's brother by a different mother, is disliked by all the maids except Rainbow. Huan becomes jealous and spills hot wax on Baoyu's face. The old sorceress Ma Daobo arrives and receives five pounds of oil to pray for Baoyu, and Huan's mother Zhao pays her fifty taels to use black magic on Baoyu and Phoenix. For three days Baoyu and Phoenix act like lunatics and become delirious; Grandma Jia blames Zhao. The Buddhist monk and lame Daoist visit to revitalize the corrupted pendant, and Baoyu and Phoenix recover.
Lady Wang catches her son Baoyu flirting with her maid Golden Bracelet and dismisses her. Black Jade is ailing; Baoyu advises her to stop worrying and accidentally confesses his love for her in the presence of his maid Pervading Fragrance, who says that Golden Bracelet has jumped into a well and died. Officers of the Prince come to Baoyu to find out where the actor Jiguan is. Blaming Baoyu for this homosexual affair and the girl's suicide, Zheng gives his son a terrible beating until Lady Wang stops him. Grandmother Jia also says that he must kill her first. Zheng repents, and Grandmother counsels him that in disciplining his son he should know where to stop. Baoyu dreams of Jiguan, and Golden Bracelet forgives him. Black Jade grieves for Baoyu and becomes more ill. Pervading Fragrance tells Lady Wang that her son needed the lesson. Precious Virtue accuses her brother Xue Pan of informing on Baoyu, who loves Black Jade more than her. Jia Zheng is appointed a grand examiner and leaves the compound. Quest Spring proposes a poetry club and is joined by Baoyu, Black Jade, Precious Virtue, and others. Jia Lian and Phoenix quarrel, and both blame the maid Patience; but Lian finds it easier to apologize to his maid than his wife. Phoenix has delayed the paying of allowances so that she can make money on short-term loans.
Actor Liu Xianglian is a friend of Baoyu but dislikes the homosexual attentions of Xue Pan so much that he gives him a beating. Pan's sister Precious Virtue advises her mother not to bring charges in order to avoid a scandal. Xue Pan leaves the capital, and Lotus stays with Precious Virtue. Phoenix has a miscarriage, and Lady Wang asks Quest Spring to manage the household. She makes sure the precedents are followed and does not give out extra money. Baoyu learns from the maid Purple Cuckoo that Black Jade is going back to Suzhou, but medicine helps him recover. Purple Cuckoo says that Black Jade and Baoyu would be a perfect match, and she quotes the proverb that it is easier to get much gold than an understanding heart. Jia Rong persuades the lecherous Jia Lian to marry beautiful You Erjie secretly, and Lian buys a nearby house for Erjie and her sister Sanjie, who threatens blackmail and makes demands. You Sanjie has fallen in love with actor Liu Xianglian and vows not to marry anyone else. Liu is reconciled with Xue Pan by saving his life from bandits. Jia Lian suggests that Liu marry Sanjie, and Liu give his sword as a pledge. Liu talks with Baoyu and decides to break the engagement. When Sanjie hears of this, she cuts her throat with the sword. Liu realizes she loved him, cuts off his hair, and goes away with the Daoist priest. Phoenix learns of her husband's secret marriage. While Lian is away on business, Phoenix invites Erjie to live in her home as second wife; but she tells the maid to treat Erjie badly. Phoenix even arranges to have a suit brought against her husband Lian. Erjie has a miscarriage after a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis. Then Erjie kills herself by swallowing gold.
A young maid called Simple finds a purse embroidered with two naked figures and shows it to Lady Wang. This leads to a search of the maids' rooms. Baoyu is saddened by the marriage of his sister Welcome Spring. Xue Pan marries Cassia (Xia Jingui) but finds her too domineering and turns to her maid Cherry (Moonbeam). Cassia says she does not mind as long as it is open; but when she sends in Lotus, Cherry accuses Xue Pan of rape. Lotus is transferred to Xue Yima's daughter Precious Virtue. Baoyu goes back to school and studies for his exams. Black Jade dreams that Jia Yucun comes and takes her home to marry; she appeals to Grandmother Jia, and Baoyu says she is betrothed to him; but he plunges a knife into his heart. Black Jade wakes up crying. Phoenix suggests that Baoyu is ordained to wed Precious Virtue. Black Jade hears of it and neglects her illness. Then she learns that Baoyu is going to marry someone in the garden and recovers with hope. Grandmother Jia decides on Precious Virtue and orders that Black Jade not be told. Baoyu loses his jade pendant, and the imperial concubine dies. The matriarchs accept Phoenix's suggestion that Baoyu be told he is engaged to Black Jade. She learns that Baoyu is not marrying her and wishes to die to pay the debt of love from a former life. At the wedding Baoyu removes the bride's veil and discovers Precious Virtue; he thinks he must be dreaming. While this is happening, Black Jade dies.
Months later Baoyu recovers and becomes a real husband to Precious Virtue. The Garden is haunted by the ghosts of Qinshi and others until some Daoist priests dispel them. Jia Zheng is accused of letting his subordinates be corrupt. Two other members of the Jia family are arrested and have their property confiscated, but Zheng's title and property are restored. Grandmother Jia dies, and bandits abduct the nun Exquisite Jade. Phoenix, before she dies, is haunted by You Erjie and others she persecuted. The Buddhist monk arrives to restore the jade pendant and talks with Baoyu, leaving without the reward. Baoyu tells his mother that the place where the monk lives "is far if you think it is far and near if you think it is near." Baoyu's sister Compassion Spring threatens to commit suicide if she is not invested as a Daoist priestess. Baoyu studies for the exams with Jia Lan; both pass, but Baoyu disappears with the monk and the Daoist. Pervading Fragrance is married, and Precious Virtue gives birth to a son. Cassia tries to poison Lotus but accidentally poisons herself. Lotus becomes Xue Pan's chief wife but dies a year later in childbirth. Finally the stone returns to its place with its story of Baoyu.
This complex novel portrays the matriarchal aspects of Chinese society, as the women have the dominant roles in the home. Baoyu much prefers the company of women and wishes they would never marry. He and two other characters renounce the world to become Daoists. Thus this depiction shows how the feminine side often balanced the patriarchal aspects of Confucianism. The red mansions were the women's quarters, and this subtle domestic world, where feelings were usually more important than ideas, often reflected the reality of dreams.
Qing Decline 1799-1875
