Confucian Image Politics: Masculine Morality in Seventeenth-Century China

317 Pages·2016·29.753 MB·English

by  Ying Zhang

Con£ Image
ucian Politics
MASCULINE MORALITY
IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CHINA
YinZgh ang
UN IVERSI T Y OF WASHINGTON PRESS Seattle a11Ldo 11don
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initiative
THIS BOOK IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A COLLABORATIVE GRANT
FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION.
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This publication also was made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss Foundation,
a private nonprofit operating foundation that sponsors research on China's Ming
dynasty (1368-1644).
The publisher also gratefully acknowledges the contributions to this publication by the
Department of History and the Arcs and Humanities Division of the College of Arts and
Sciences at Ohio State University.
© 2017 by the University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 5 4 3 2 I
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
University of Washington Press
www.washington.edu/uwpress
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Zhang, Ying (History teacher) author.
Title: Confucian image politics : masculine morality in seventeenth-century China /
Ying Zhang.
Other titles: Masculine morality in seventeenth-century China
Description: 1st edition. I Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016. I Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016009721 I ISBN 9780295998534 (hardcover: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Political ethics-China-History-17th century. I Confucian ethics­
China-History-17th century. I China-Officials and employees-Conduct of life­
History-17th century.
Classification: Lee JQ1509.5.E8 24375 2016 I ooc 172.0951/o9032-dc23
record available at http://lccn.loc.govho16oo9721
LC
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, 239.48-1984.
ANSI 00
Dedicated to my laoshi and shimu,
Chun-shu Chang and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments
IX
Ming-Qing Reign Periods
xv
Introduction 3
PART I. THE LATE MING
r. Lists, Literature, and the Imagined Community
of Factionalists: The Donglin 7
2
Displaying Sincerity: The Fushe 69
2.
3. A Celebrity: Huang Daozhou (1585-1646) 102
Zhongxiao
Interlude: A Moral Tale of Two Cities, 1644-1645:
Beijing and Nanjing 129
PART II. THE EARLY QING
4. Moralizing, the Qing Way 57
1
5. Conquest, Continuity, and the Loyal Turncoat 186
Conclusion 213
Glossary
221
List of Abbreviations 229
Notes 231
Bibliography 273
Index 99
2
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In I was excited to learn that the Changchun Temple still
2009,
existed in Beijing. Built in the r59os by the mother of the Ming Wanli
emperor, the temple was patronized throughout the seventeenth cen­
tury by emperors and prominent officials, from the late Ming to
the early Qing dynasty. Its famous female donor in the early Qing,
a courtesan-turned-concubine named Gu Mei, changed the tem­
ple landscape by having a beautiful pavilion built on a hill. I had
been studying Gu Mei and her turncoat husband for some time but
was struggling with the polarized images of this couple in historical
sources and scholarship. To unpack these images as a historian, I felt
I needed to build a personal connection with the couple. So I went to
visit the temple, accompanied by an old friend who was also fasci­
nated by the deep connection between Beijing temples and imperial
political history.
When we got there, the temple complex looked so new and neat
that I doubted whether I would find the inspiration I had been look­
ing for. The staff there, mostly government employees, confirmed
that much of the complex had been reconstructed recently, although a
few objects were originals. My greatest disappointment was that the
whole area had been leveled in the past hundred years; the pavilion
and the hill where it had stood were long gone. N1y friend asked the
staff whether they had heard of the pavilion. One of them pointed to
a high building afar: "Look! That's the Xuanwu People's Hospital. It
was built where the pavilion used to be.,,
As I set my eyes on that hospital, my mind's eye immediatel_ y saw
Gu Mei's Buddhist devotion and philanthropy, her amazing artistic
talents, her personal experiences in a time of war and political change,
and her generous support for literati friends, many of whom were
lX
Preface and Acknowledgments
X
Ming loyalists who refused to serve the next dynasty, the Qing. Sud­
denly, I realized that modern hospital had become the bridge between
me and the subjects of my study, or what the great Chinese historian
Chen Yinke called the "historical sympathy" (lishi zhi tongqing)-a
historian's delicate connection with the past. Had I been able to see
the actual pavilion, I might have focused on its face value as a "real"
and "relevant" source. But the sight of the hospital, oddly, worked the
magic. It compelled me to reach out, on the emotive level, to the his­
torical subjects and then trust the impressions I received from "feel­
ing" the sources written by and about Gu Mei and her husband, Gong
Dingzi.
The process of historical research and writing is full of interesting­
and even mysterious-moments like this. This study of the political
history of the dynastic change from the Ming to the Qing had been
a challenging project. I struggled with the images of seventeenth­
century figures, which were greatly polarized as a result of the moral­
political division among the elite, whose writings constitute the
majority of our sources. Ming loyalism, Confucian historiographical
tradition, Qing state literary censorship, and modern Chinese nation­
alism all left deep marks on seventeenth-century archives. Eventually,
I chose to make the competing moral images of officials like Gong
Dingzi the focus of this book.
This book is not about political figures' moral images per se but
about the social, cultural, and political conditions that generated and
perpetuated them. I relied on my own interpretation of many personal
writings to reconstruct these political figures' experiences at the inter­
section of their public and private lives. The moral images of politi­
cal actors were such high-stake matters during this eventful century
that I had to constantly debate, in my mind, with my sources and
their authors about the meanings and implications of their words, art,
and actions. My project was transformed from one about "restoring
the truth" to one juxtaposing and making sense of competing claims
about one's performance as official, father, son, husband, and friend.
The process of transforming this project was a process of intellec­
tual and personal transformation for me. I hope this book will gen­
erate new scholarly conversations. The imperfections are mine, but
they should not prevent me from expressing deep gratitude toward
my mentors, colleagues, and friends. Without their generous, patient,
and kind guidance and support, I would not have been able to build
Preface and Acknowledgments
Xl
those meaningful connections with my historical subjects and publish
my findings.
Chun-Shu Chang, my mentor, not only nurtured my intellectual
growth at the University of Michigan but also influenced my under­
standing of a Chinese historian's mission and a scholar's lifelong
pursuit of self-cultivation. His erudition, kindness, compassion, and
tolerance made it possible for me to become a professional historian
and complete this ambitious book.
Over the years during my research and writing, I was extremely for­
tunate to have had these teachers: Wang Zheng, Dorothy Ko, Hitomi
Tonomura, and Dena Goodman. Their passion for feminist scholar­
ship, intellectual sharpness and breadth, and insightful answers to
my questions shaped my work and provided consistent, invaluable
support in many aspects. The best way for me to express my gratitude
toward them is to continue on this path and make meaningful contri­
butions to critical gender history.
I am grateful for the generosity of many colleagues who kindly
shared with me their scholarly findings and insights. The comments
and suggestions I received from these colleagues on the manuscript
during its various stages were immensely helpful: Michael Chang,
Siyen Fei, Rivi Handler-Spitzer, Susan Hartmann, Clayton Howard,
Martin Huang, Ari D. Levine, Weijing Lu, Toby Meyer-Fong, Harry
Miller, Geoffrey Parker, Maria Franca Sibau, Janet Theiss, and Jiang
Wu. Steven Conn, Yongtao Du, Andrea Goldman, and Julia Strauss
read a long early draft patiently and offered great advice on streamlin­
ing it. Cynthia Brokaw, Patricia Sieber, Zhange Ni, and Christopher
Reed carefully read the last draft of the manuscript. Their insight­
ful questions and words of encouragement made the final revision
an extremely rewarding and productive experience for me. I was also
fortunate to have received excellent suggestions from the following
scholars when I encountered difficult moments in research and writ­
ing: Kai-wing Chow, Beverly Bossler, Miaw-fen Lu, Sato Masayuki,
Shang Wei, and Yang Haiying.
During the course of research, many institutions and individu­
als provided generous assistance: the rare book department at the
National Library of China (in particular Dr. Cui Hongming), Shang­
hai Library, Library of Congress, Harvard-Yenching Library, Anhui
Provincial Library, UCLA Library, University of tvlichigan Library,
and The Ohio State University Library; Professor Zhou Zhiyuan
at Anhui University, Professor Zhang Sheng at Beijing Normal
Preface and Acknowledgments
XU
University, and Dr. Yang Haiying and Dr. Zhuang Xiaoxia at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
I am grateful for the immense support from the Department of
History at The Ohio State University (OSU) and my colleagues here.
This project would not have come to fruition without the resources
made available by the Department of History, Office of International
Affairs, and the Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Grants for
Research on Women, Gender, and Gender Equity at OSU. During
2012-13, a fellowship opportunity at the UCLA Center for 17th- and
18th-Century Studies and William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
introduced me to the wonderful colleagues there. Stimulating conver­
sations with Andrea Goldman, R. Bin Wong, Richard von Glahn, and
other historians at UCLA gave me important ideas when I was con­
ceptualizing this book.
Various parts of this research have been presented at the "Mor­
alism and the Rhetoric of Decline in Eurasia, 1600-1900" work­
shop at the UCLA Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies (2012
and 2015), "History of Filial Piety" workshop {organized by Ellen
Cong Zhang) at the University of Virginia, "Li Zhi and 16th-Century
China" workshop at the University of Chicago, Association for Asian
Studies, Institute of Chinese Studies at OSU, and the Pre-modernist
Workshop at OSU. Feedback from fellow participants and audience at
these events helped me improve the project immensely. In particular,
Greg Anderson, Phil Brown, John Brooke, and Tina Sessa at the OSU
Pre-modernist Workshop made it a wonderful space for my intellec­
tual growth. Part of chapter 3 was published as "The Politics and
Late Imperial China.
Practice of Moral Rectitude" in I am thank­
ful for Toby Meyer-Fong and Janet Theiss for helping me rethink the
piece and revise it for publication.
I owe special thanks to Patricia Ebrey. I benefited from her ground­
breaking scholarship and her participation in the workshop on the his­
tory of filial piety at the University of Virginia. She kindly introduced
me to the amazing editorial staff at the University of Washington Press.
There, Lorri Hagman's guidance, advice, and encouragement made
this book possible. The two anonymous readers shared extremely
helpful comments and suggestions on the manuscript.
I indulged in the love and support of many friends while I was
completing the book. Although I cannot mention all of them, I am
forever grateful. The Chans embraced me as a family member; the
Sieber-Reano family brought me much joy; Theodora Dragostinova
Preface and Acknowledgments
Xlll
took great care of me. Terre Fisher has been my most reliable copy
editor. Zhange Ni, an amazing scholar and poet, was always there
with her excellent ideas and generous heart. Art, my source of intel­
lectual inspiration and emotional comfort, would not have occupied
such an important place in my life without Cindy Davis, my print­
making mentor.
Finally, I hope to thank my parents for supporting my intellectual
pursuits with endless love and encouragement. My sister Wei shared
my passion as a scholar and commitment to improving this world
with our research. To my laoshi Chun-Shu Chang and shimu Shelley
Hsueh-lun Chang I dedicate this book. They have influenced and nur­
tured me no less than my parents.
MING-QING REIGN PERIODS
MING DYNASTY
Hongwu/faizu 1368-98
Jianwen/Huidi 1399-1402
Yongle/Chengzu 1403-24
Hongxi/Renzong 1425
Xuande/Xuanzong 1426-3 5
Zhengtong/Yingzong 14 3 6-49
Jingtai/Daizong 1450-56
Tianshun/Yingzong 14 57-64
Chenghua/Xianzong 146 5-87
Hongzhi/Xiaozong 1488-1505
Zhengde/Wuzong 1506-21
Jiajing/Shizong 152 2-66
Longqing/Muzong 1567-72
Wanli/Shenzong 1573-1619
Taichang/Guangzong 1620
Tianqi/Xizong 1621-27
Chongzhen/Sizong 1628-44
QING DYNASTY (TO 1850)
Taizu/fianming 1616-26
Taizong/fiancong, Chongde 1627-43
Shunzhi/Shizu 1644-61
xv