CORPSE ADMONITION: WU KEDU AND BUREAUCRATIC PROTEST IN LATE QING CHINA

AbstractIn late imperial China, an extremely small number of bureaucrats adopted corpse admonition (shijian尸諫) to protest with their death what they regarded as inadequacies or failings in the imperial structure. This article introduces the case of Wu Kedu 吳可讀, who killed himself to protest the designation, by the late Qing empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi, of Guangxu as the emperor, and as the adopted son of Xianfeng and not as the heir to Tongzhi. The article argues that Wu Kedu's suicide, which was highly praised during and after its time, was an attempt to sway bureaucratic opinion to put a check on the arbitrary power of empress dowagers, but instead had the unintended consequence of reinforcing it. More importantly, Wu Kedu's corpse admonition was a precursor of the outpouring of voices of remonstrance over political issues at the turn of the twentieth century, leading to further development of the Chinese “constitutional agenda.”

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Biographies of Buried Memory in Late Imperial China - Burying Autumn: Poetry, Friendship, and Loss. By Hu Ying. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. ix, 380 pp. ISBN: 9780674737204 (cloth). - Fiction's Family: Zhan Xi, Zhan Kai, and the Business of Women in Late-Qing China. By Ellen Widmer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. xvi, 329 pp. ISBN: 9780674088375 (cloth).

The Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0021911818000062 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 495-500

Author(s):

Nanxiu Qian

Keyword(s):

Harvard University ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Qing ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Late Qing China ◽

Imperial China

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INSANITY AND PARRICIDE IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA (EIGHTEENTH–TWENTIETH CENTURIES)

International Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s147959141300003x ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 115-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Luca Gabbiani

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Capital Punishment ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Severe Form ◽

Judicial Process ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Political Issues ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

Depth Analysis

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the reasons for which insane individuals who had committed patricide were systematically sentenced to dismemberment (lingchi 凌遲) under the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the most severe form of capital punishment that could be called for in the state's administrative and penal Code. This extreme harshness ran contrary to several “theoretical” foundations of Chinese traditional law, first and foremost the principle of criminal intent. Through the study of such criminal cases, and others legally affiliated to patricide, spanning the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, it underlines the importance of the relationship between a parent and his child, which was prominent in China's moral and cultural context at the time. It also stresses the role of political issues related to the legitimacy of the imperial state and to the upholding of the legality of its judicial process. Even though legal tools existed in the Qing Code, which would have allowed for a more lenient approach, and notwithstanding the Qing authorities' ongoing effort at defining specific legal procedures for insane homicides, lingchi was systematically applied to insane patricides until the early twentieth century, when the far-reaching legal reforms implemented during the last years of the imperial regime progressively opened the way for the recognition of the legal irresponsibility of insane individuals.

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Texts and Technologies in Chinese Silver Metallurgy, Twelfth to Nineteenth Centuries

East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine ◽

10.1163/26669323-04901003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 9-82

Author(s):

Yang Yuda ◽

Nanny Kim

Keyword(s):

Textual Analysis ◽

Oral Histories ◽

Minor Importance ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Qing ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Research Gap ◽

The Subject ◽

Imperial China ◽

Silver Exploitation

The silver metallurgy of late imperial China has rarely been the subject of specific studies because silver exploitation has long been considered of minor importance and traditional sources are scarce. This article is an attempt at filling the research gap of the period from the Song to the late Qing. With a focus on the silver mines of the Southwest and the adjoining borderlands and employing an approach that combines textual analysis with the study of remains and oral histories, it presents a systematic discussion of process steps and traces technological transformations.

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Buying and Selling Law Books in Qing Beijing

East Asian Publishing and Society ◽

10.1163/22106286-12341308 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 94-126

Author(s):

Ting Zhang

Keyword(s):

Central Government ◽

Book Market ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Early 19Th Century ◽

Late Qing ◽

For Profit ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Administrative Information ◽

Imperial China ◽

National Book

AbstractBeijing was an emerging legal publishing center in late imperial China and at least 60 commercial editions of law books were published there in the Qing. Beijing commercial publishers established close connections with the central government, which enabled them to obtain internal legal and administrative information and to print it for profit. Thanks to their close connections with other printing centers in places like Jiangnan and Jiangxi, Beijing publishers had convenient access to fine editions of legal books in the national book market. In the early 19th century when Jiangnan editions rose to dominance, Beijing publishers adjusted their publishing strategies by republishing Jiangnan editions and reducing the number of their own editions. During the Taiping war, Beijing publishers took the opportunity to expand their business. In the late Qing, Beijing was a flourishing legal printing center, selling a variety of legal books at affordable prices to readers who wanted to learn the law.

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