Five Rare Documents from Shanghai during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Author: Liu Yongxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: According to historical records, since the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, the Shanghai region has produced a large number of outstanding or significant figures, such as Lu Ji and Lu Yun, along with Zhang Han from the Jin Dynasty, Gu Yewang from the Southern Dynasties of the Chen Dynasty, Lu Guimeng from the Tang Dynasty, Yang Weizhen and Tao Zongyi from the Yuan Dynasty, and so on. The Ming and Qing dynasties were particularly remarkable, with renowned individuals including Yuan Kai, Xu Jia, Lu Shusheng, Dong Qichang, Chen Jiru, Chen Zilong, Xia Wanquan, Qian Daxin, and Wang Chang, among others. As for imperial scholars ( ti?n s?), few would imagine that the Shanghai region has produced nearly a thousand throughout history. During the Ming and Qing dynasties alone, the Songjiang region produced 457 imperial scholars, ranking third nationwide. If only the Tang Dynasty is considered, it ranks even higher—this is a rare cultural landscape in Chinese history. Whether as prime ministers, ministers, secretaries, provincial governors, or prefects and magistrates, imperial scholars from Shanghai have left their mark across the country, appearing in many major political events—a phenomenon rarely seen in Chinese political history. Unfortunately, most people in Shanghai today are unaware of these facts. For example, a person from Shanxi or Hebei reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms might feel immensely proud upon seeing Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, yet Shanghai residents rarely feel excitement about the Battle of Yiling. This is because they are unaware that Lu Xun, the general who troubled Zhuge Liang and forced Liu Bei to entrust his son to him in Baidicheng, could actually be considered a fellow native. Lu Xun was the grandson of the great Jin Dynasty literary figure Lu Ji and Lu Yun.