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Abstract
This article discusses the military actions undertaken by the core members of the Possibility Society (Jishe) in the mid-1640s, and attempts to explain why so many founding members of this small literati organization were actively involved in the loyalist resistance to the Manchu conquest of the Jiangnan region. It begins with an overview of Jishe’s formation, its membership, and its literary and political activities before turning to a discussion of their resistance activities. The essay argues that the key factors contributing to the society’s loyalty to the fallen Ming and vehement resistance to the Manchu Qing were its close mentor-protégé relationship, emphasis of the study of statecraft, and its high percentage of degree holders.
I would like to thank Timothy Brook, James Flath, Geoff Read, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the previous drafts of this article.
Notes
1 According to He Zongmei, there were more than 300 literary societies in the Ming period. See his Mingmo Qingchu wenren jieshe yanjiu (A Study of the Literati Societies in Late Ming and Early Qing) (Tianjin: Nankai daxue chubanshe, 2003), 23–25.
2 Yunjian is an unofficial name for Songjiang. The three, together with Xia Yunyi and Xu Fuyuan, were sometimes termed “Five Masters of the Yunjian School of Poetry” (Yunjian wuzi). See Wu Shanjia, Fushe xingshi zhuanlüe (Biographies of Fushe Personalities) (Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 1990), 3:4a. Recent monographs on the Yunjian School and its literary achievements include Yao Rong’s Mingmo Yunjian sanzi yanjiu (A Study of the Three Masters of the Yunjian School of Poetry in the Late Ming) (Guangzhou: Guangdong gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 2004) and Liu Yonggang’s Yunjian pai wenxuan yanjiu (A Study of the Yunjian Literary School) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2008). Frederic Wakeman misreads Yunjian as Yunxian and claims it “was the name of Peng Bin’s studio where the Jishe coalesced in 1629.” See Wakeman, Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-Century China (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1985), vol. 1, 114, n. 80. The sources he cites, however, clearly indicate that Peng Bin’s residence, Chunzaotang, was the meeting place of Jishe members in the early years of the society.
3 The Ming empire was administratively divided into 13 provinces as well as Bei Zhili (North Zhili) and Nan Zhili (South Zhili). A total of 14 prefectures, 17 sub-prefectures, and 97 counties were under the administrative jurisdiction of Nan Zhili. The prefecture of Songjiang was composed of three counties after 1542: Huating, Shanghai, and Qingpu. For more on Nan Zhili and Songjiang, see Zhang Tingyu et al., Mingshi (History of the Ming Dynasty) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 881–932.
4 Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 3. Shi Zhecun (1905–2003) and Ma Zuxi (1916–2008) write in their introduction to the collated Chen Zilong shiji (Collected Poems of Chen Zilong) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1983) that Chen was the principal founder of Jishe, but this is an overstatement which reflects Chen’s literary fame rather than his actual role in the founding of the Possibility Society. Chen was twenty-one years old and merely a shengyuan degree holder in 1629, while Du Linzheng and Xia Yunyi were in their thirties, and more importantly were juren already. Considering the Chinese tradition of respecting elders and especially the fact the Du and Xia were higher degree holders, it was practically impossible for Chen to have played a more significant role in the creation of Jishe than either Xia or Du.
5 In Chinese “juexue you zaixing zhiji, er dezhi ji qi shenyi ye.” Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 3. The exemplary ancient learning refers to the styles of the Qin-Han prose and Tang poetry.
6 Jerry Dennerline translates Jishe as “Incipient Awareness Society.” See Dennerline, The Chia-ting Loyalists: Confucian Leadership and Social Change in Seventeenth-Century China (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1981), 170.
7 The collection is also entitled as Jishe Renshen hegao (Combined Literary Works of Jishe Members from 1632), which was reprinted in 2000 by Beijing chubanshe. Xie Guozhen mistook this work as Jishe liuzi huiyi. See his “Jishe shimo” (History of Jishe), in Ming Qing zhiji tangshe yundong kao (Studies on Literary Societies during the Ming-Qing Transition) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 156.
8 The six zi (masters) in this volume were different from those of the 1629 collection, and they were Peng Bin, Xu Fuyuan, Zhou Lixun, Gu Kaiyong, Song Cunbiao, and Song Zhengyu. See Zhongguo guji shanben shumu bianji weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo guji shanben shumu (A Bibliography of Rare Chinese Books) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1998), 1717; Xie Mingyang, “Yunjian shipai de xingcheng: Yi wenxue shequn wei kaocha mailuo” (The Formation of the Yunjian Poetic School), Taida wenshizhe xuebao, no. 66 (May 2007), 30–31.
9 Du Dengchun, Jishe shimo, 8–11; Zhu Tan, “Jishe shimo” (History of Jishe), Mingji shedang yanjiu (Studies on the Literati Societies in Late Ming) (Chongqing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1945), 294–98.
10 Starting from around 1640, branch societies, such as Qiushe and Jingfeng, appeared within Jishe, and members of these branch societies also published their own collected works. See Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 8–10.
11 They include the five founding members of the society, i.e. Xia Yunyi, Xu Fuyuan, Chen Zilong, Peng Bin, and Zhou Lixun, as well as Li Wen, Song Zhengyu, Song Zhengbi, Gu Kaiyong, Zhu Hao, and Wang Yuanxuan. The works of Du Linzheng were not incorporated into the collection, perhaps due to his official posting outside of Nan Zhili as he passed the jinshi examination in the same year of 1632. For a detailed comparison of Renshen wenxuan and Zhaoming wenxuan, see Zhu Lixia, “Renshen wenxuan and Zhaoming wenxuan zhi bijiao” (A Comparative Study of Renshen wenxu and Zhaoming wenxuan), Dongfang congkan, no. 2 of 2007, 97–110.
12 Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 8; Zhu Lixia, “Renshen wenxuan yu Zhaoming wenxuan zhi bijiao,” 106–09. For more on the schools of Gong’an and Jingling, see Song Junling, “Gong’an pai yanjiu” (A Study of the Gong’an School), PhD dissertation, Capital Normal University, 2004; Chen Guanghong, Jingling pai yanjiu (A Study of the Jingling School) (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2006). For more on the literary schools and debates among them, see Feng Xiaolu, Mingdai shiwen lunzhen yanjiu (A Study of Literary Debates in the Ming Period) (Kunmin: Yunnan renmin chubanshe, 2006).
13 Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 3.
14 He, a juren of 1630, was a core member of Jishe. For more on his life, see Xu Zi, Xiaotian jizhuan (Chronological Biographies of Late Ming Personanalities) (Taibei: Taiwan yinhang jingji yanjiushi, 1963), 508–10.
15 Chen Naiqian and Chen Zhu, Xu Angong xiansheng nianpu (A Chronological Biography of Xu Fuyuan) (Beijing: Beijing tushu chubanshe, 1999), 11.
16 They were Du Qizheng, Du Junzheng, Xu Fengcai, and Xu Zhiyuan. Wu Shanjia, Fushe xingshi zhuanlüe, 3:2a–b, 3:4a, 3:5a.
17 Zhou Maoyuan was a consummate poet. For a discussion of his poetic achievements, see Liu Yonggang, Yunjian pai wenxue yanjiu, 112–16.
18 Chen Naiqian and Chen Zhu, Xu Angong xiansheng nianpu, 2–12; Liu Yonggang, Yunjian pai wenxue yanjiu, 106 & 112. The membership policy of Jishe was criticized by some contemporaries as cliquish: “If members of Jishe assume official positions, their cliquish practice will lead to the collapse of the dynasty.” Xie Guozhen, “Jishe shimo,” 156; Chen and Chen, Xu Angong xiansheng nianpu, 12.
19 The founding societies of Fushe included the following eight: Jishe, Kuangshe of Jiangbei, Duanshe of Henan, Yishe of Laiyang, Chaoshe of East Zhejiang, Zhuangshe of West Zhejiang, Zhishe of Huangzhou, and Yingshe of Jiangnan. See Lu Shiyi, Fushe jilüe (A Brief History of Fushe), in Wu Yingji et al., Donglin benmo (A Complete Record of the Donglin Movement) (Beijing: Beijing guji chubanshe, 2006), 210; Kang-I Sun Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch’en Tzu-lung: Crises of Love and Loyalism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991) also holds the view that Jishe was a branch society of Fushe. For studies on Fushe, see William Atwell, “From Education to Politics: The Fu She,” in William de Bary, ed., Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), 333–67; Harry Miller, State versus Gentry in Late Ming Dynasty China, 1572–1644 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 139–63.
20 Jiang Yixue, Zhang Pu nianpu (Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 1982), 63–129. Jinshan Guard, established in 1386, was garrisoned in the town of Xiaoguan in Huating county. It derived its name from the two islets facing the town, the Large Jinshan (lit. Gold Mountain) and Small Jinshan.
21 Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 8.
22 Zhu Lixia argues that Jishe was a parallel and not a branch society of Fushe. See “Ming Qing zhiji Sognjiang Jishe de xingshuai” (The Rise and Fall of Jishe during Ming-Qing Transition), Suzhou daxue xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban), no. 3 (May 2007), 121–24.
23 Zhu Lixia and Luo Shijin, “Lun Song Zhengyu yu Liu Rushi de qingyuan” (On the Love Relationship between Song Zhengyu and Liu Rushi), Shenyang shifan daxue xuebao (Shehui kexue ban), 29:4 (July 2005), 35.
24 For a discussion of the love relationship between Song Zhenyu and Liu Rushi, see Zhu and Luo, “Lun Song Zhengyu yu Liu Rushi de qingyuan,” 34–38. Zhu and Luo argue that Liu had the romantic relationship with Song before she started to be romantically involved with Chen Zilong.
25 Liu married former Donglin leader and Vice Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi (1582–1664) in 1641 after her romantic relationship with Chen, Li, and Song failed to materialize. She urged Qian unsuccessfully to commit suicide after the fall of the Ming and hanged herself when her dead husband’s relatives pressed her to relinquish almost all the family property. On the social circle and death of of Liu Rushi, see Chen Yinke’s (1890–1969) Liu Rushi biezhuan (An Alternative Biography of Liu Rushi) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980); Arthur Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943), 529–30.
26 Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 8–12; Zhu Tan, “Jishe shimo,” 304–19; Xie Guozhen, “Jishe shimo,” 191–94; Zhu Lixia, “Ming Qing zhiji Songjiang Jishe de xingshuai,” 132–33. Among the four sources cited in this note, Zhu Tan’s article provides the most detailed discussion of the branch societies of Jishe.
27 Yu Zhengxie, Guisi cungao (The Surviving Writings of Yu Zhengxie) (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 2003), 56–57; Du Dengchun, Sheshi shimo, 6–10; Xie Guozhen, Jishe shimo, 201.
28 For detailed discussion on the Xu Du affair and the politics in Southern Ming, see Jerry Dennerline, “Hsu Tu and the Lesson of Nanking: Political Integration and the Local Defense in Chiang-nan, 1634–1645,” in Jonathan Spence and John Wills, eds, From Ming to Ch’ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventh-Century China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 91–132.
29 Chen’s memorials on military matters later were published collectively as Bingyuan zouyi (Memorials from the Office of Supervising Secretary for War). For a brief introduction of this two-juan work, see Lynn Struve, The Ming-Qing Conflict, 1619–1683 (Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, 1998), 221–22; Zhang Tingli, “Mingdai bingru heliu yu Chen Zhongyu gong Bingyuan zouyi” (The Synthesis of Scholarly Pursuits and Military Affairs in the Ming and Chen Zilong’s Bingyuan Zuoyi), Qinghai shifan daxue xuebao (Shehui kexue ban), no. 1 of 2007, 52–55.
30 Nanjing became the Ming’s secondary capital since the Yongle emperor designated Beijing as the dynasty’s primary capital in 1421. An identical administration existed in Nanjing during the period of 1421–1644. Shi Kefa was the minister of war of the Nanjing administration when Ming was toppled. The Hongguang government was really just represented by the slightly reshuffled Nanjing government. For information on the Nanjing administration in the post-1421 Ming era, see Jun Fang, “The Political Functions of the Southern Capital of Ming China,” Ming Studies, no. 54 (Fall 2006), 71–106; Jun Fang, “The Military Functions of the Southern Capital of Ming China,” Monumenta Senica, no. 55 (2007), 137–56.
31 Mingshi, 7096. Frederic Wakeman classifies Li Daiwen and Shen Youlong as “the two most important allies” of Chen Zilong and Xia Yunyi in the Songjiang resistance movement led by the Jishe leaders (Great Enterprise, vol. 1, 666). It is odd to regard Li, an active member of Jishe, as an ally of the society.
32 Xu Zi, Xiaotian jizhuan, 437; Zhu Dongrun, Chen Zilong jiqi shidai (Chen Zilong and His Times) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984), 243; Xie Guozhen, Nan Ming shilüe (A Brief History of the Southern Ming) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1957), 79.
33 Owing to climate change and land reclamation, Lake Mao no longer exists. It was the source of Huangpu River, called Chunshenpu in the Ming. Shi Zhecun, Yunjian yu xiaolu (Anecdotes of Songjiang) (Shanghai: Wenhui chubanshe, 2000), 79.
34 The Mingshi records that the naval battle was fought at Chunshenpu (the present-day Huangpu River). Since Lake Mao was the source of the river, it is possible that the Chunshenpu here refers to Lake Mao.
35 Later in their assault on Jiading, the Qing forces brought Wu Zhikui and Huang Fei to the city walls and ordered them to persuade the city defenders to surrender. Wu complied but Huang remained silent. Both were executed when the Jiading defenders shunned the plea. Mingshi, 7096.
36 Mingshi, 7096.
37 For example, Hou Tongzeng (1591–1645), Huang Chunyao (1605–45), and Xu Qian (1597–1645), leaders of the Jiading defense, all committed suicide after their failed action. Hou was Xia’s in-law as his son was married to Xia’s daughter.
38 Mingshi, 7099.
39 Chen Zilong, Chen Zilong nianpu (A Chronological Biography of Chen Zilong) in Wang Yingzhi, ed., Chen Zilong quanji (Complete Works of Chen Zilong) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2011), xia, 984. Chen Zilong lost his mother in 1612 when he was four years old and was raised by his fraternal grandmother. Some Ming loyalists were torn by the dilemma between dying for the fallen dynasty and preserving their lives for the sake of filial piety during the Ming-Qing transition. See Ho Koon-piu, “Should We Die as Martyrs to the Ming Cause? Scholar-officials’ View on Martyrdom during the Ming-Qing Transition,” Oriens Extremus, no. 37 (1994), 132–36.
40 Xu Zi, Xiaotian jizhuan, 412–13.
41 Wu Shanjia, Fushe xingshi zhuanlüe, 3:4b; Chen Naiqian and Chen Zhu, Xu Angong xiansheng nianpu, 20–37. For more on the regimes of the Prince of Lu and Prince of Tang, see Lynn Struve, The Southern Ming (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 75–94.
42 Xu was warmly received by Zheng Chenggong in 1651 in Xiamen, and became one of Zheng’s most trusted advisers. See Quan Zuwang, Jieqiting ji waibian (A Sequel to the Works of Quan Zuwang) (Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 1982), juan 12; Xu Zi, Xiaotian jizhuan, 412–13; Liu Bohan, “Zheng Chengong yu Donglin Fushe de guanxi” (The Relationship between Zheng Chenggong and the Donglin-Fushe), in Zheng Chenggong yanjiu xueshu taolunhui xueshuzu, ed., Zheng Chenggong yanjiu lunwen xuji (Second Volume on Zheng Chenggong Studies) (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 1984), 305. For an account of Zheng Chenggong’s relations with the Dutch East India Company, see Tonio Andrade, “The Company’s Chinese Pirates: How the Dutch East India Company Tried to Lead a Coalition of Pirates to War against China, 1621–1662,” Journal of World History, 15:4 (December 2004), 415–44.
43 They included Zhang Huangyan (1620–64), Lu Ruoteng (1598–1664), Chen Shijing, Cao Conglong, and Shen Quanqi, who were collectively called “Six Masters of the Overseas Possibility Society” (Haiwai Jishe liuzi). See Zeng Fanxiang, “Fushe he Jishe dui Taiwan wenjiao shiye fazhan de yingxiang” (The Impact of Fushe and Jishe on the Development of Culture and Education in Taiwan), Donghua daxue xuebao (Shehui kexue ban), 7:2 (April 2007), 115.
44 Lian Heng, Taiwan shicheng (Selected Poems from Taiwan) (Banqiao: Longwen chubanshe, 2009), 396–98. For more on Haiwai Jishe members’ contribution to Taiwan’s cultural and educational developments, see Zeng Fanxiang, “Fushe he Jishe dui Taiwan wenjiao shiye fazhan de yingxiang,” 113–16.
45 Zhu Dongrun, Chen Zilong jiqi shidai, 245; Ono Kazuku, Mingji dangshe kao (The Donglin Movement and the Restoration Society in the Late Ming) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2006), 347.
46 The White Waist Party was organized by jinshi Wu Yi and juren Sun Zhaokui of Wujiang in 1645, and its members at its peak surpassed 1000. They fought with the Qing forces in the Wuxi-Suzhou region, and were suppressed in 1646. The struggle of Wu Yi and his men is described in detail in Frederic Wakeman, The Great Enterprise, vol. 2, 723–28.
47 Chen was decapitated even though he was already dead when brought to the shore. Among the executed were Gu Xianzhen of Kunshan, Hou Qizeng of Jiading, and Xia Zhixu of Huating. Xu Zi, Xiaotian jizhuan, 437; Ling Xue, Nantian hen (Trace of Southern Sky) (Taibei: Taiwan yinhang jingji yanjiushi, 1960), 141; Xie Guozhen, Nan Ming shilüe, 80.
48 They were published as Yufan tang ji, Neishi ji, Nanguancao, and Xu Xingcun lu. Xia Wanchun began composing poems when he was four years old, and published his first collection at age eight. Zhonghua shuju in 1959 published a punctuated and collated version of his works entitled Xia Wanchun ji. Bai Jian, Xia Wanchun ji jianjiao (Collated Works of Xia Wanchun) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1991), 561. For a complete biography of Xia Wanchun, see Qu Guanjie, Qianqiu xue: Xia Yunyi Xia Wanchun zhuan (Combined Biographies of Xia Yunyi and Xia Wanchun) (Beijing: Guangming ribao chubanshe, 1993).
49 Xie Guozhen, Nan Ming shilüe, 81.
50 While military resistance activities during the Song-Yuan transition were widespread, most, including scholar-officials, chose either to resist the new Mongol regime passively by refusing to serve in the government or to collaborate with the new rulers in various ways. See Jennifer Jay, A Change in Dynasties: Loyalism in Thirteenth-Century China (Bellingham: Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University, 1991); Paul Jakov Smith and Richard von Glahn, eds, Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003), 71–110; Chen Dezhi, “Cong ‘Yimin shi’ kan Yuanchu Jiangnan zhishi fenzi de minzu qijie” (The Moral Integrity of the Jiangnan Intellectuals in the Early Yuan as Seen from the Poems of the Song Loyalists), in his Meng Yuan shi yanjiu conggao (Studies on Mongol-Yuan History) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2006), 374–94.
51 Wang Xiuchu’s 8000-word “eyewitness account,” Yangzhou shiri ji (Ten-Day Massacre in Yangzhou), avers that some 800,000 residents of the city were slaughtered by the Manchu troops. There have been studies refuting this claim. Their main point is that Wang’s work is a fake, and the number of victims is impossibly high. For example, Zhang Defang in his “Yangzhou shiriji bianwu” (A Critical Analysis of Ten-Day Massacre in Yangzhou), concludes that the total population of Yangzhou at the end of the Ming, based on various historical documents, was around 500,000, and the actual number of people during the fall of the city was roughly 200,000–300,000; the assertion that 800,000 residents were murdered is thus a sheer fantasy. Zhonghua wenshi luncong, no. 5 (1964), 365–76. For an English translation of Wang Xiuchu’s work, see Patricia Ebrey, Chinese Civilization and Society: A Sourcebook (New York: Free Press, 1981), 271–79. For a brief analysis of Wang’s piece, see Antonia Finnane, Speaking of Yangzhou (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 74–76.
52 For detailed discussion of the resistances in Jiading and Jiangyin, see Jerry Dannerline, The Chia-ting Loyalists: Confucian Leadership and Social Change in Seventeenth-Century China, 251–301; Frederic Wakeman, “Localism and Loyalism during the Ch’ing Conquest of Kiangnan: The Tragedy of Chiang-yin,” in Frederic Wakeman and Carolyn Grand, eds, Conflict and Control in Late Imperial China (Berkeley: University of Californian Press, 1975), 60–85.
53 The Qing troops also committed massacres in Bei Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Henan, Huguang, Guangdong, and Fujian.
54 See He Guanbiao (Ho Koon-piu), Sheng yu si: Mingji shidafu de jueze (Life and Death: The Choices of the Late Ming Officials and Scholars) (Taibei: Lianjing chuban shiye gongsi, 1991), 18; Ho Koon-piu, “Should We Die as Martyrs to the Ming Cause?” Oriens Extremus, no. 37, 123. For more on the Ming martyrs during the Qing conquest, see Shu Hede et al., Qingding shengchao xunjie zhuchen lu (The Imperially Sanctioned List of Ming Martyrs) (Taibei: Taiwan yinhang jingji yanjiushi, 1971), juan 1–10.
55 In his study of literary societies in the Ming, Guo Shaoyu (1893–1984) makes the following comparison between Fushe and Jishe: “if Fushe was political, then Jishe was literary; if Fushe was literary, then Jishe was academic.” See Zhaoyushi gudian wenxue lunji (Collected Works of Guo Shaoyu on Classical Literature) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1983), 593. Guo’s view is repeated in Zhang Chengyu’s “Songjiang Jishe shifeng yuanyuan tan” (A Study of the Moral Style of the Jishe in Songjiang), Nanjing ligong daxue xuebao (Shehui kexue ban), 20:3 (June 2007), 14–17. While Guo’s observation contains some truth, it is certainly unconvincing to characterize Jishe as a society that was primarily concerned with literary and scholarly pursuits. A 2009 study on Chen Zilong’s social network likewise asserts that Jishe was a society which focused on literary pursuits while Fushe was a literati group with a strong political inclination. Wu Qi, Ming Qing shehui qunti yanjiu (A Study of the Social Groups in the Ming and Qing Dynasties) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2009), 194.
56 These twenty-four selectors included Xia Yunyi, Zhou Lixun, Peng Bin, Gu Kaiyong, Song Cunbiao, Li Daiwen, Shen Hong, Xu Fengcai, Wu Peichang, Yu Ruchi, Zhu Ji, Tang Changshi, He Gang, Song Zhengyu, Li Wen, Sheng Yijin, Tang Yunxie, Zhang Anmao, Wu Jiayin, Song Jiazhen, and Dan Xun.
57 Wu Qi and Feng Yurong, “Ming jingshi wenbian bianzuan qunti zhi yanjiu” (A Study of the Compilers Group of Ming jingshi wenbian), Huazhong shifan daxue xuebao (Renwen shehui kexue ban), 41:1 (January 2002), 129–30.
58 Ou Zhijian (Au Chi-kin), “Cong Mingren bianzhu Jingshi wenbian lüetan Mingdai jingshi sixiang de leixing” (A Tentative Study of the Statecraft Thinking in the Ming as Seen from the Statecraft Works), Yifu shuyuan lishixi xueshu qikan, no. 1 (January 1997), 15–45. According to Ou’s calculation, the number of statecraft writings published during the Ming was: one during the Chenghua era (1465–87), three in the Zhengde-Jiajing period (1506–66), seven during the Wanli reign (1573–1619), nine in the Tianqi period (1621–27), and one in the Chongzhen years.
59 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, 6:2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 66.
60 On the compilation and authorship of Nongzheng quanshu, see Liang Jiamian, “Nongzheng quanshu zhuanshu guocheng ji ruogan youguan wenti de tantao” (An Exploration of Compilation of Nongzheng quanshu and Related Matters), in Zhongguo kexueyuan Zhongguo ziran kexueshi yanjiushi, ed., Xu Guangqi jinian lunwenji (Collection of Works in Memory of Xu Guangqi) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963), 78–109; Francesca Bray and Georges Métailié, “Who Was the True Author of Nongzhen quanshu?” in Catherine Jami, Peter Engelfriet, and Gregory Blue, eds, Statecraft and Intellectual Renewal in Late Ming China: The Cross-cultural Synthesis of Xu Guangqi (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2001), 322–59; Arthur Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, 102.
61 Prefaces by Chen Zilong, Zuoshi bingfa ceyao (Tainan: Zhuangyan wenhua shiye youxian gongsi, 1995).
62 It is not listed in Xu Baolin’s Zhongguo bingshu zhijian lu (Extant Books of Military Arts in China) (Beijing: Jiefangjun chubanshe, 1988).
63 Chen Zilong, “Preface to Bingjia yan,” in Chen Zilong, Chen Zilong wenji (Collected Works of Chen Zilong) (Shanghai: Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe, 1988), 34.
64 Chen Zilong, Anyatang gao (Collected Works from Anya Studio) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995), 3:1a. The book is available in the Jianxian zhai edition published in 1637 and is now included in the three-volume Chen Zilong quanji.
65 During the 272-year period from 1371 to 1643, a total of 24,866 persons received jinshi degree in 91 triennial examinations, which means on average approximately 273 scholars passed the highest examination every three years in the Ming realm where the population reached at least one hundred million. Wu Xuande, Mingdai jinshi dili fenbu (The Geographical Distribution of Jinshi Degree Holders in the Ming Period) (Hong Kong: Zhongwen daxue chubanshe, 2009), 50. Wang Kaixuan’s calculation is that, during the period between the reigns of emperors Yongle and Chongzhen, an average of 284 participants were fortunate enough to pass the triennual jinshi examination. See his Mingdai keju zhidu kaolun (A Study of the Civil Service Examinations in Ming China) (Shenyang: Shengyang chubanshe, 2005), 93. For more on the civil service examinations and the difficulty in passing the jinshi examinations in the Ming period, see Liu Haifeng and Li Bing, Zhongguo keju shi (A History of the Civil Service Examinations in China) (Shanghai: Dongfang chuban zhongxin, 2004), 465–71; Bernard Luk, “The Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China,” Orientations, 13:3 (March 1982), 20–24; Benjamin Elman, “Political, Social, and Cultural Reproductions via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China,” Journal of Asian Studies, 50:1 (February 1991), 7–28.
66 He Guanbiao, Sheng yu si, 21. The Qingding shengchao xunjie zhuchen lu complied during the Qianlong era (1736–95) lists close to 4000 Ming officials and commoners who died for the Ming cause during the dynastic change.
67 Wakeman, Great Enterprise, 584.
68 See his “Loyalist Alternatives in the Early Ch’ing,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 44:1 (June 1984), 84.
69 Xie Wenchao, Mingdai bingshu yanjiu (A Study of the Books of Military Arts in the Ming Period) (Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe, 2010), 178.
70 Zhang Tingli, “Mingdai bingru heliu yu Chen Zhongyu gong Bingyuan zouyi,” 52.
71 For a recent study on Wang Yangming’s military operation in Guangxi, see Larry Israel, “To Accommodate or Subjugate: Wang Yangming’s Settlement of Conflict in Guangxi in Light of Ming Political and Strategic Culture,” Ming Studies, vol. 60 (fall 2009), 4–44. For more on the military leadership of these Ming commanders, see Mingshi, 6691–6719, 6759–66.
72 For more on the evolution of the military examination in China, see Xu Yougen, Wuju zhidu shilüe (A History of the Military Examinations in China) (Suzhou: Suzhou daxue chubanshe, 1997); Ichisada Miyazaki, trans. Conrad Schirokauer, China’s Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1976), 102–06.
73 In Chinese “Zhigu wu wenwu zhidao, you wenshizhe biyou wubei, weiyou wen er bu wu, wu er bu wen ye.” Qiu Jun, Daxue yanyi bu (Beijing: Jinghua chubanshe, 1999), 1125.
74 See her “Wen and Wu in Elite Cultural Practices during the Late Ming,” in Nicola Di Cosmo, ed., Military Culture in Imperial China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009), 219–42.
75 Not all Jishe members participated in the anti-Qing resistance activities. Li Wen, Peng Bin, and Song Zhengyu partook in the civil service examinations in the early Qing and accepted the Qing’s appointments. See Zhu Tan, Mingji shedang yanjiu, 304; Zhu Lixia, Qingdai Songjiang fu wangzu yu wenxue yanjiu (The Powerful Families of Songjiang and Literary Studies in the Qing Period) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2006), 38–43.