Zhuang Tinglong Case

The Zhuang Tinglong Case, also known as the Case of Ming [Dynasty] History, was a 1661-1663 Qing dynasty treason case surrounding the publication of an unauthorized history of the preceding Ming dynasty by Zhejiang merchant Zhuang Tinglong.

Zhuang, a well-off merchant in northern Zhejiang who had sought to augment his reputation by sponsoring the publication of a scholarly work, employed a large number of scholars who produced a history based on material originally published in the last years of the Ming. The resulting product was reported to the court as containing passages defamatory toward the Qing. The investigation of the text found a number of inappropriate references to the Ming, although many of these may have been unintentional errors, such as the failure to edit out the former titles and forms of the Ming period.^[1] At the same time, the history violated the taboo of referring to the reigning Qing by their personal names, as though implying that the Manchu Qing were illegitimate usurpers of the legitimate Ming dynasty.^[2]

All types of persons associated with the history—from those involved in the publication to those who possessed a copy to the officials who failed in reporting it—were ordered arrested^[1] Some seventy persons were ultimately killed or exiled, in many cases together with members of their families.^[1]

Since Zhuang had already died, his corpse, his father's corpse, and the corpses of several others were disinterred from their graves and destroyed.^[2]

Notes

References

• Mote, F. W. (2003). Imperial China: 900-1800. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01212-7.
• Waley-Cohen, Joanna (2000). "Collective Responsibility in Qing Criminal Law," in Karen G. Turner, James V. Feinerman, and R. Kent Guy (eds.), The Limits of Rule of Law in China, Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 112–131. ISBN 0-295-97907-0.