reading and question answer & debate paper

59

In Patricia Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2nd edition (New York; The Free Press, 1993), 271-279.

THE YANGZHOU MASSACRE

Few areas of China escaped unscathed during the decades of rebellion and war- fare surrounding the fall of the Ming. Sporadic uprisings began in 1628 and soqi were occurring all over North China. The death toll mounted steadily, especially after a group of rebels cut the dikes of the Yellow River In 1642, thereby killing several hundred thousand people in the flood and subsequent famine. Rebels sometimes slaughtered people indiscriminately, most notably Zhang Xianzhong when he took SiclJUan in 1644-46.

The Manchus entered the fray after Bei;ing fell to the rebel Li Zicheng and the last Ming emperor committed suicide. Invited by Ming generals tq help them retake Beijing, the Manchus soon showed they intended to take the throne them• selves. Some Ming generals continued to work with them, others tried to establish a successor to the Ming throne in Nan;ing. These loyalist troops decided to resist the Manchus at Yangzhou, a major city on the north bank of the Yangzi River. For a week they held out, then the city fell. As retaliation for Yangzhou's resis- tance and as a warning to other cities, the Manchus slaughtered thousands, some say hundreds of thousands, of its residents.

The following memoir recounts what one man saw and heard during the siege and massacre. Since the Qing government naturally did not want its subjects to remember too vividly how it had conquered the "rand, essays like this one could not be openly published during the Qing dynasty. This one survived through manuscript copies that got to Japan. In reading this account of the devastation of Yangzhou, one might imagine that the city would never fully recover. However, its location near the junc:ture of the Yangzi River and the Grand Canal made it too important a city to abandon. By the end of the seventeenth century its pros· perity was restored and the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722) stopped there on his second and third southern tours, apparently confident that memories of the mas- sacre had dimmed. In the eighteenth century Yangzhou even became an artistic center of considerable importance, known especially for its painters.

272 The Qing Dynasty

On the 14th of the fourth month of 1645, Com- mandant Shi Kefa gave up the defense of Bo- yanghe and retreated to Yangzhou. Ordering the city gates closed, he prepared for a siege. Up to the 24th, the city remained unconquered and our sol- diers held all of the gates. My house was in the eastern part of the new city, where a general named Yang was in command. His officers and soldiers stood around like chessmen ....

Early in the afternoon the next day, my wife's relatives came from Guazhou to take refuge from the Earl of Xingping's fleeing soldiers. My wife, not having seen the family for a long time, was greatly cheered. By then one or two people had al- ready told me that a large force of enemy soldiers was about to enter the city. I rushed out to ask peo- ple about it. Someone said, "They're our rein- forcements from Huang Degong, Marquis of Qingnan." I noticed that the guards on the wall were still quiet and orderly but that people in the streets were getting excited. Crowds of barefoot and disheveled refugees were flocking into the city. When questioned, they were too distraught to re- ply. At that point dozens of mounted soldiers in confused waves came surging south looking as though they had given up all hope. Along them ap- peared a man who turned out to be the comman- dant himself. It seems he had intended to leave by the east gate but could not because the enemy sol- diers outside the wall were drawing too near; he was therefore forced to cut across this part of town to reach the south gate. This is how we firstlearned for sure that the enemy troops would enter the city.

Just then a mounted soldier with slackened reins rode slowly north, his face upturned, wail- ing. Two soldiers walked in front of his horse, not willing to let go of the reins. This image is still vivid in my memory, and I wish I had learned the man's name. When the rider was still sorrie way off, the panicky guards on the city walls began to jump, discarding their helmets and spears, some breaking their legs or even their necks. By the time I looked back at the guard tower on the city wall, it was empty.

The commandant had seen that the city wall was too narrow for the cannon to be set up there

and so had ordered a platform to be erected, one side resting on the footpath on the wall and the other against the houses opposite. This way more space was available for deploying the cannon. Yet before this work could be finished, the enemy sol- diers had scaled the wall, swords in hand, and be- gnn the carnage. This caused those defending the wall to flee in such disorder that they clogged the exits. Many of them ran to the cannon platforms which had been set up and climbed on their hands and knees in an attempt to cross over to the houses behind. The platforms were not stable and col- lapsed as soon as the weight of the people became too great; people fell like leaves, eight or nine out of ten dashed to death. Those. who reached the houses shattered the roof tiles as they trampled on them, making a noise which reverberated in all directions and sounded like the clash of swords or ,; severe hail. The people inside the houses, in their ,j terror and confusion, poured out by the hundreds. At the same time every room and courtyard, even '/;

,; bedrooms, was invaded by those who had jumped :j from the roofs in their frantic search for hiding I places. The owners were powerless to prevent it. '.l In my neighborhood all the doors were tightly fas- ·. i tened, everyone holding his or her breath. •1

My house backed against the city wall, and ;I peeping through the chinks in my window, I saw the soldiers on the wall i;narching south then west, ;,J solemn and in step. Although the rain was beating ·· down, it did not seem to disturb them, This reas- sured me because I gathered that they were well- ' disciplined units,

Then I heard urgent knocking at my door, which turned out to be my_neighbors, They had agreed to try to placate and welcome the "royal army," As a sign of submission, they wanted to set up tables and place burning incense on them, I knew that nothing much could help, but having no other way to calm them, I tentatively agreed. Thereupon I changed my clothes and stuck out my head to watch and wait. For a long time no one came. I retreated again to the back window and found that the regiment on the wall had bro- ken ranks; some soldiers were walking about, oth- ers standing still. }

All of a sudden I saw some soldiers escorting a group of women dressed in Yangzhou fashion. This was my first real shock. Back in the house, I said to my wife, "Should things go badly when the soldiers enter the ciry, you may need to end your life."

"Yes," she replied, "Whatever silver we have you should keep. I think we women can stop thinking about life in this world." She gave me all the silver, unable to control her crying.

At this point a townsman came rushing in and shouted, "They've come! They've come!" I dashed out and saw a few mounted soldiers com- ing from the north, riding slowly with reins in hand. As soon as they reached the group who were welcoming the royal army, they lowered their heads as if to consult with each other. Each of us was looking out for himself and not talking to the others, even though we were only an arm's length apart.

As the soldiers grew nearer I discovered that they were going from door to door demanding money. They were not extravagant in their de- mands, however, leaving as soon as they were given a little. In cases where they failed to get any, they waved their swords about but did not strike anyone. Finally they came to my door. One mounted soldier pointed to me and yelled to an- other behind him, "Search the man in blue for me." But before the man had dropped his reins, I had run away. He did not try to pursue me, but remounted and rode off.

I thought to myself, "I am wearing rough clothes and look like a commoner. Why did he pick on me?" Soon my younger brother arrived, then my two older brothers. We discussed the sit- uation and I said, "The people who live in our neighborhood are all rich merchants. It will be disastrous if they think we are rich too." I then urged my brothers to brave the rain and quickly take the women by the back route to my older brother's house. His home was situated behind Mr. He's graveyard and was surrounded by the huts of poor families. I stayed behind alone to see what was going to happen. A long time passed as I nervously waited for my eldest brother to return.

The Yangzhou Massacre 273

I could find "no way up to Heaven nor any door down to earth." Besides, it rained in torrents.

Finally, my eldest brother reappeared and said, "People are being killed in the streets! What are we waiting for here? It doesn't matter so much whether we live or die, as long as we brothers stay together." Immediately I gathered together our ancestral tablets and went with him to our second brother's house. There ten people in all (my one younger and two elder brothers, my elder broth- er's wife, a nephew, my own wife and son, my wife's younger brother and sister, and I) took ref- uge.

As it grew darker, we could hear soldiers butchering people outside our door. As a tempo- rary refuge, we climbed to the roof. In the down- pour we ten squatted together covered only by a rug, our tangled hair soaked through. The bitter cries, resounding through the air, pierced my ears and wrenched my soul. Not until very late that ' night did we have the courage to come down from / the roof and start a fire to cook some rice. By then fires had broken out everywhere in the ciry. More than a dozen places close by were ablaze, as were innumerable ones further off. The red glow flashed like lightning or a sunset as the crackling ceaselessly thundered in our ears. We could hear the faint sounds of people being beaten. Even the wind wailed with an inexpressible bitterness.

When the rice was cooked, we stared at each other, so overcome with grief that we were unable to raise our chopsticks to eat. We were equally unable to think of a plan. My wife took the silver she had given me and divided it into four shares. Each of us brothers hid one share so that our clothes, hats, shoes, and belts were all stuffed. My wife also found a ragged coat and worn-out pair of shoes for me to change into. That done, we lay awake with our eyes wide open until dawn. Dur- ing the night there seemed to be a bird in the air, twittering like a reed organ or sobbing like a child, hovering somewhere not too high above our heads. Everyone reported having heard it.

The 26th. After a while, the fires began to abate and the day gradually brightened. Once more we climbed up to the roof to hide but found that a lot

2 7 4 The Qing Dynasty

of people had already sought refuge there by the rain gutters.

Without any warning a man from the building east of us began to scramble up our wall. A soldier with his sword drawn was running after him. But when he saw our group, he abandoned the chase and made directly for us. In alarm I sneaked down as fast as I could. My brothers followed immedi- ately, none of us stopping until we had run over a hundred paces. In our escape I lost track of my wife and son and did not know whether they had been killed.

The cunning soldiers, suspecting that many people were still hidden, tried to entice them out by posting a placard promising clemency. About fifty to sixty people, half of them women, emerged. My elder brother said, "We four by our- selves will never survive if we run into these vi- cious soldiers, so we had better join the crowd. Since there are so many of them, escape will be easier. Even if things do not turn out well, as long as we are together, we will have no cause for re- gret." In our bewilderment we could think of no other way to save our lives. Thus agreed, we went to join the group.

The leaders were three Manchu soldiers. They searched my brothers and found all the silver they were carrying, but left me untouched. At that point some women appeared, two of whom called out to me. I recognized them as the concubines of my friend Mr. Zhu Shu and stopped them anx- iously. They were disheveled and partly naked, their feet bare and covered with mud up to the ankles. One was holding a girl whom the soldiers hit with a whip and threw into the mud. Then we were immediately driven on. One soldier, sword in hand, took the lead; another drove us from be- hind with a long spear; and a third walked along on our right and left flanks alternately, making sure no one escaped. In groups of twenty or thirty we were herded along like sheep and cattle. If we faltered we were struck, and some people were even killed on the spot. The women were tied to- gether with long chains around their necks, like a clumsy string of pearls. Stumbling at every step, they were soon covered with mud. Here and there

on the ground lay babies, trampled by people or horses. Blood and gore soaked the fields, which were filled with the sound of sobbing. We passed gutters and ponds piled high with corpses; the blood had turned the water to a deep greenish-red color and filled the ponds to the brim.

We arrived at the house of the jailer, Yao Yongyan. Entering through the back door, we passed through many rooms and found bodies ev- erywhere. I supposed that this was where we would die. We went through several rooms until we came to the street door. We then entered the house of the Shanxi merchant, Jiao Chengwang, which had been taken over by the three soldiers. Another soldier was already there. He had seized several attractive women and was rifling their trunks for fancy silks, which he piled in a heap. Seeing the three soldiers arrive, he laughed and pushed several dozen of us into the back hall. The women he led into a side chamber.

In that room there were two square tables at which three tailors and a middle-aged woman were making clothes. The woman was a local res- ident. Her face was heavily made up and she was wearing brightly colored clothes. She laughed and flirted, seeming to be in high spirits. Whenever .she came across anything fine, she shamelessly tried to wheedle it away from the soldiers. The soldiers often said to people, "When we conquered Korea, we captured tens of thousands of women, and yet not one of them lost her chastity. How can there be so little shame in a great country like China?"

The three soldiers stripped the women of their wet clothing all the way to their underwear, then ordered the seamstress to measure them and give them new garments. The women, thus coerced, had to expose themselves and stand naked. What shame they endured! Once they had changed, the soldiers grabbed them and forced fhem to join them in eating and drinking, then did whatever they pleased with them, without any regard for decency.

One soldier suddenly jumped up, his sword drawn, and cried out, "Come on, you southern Barbarians!" Several of those standing in the front had already been tied up, my eldest brother

r t f~mong them. Saying to me, "What alternative do (,we have?" he took my hand and ran forward. My tr~unger brother also followed. The fifty-odd men !'.\vho were bound were so scared that they could f :not move, even when t~e soldiers raised their f)words and shouted. Right behmd my eldest (/j,rother, I rushed o~t of the hall: but soon d!scov- j,ired that the slaughter was gomg on outside as 1,)vell as inside. Outside a group of people were J.itanding in a row awaiting their fate. At first I Jthought of submitting, but suddenly my heart f,took a leap, and, as if helped by some spirit, I (j:iprang away quickly and returned to the back hall f.without attracting the attention of any of the lf:bound men. i(. The western section of the building, where f jnany old women still remained, was not a safe ri,place for me to hide, and so I slipped out back. It ~was impossible for me to walk through that area, !l-. i:'\iiough, because it was filled with horses and cam- !)els. Trembling, I dropped to the floor and crawled !;,under the bellies of these beasts. If the slightest f,thing had startled them, I would have been tram- ~:pled into the mud. Iii' After passing through several courtyards, I fcould locate no way out except a side alley leading fro the back door. But this door was fastened ~ tightly with an iron lock. Once more I headed out Ftothe front along the lane, but hearing people be- ~ ingkilled in the front panicked me. I looked back, bnd on the left side I saw four people in the rkitchen. It seemed they had been captured and [!forced to do the cooking. I begged them to let me Iattend the fire or draw water for them so that I ~-could save myself. But they adamantly refused, g:"Whenever we four are ordered to work, they call {'the roll. If they find more people next time, they {will surely suspect some trick, and our lives will fbe in jeopardy." I appealed to them plaintively, rbut this made them even more angry and they i!:threatened to hand me over. With this I left, more t<arooous than ever. !,,S Not very far from the house I saw some steps k,nd a platform on which a jar had been placed. I 1'dimbed up the platform, but no sooner had I /: touched the jar than I fell off. The jar had been

The Yangzhou Massacre 2 7 5

empty, and I had inadvertently used too much force. Seeing no alternatives, once more I ran to the door at the end of the lane. Using both hands I shook the lock a hundred times but failed to make it move. I struck it with stones, but the sound was loud enough to reach the outer court- yard and I was afraid of being heard. So I reverted to shaking the lock, my fingers aching and bleed- ing. Then unexpectedly the lock turned! I pulled at it with all my strength and soon had it off. Next I tried the bolt which was made of hibiscus wood. Water-logged from the rain, it was swollen and twice as solid as the lock. I pulled on the bolt with all my might. Instead of the .. bolt loosening, the hinges ripped off, the door fell flat, and the wall collapsed with a sound like a thunderclap.

I leapt over it as ifflying. Where such strength came from I have no idea. With all possible speed, I ran out the back door and found myself at the base of the city wall. Foot soldiers and horsemen were everywhere, making it impossible to go for- ward. Therefore I turned at the back door of a house to the left of the Jiaos' residence and el- bowed my way in .. Any place that Was safe was full of people who did not want to let any more in. This house was divided, back to front, into five rooms, all of which were crowded like this. I made my way straight to the front gate. Because it was close to the street where soldiers were endlessly streaming by, it was considered a dangerous spot and deserted. Entering quickly, I found a bed with a wooden canopy. I climbed on top of it by way of the pillars and crouched to conceal myself.

Scarcely had I regained my breath when I heard the sound of my younger brother wailing, coming from the other side of the wall. Then I heard the blows of the sword. After three blows there was silence. A few moments later I heard my elder brother implore, "I have silver in the cellar at home. Release me and I will go and fetch it for you." There was one blow, then silence again. For a time my spirit was wrenched out of my body; my heart was boiling, my eyes tearless, my innards torn. No longer in control of myself, all I wanted was to die.

Later on a soldier brought a women in and

2 7 6 The Qing Dynasty

waµted her to sleep with him in the bed below me. Despite her refusal, he forced her to yield. "This is too near the street. It is not a good place to stay," the woman said. I was almost discov- ered, but after a time the soldier departed with the woman.

The room had a ceiling which seemed to be made of matting. It was not strong enough to sus- tain the weight of a man, but ifl could creep across it, I could reach the beam. I climbed up by holding the rafters with both hands and resting my foot on the projecting roof pole. Inside it was pitch black, since the mat was underneath. Every time the sol- diers came in they would thrust upward through the matting with their spears and, finding it empty, conclude that no one was up there. Thus I managed to end the day without encountering any more soldiers. But I have no idea how many were slanghtered underneath me. Every time a few mounted soldiers passed along the street, dozens of men and women, loudly lamenting, would be trailing behind them. As the day was cloudy, I could not judge the time. A long time passed, then mounted soldiers came less and less frequently un- til only the incessant weeping of the people could be heard from the outside.

I thought of my brothers, two of whom were already dead. I did not know the fate of my eldest brother or the whereabouts of my son and wife. I wanted to find them and see them again. There- fore I slowly climbed down from my hiding place by holding onto the beam and furtively made my way to the front street. The heads of the corpses in the street were piled up on each other like pillows, and as it grew dark, it was impossible to recognize them. I bent over several corpses and called out, but received no answer. To the south I saw the torches of a confused crowd approaching and quickly got out of their way. As I walked along the foot of the city wall, I constantly stumbled against dead bodies. Whenever I heard something I dropped to the ground and pretended to be a corpse myself. After a long while I reached a path. In the darkness people could not see each other and often collided. But the main street was lit by torches and was as bright as day. Walking from

seven to nine in the evening, I finally reac my elder brother's house.

I found the door closed and was afraid t knock. Then I heard my sister-in-law's voice. I knocked gently a few times, and my wife came to answer. My eldest brother had come back earlier, and both my wife and son were there. I wept with my eldest brother but did not dare to tell him of the deaths of our other brothers. My sister-in-law questioned' me, but I gave her only vague re- plies ....

When dawn brought in the 29th, five days had passed since the 25th, and I was beginning to imagine that by some stroke of fortune we might be spared. But then I heard some garbl~d stories about a planned wholesale slaughter of the pop-. ulation. It seemed that over half of those who had survived so far had decided to risk their lives in an atrempt to flee by climbing over the city walls with ropes, but so many were killed that the moat be- came as flat as a road from the corpses, and suf- fering reached a new height. Those who did escape had to face the bandits who at night waited stealthily in groups by the moat and robbed the refugees of their gold and silver.

With the danger so great and my eldest brother unwilling to be separated from us, we decided not to try escape. But I worried all night; our old hid- ing place was no longer safe, and my wife had already had to plead pregnancy to survive. Finally we decided I would hide in the dense weeds by the pond and my wife and [ son] Peng er would lie on < top. Though the soldiers repeatedly forced them:;/ to come out of hiding, they were able to induce } them to go away by offering money. j

At length, however, there came a soldier of the ·,; "Wolf Men" tribe, a vicious-looking man with a/; head like a mouse and eyes like a hawk. He at-'/' tempted to abduct my wife. She was obliged tdj;J' creep forward on all fours, pleading as she had} with the others, but to no avail. When he insisted',~ that she stand up, she rolled on the ground an4'1 refused. He then beat her so savagely with the flat;;, of his sword that the blood flowed out in streams;:; totally soaking her clothes. Because my wife bi~1 once admonished me, "If I am unlucky I will 'di~~

' l'no matter what; do not plead for me as a husband Spr you will get caught too," I acted as if I did not \know she was being beaten and hid far away in ! the grass, convinced she was about to die. Yet the f depraved soldier did not step there; he grabbed jher by the hair, cursed her, struck her cruelly, and jithen dragged her away by the leg. There was a (' small path about an arrow's shot in length wind- 1 ing out from the field to the main street. The sol- [ dier dragged my wife along this and every few @steps would hit her again. Just then they ran into '':: a body of mounted soldiers. One of them said a )Jew words to the soldier in Manchu. At this he ]; dropped my wife and departed with them. Barely table to crawl back, she let out a loud sob, every Jj,art of her body injured. '}' Suddenly the whole city was ablaze. The {thatched huts surrounding He's graveyard were ;: quickly reduced to ashes. Only one or two houses, ;,a little separated from the others, were fortunate ,' .enough to escape. Those hidden in the houses now hwere forced out by the fire, and ninety-nine in a (hundred were killed as they showed themselves. '.?Those who stayed inside, sometimes up to a hun- 5 dred people in a single house, were cremated; their }:numbers now will never be known. ;.<, At this point it was no longer possible to hide. ';lf caught, whether we offered money or not, we (would be killed. The only recourse left was to go ho the roadsides and lie among the corpses so that fno one could distinguish us from the dead. My tson, my wife, and I went and lay among the " graves, so dirty and muddy from head to foot we Loid not look .at all human. ,, . As time passed the fire raged fiercer. The lofty ' trees around the graves caught fire; it glowed like ':(lightning and roared like a landslide. The violence [of the wind made the fire burn so brilliantly that i.:the sun seemed to turn pale. To us it looked as f1hough countless demons were driving hundreds tand thousands of people into hell. Many times we £fainted with fright, hardly sure whether we were f.still among the living. Then, startled by the sound fof loud. footsteps and terrible screams, I spotted 'i/ffiy eldest brother some way off, standing beside a twall struggling with a soldier who had caught f;

The Yangzhou Massacre 2 77

him. Since he was very strong, he succeeded in throwing off the soldier and began to run away, but was instantly pursued. The soldier I recog- nized as the man who the previous day had ab- ducted and then released my wife. By midday my . brother had not returned and my heart began to pound.

Finally he came running, with no clothes on and his hair undone, driven along by the soldier. Out of desperation he asked me for silver to save his life. I had only one ingot left, but I took it out and offered it to the soldier. Seeing it made him so angry that he struck my brother with his sword. The latter rolled to the ground, his body bathed in blood. Penger, only five years old, pulled at the soldier and cried for him to stop. The man then wiped the blood from his sword on my son's clothes. Had he delivered one more blow, my brother would surely have died. Next the soldier grabbed me by the hair and demanded more sil- ver, hitting me over and over again with the back of his sword. I apologized for having no more sil- ver and said, "If you insist on silver, then I am afraid I shall die, but there are other things I can give you." Without letting go of my hair, he went with me to Mrs. Hong's house. On the steps I poured out the contents of two earthenware jars full of my wife's possessions and let the soldier take what he wanted. He grabbed all my wife's gold and pearl jewelry and the best of her clothes. Seeing the silver locket around my son's neck, he took his sword and cut it off. When he left he turned and said, "Even though I did not kill you, someone else will." I then knew it was true that the city was to be razed; our death seemed inevi- table.

After leaving our son at the house, my wife and I quickly went out to look for my brother. We found that his neck had a gash an inch deep on both the front and the back, and his chest had even worse wounds. We helped him to Mrs. Hong's house, where he lay confused and half in- sensible to the pain. After attending to him, we went back to hide in our old place.

Our neighbors were all hidden among the rushes. Someone yelled tome, "Tomorrow the city

2 78 The Qing Dynasty

will be razed and no one will be spared. You had better abandon your wife and flee with me." My wife also advised me to go, but I kept thinking of the danger my brother was in. How could I bear to leave him? So far I had relied on my supply of sil- ver; now that it was gone I realized we could not survive. Brooding on this, I lost consciousness.

It took a long time before I came to my senses. I saw that fires in the city were gradually dying down, and I heard a cannon fired three times in the distance. The soldiers on patrol were decreas- ing in number. My wife clutched our boy as we sat together in a manure pit ....

Unexpectedly there appeared a handsome- looking man of less than thirty, a double-edged sword hung by his side, dressed in Manchu-style hat, red coat, and a pair of black boots. His fol- lower, in a yellow jacket, was also vl!ry gallant in appearance. Immediately behind them were sev- eral residents of Y angzhou. The young man in red, inspecting me closely, said, ''I would judge from your appearance that you are not one of these peo- ple. Tell me honestly, what class of person are you?"

I remembered that some people had obtained pardons and others had lost their lives the mo- ment they said that they were poor scholars. So I did not dare come out at once with the truth and instead concocted a story. He pointed to my wife and son and asked who they were, and I told him the truth. "Tomorrow the prince will order that all swords be sheathed and all of you will be spared," he said and then commanded his follow- ers to give us some clothes and an ingot of silver. He also asked me, "How many days have you been without food?"

"Five days," I replied. "Then come with me," he commanded. Al-

though we only half trusted him, we were afraid to disobey. He led us to a well-stocked house, full of rice, fish, and other provisions. "Treat these four people well," he said to a woman in the house and then left.

By this time night had already fallen. We learned that my wife's brother had been carried off by the soldiers. Now knowing whether he was

dead or alive, my wife was in a state of grief. A few moments later the old woman brought some boiled rice and fish for us to eat. Since we were not very far from Mrs. Hong's house, I took some food to my eldest brother, but he could not eat more than a few mouthfuls because his throat was too sore to swallow. I wiped his hair and washed his wounds, my heart rent by his condition. How- ever, knowing of the order to end the slaughter in the city made us all feel somewhat comforted.

The next day was the last of the fifth month, Killing and pillaging continued, although not on the previous scale. Still the mansions of the rich were thoroughly looted, and almost all the teen- age girls were abducted. On this day the Earl of Xingping reentered Y angzhou, and every grain of rice, every inch of silk now entered these tigers' mouths. The resulting devastation is beyond de- scription.

The 2nd. Civil administration was'established in all the prefectures and counties; proclamations were issued aimed at calming the people, and monks from each temple were ordered to burn corpses. The temples themselves were clogged with women who had taken refuge, many of whom had died of fright or starvation. The "List of Corpses Burned" records more than eight hun- dred thousand, and this list does not include those who jumped into wells, threw themselves into the river, hanged themselves, were burned to death inside houses, or were carried away by the sol- diers.

The 3rd. Distribution of food was announced, I went with old Mrs. Hong to the Juekou Gate to get some rice. This rice, heaped as high as a mound, was part of what the commandant had stored as rations for his troops. Several thousand bushels soon disappeared. The people lined up for food had scorched hair, smashed heads, broken legs and arms, and sword cuts all over their faces which resembled streams of wax pouring down from a candle. In the struggle for rice, even friends and relatives ignored each other. The strong got some and then returned for more, while the old, weak, or severely wounded were not able to get a single ration all day long.

The 4th. As the sky was clear, the sun shone hot, and the bodies began to smell. Everywhere around us the dead were being burned; the smoke gathered like a mist, and the stench permeated the area. On the day I burned some cotton along with some bones of the dead and used the ashes as a salve for my brother's wounds. Unable to speak, he could only nod to me through silent tears.

The 5th. By now those who had remained hid- den were beginning to reappear. Upon meeting one another, people would cry but were at a loss for words.

We five, although less apprehensive than be- fore, still did not dare to stay home. Early in the morning we got up and, after eating a little food, went out to a deserted field. We dressed in the same fashion as before because of the hundreds of foragers roving about. Although they carried noJ swords, they intimidated people with clubs and seized their possessions. Anyone who tried to re- sist them was clubbed to death, and any woman

The Yangzhou Massacre 2 79

they encountered was molested. At first we did not know whether they were Manchu soldiers, our own guards, or commoners-turned-bandits.

That day my brother's wounds festered, broke open, and he died. Words cannot express my grief.

When this calamity began there had been eight of us: my two elder brothers, my younger brother, my elder brother's wife, their son, my wife, my son, and myself. Now only three of us survived for sure, though the fate of my wife's brother and sister-in-law was not yet known.

From the 25th of the fourth month to the 5th of the fifth month was a period of tert days. I have described here only what I actually experienced or saw with my own eyes; I have not recorded any- thing I picked up from rumors or hearsay. The younger generation is now fortunate enough to enjoy the blessing of peace and has grown lax. Reading this account should wake them up.

Translated by Patricia Ebrey

In Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume Two, 2nd edition (New York: Columbia University ' Press, 1999), 32-41.

THE JUSTIFICATION OF SOCIAL AND

CULTURAL DIVISIONS

\Vang develops his arguments for the prCSt!rvation of the distinctions between gentle.

men (iunzi) and me~m men (xiaoren), Chinese and barbarians, in <1 parallel way. In

both cases there is a difference in the stage of civilization ..ittaincd, and the ultimate

criterion is morn!. Culture rather than rnce is still the prime consideration, even in

the case of foreigners: \Vang specifically declares that indigenous ethnic groups do nol count as barbarians.

There are in the world hvo great lines of demarcation to be drawn: that behveen

Chinese and barbarians and that between the gentleman and the mean man.

It is not the case that there was originally no difference between them and that the former kings arbitrarily set up barriers between them. Barbarians and Chi- nese are born (live) in different lands. Since their lands are different, the cli- mates are different too. Since their c:limates are different, so too are their habits,

The Chinese Tradition in Refro/;/JCct 33

and conseqncntly all they know and all they do is different. The noble and the Inferior emerge spontm1eously arnong the1n. It is simply lhat they are divided by physical frontiers and that their climates are different, and so there must be no confusion. If there is confusion, the destruction of (the order of) the human sector will ensue, and the people of China will suffer from the encroachment.) of the barbarians and he distressed. If, however, early measures are taken to ward off the barbarians, (the order of) the human sector will thereby be stabi- lized and human life protected. This is in accord with Heaven. As for the gentleman and the rncan man, they are born of different stock. Since they are born of different stock, their physical substance is different. Since they differ in their physical substance, their habits too are different, and consequently all they know and all they do are different. The clever and the stupid emerge sponta- neously among them. ft is simply that they are born of different stock and have different values, and so there must be no confusion. If there is confusion, then the principles of man are contravened. The poor and weak among the people will suffer from the encroachments (of the mean men) and be distressed. If, however, one prevents the excesses of the mctm men, one may thereby preserve the principles of man and enrich human life. This is in accord \\dth Heaven. Ahls, the confusion that mean men have created bett.veen themselves and gen- tlemen is no different from that which the barbarians have created between themselves and the Chinese! Some people may toy with the prospect, but the gravity of the harm done thereby is beyond all expectation.

Among mean men the clever and stupid divide themselves into different clnsses. The stupid are content to rest in their stupidity, and so bring hardship on thernselves. ~l11e clever use their cleverness to wrong others. The stupid become peasants: they bring hardship on themselves but do not harm others.

The Han regarded laboring in the fields as the equivalent [among common- ers] of filial virtue in selecting officials, and the result was that rites and edu- cation were gradnally destroyed. This is why people say that since the Three Dynasties orderly government has never flourished. It is because confusion has been created between the peasants and gentlemen that the situation bas dete~ riorated. 'r'his is even more true of the merchants. The merchants are the clever members of the class of mean men, and their destruc:tion of man's nature and ruin of men's lives have already become extremely serious. Their (constitution) is such that they always frequent the barbarians, and their physical substance is such that they always get on well ,vith the barbarians. Consequently, \vhen the barbarians prosper, the merchants are esteemed ...

There are, fundamentally speaking, two great lines of demarcation to be drawn in the world, but ultimately they are one. \Vhat i::; this one line of de- marcation? It is th..Jt between mornlity and profit. ...

There are those who are born into villages of profit and grow up in the paths of profit. It is what their elders esteem, what their own flesh and blood prdis- pose them to, and \\'hat their hearts long aft~r. Their will and their constituti.on

)4 THE MATURATION OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION

act on one another, and so too <lo their minds and spirits. The result is that

they are so deeply sunk in profit they cannot be made to move into the stream of gentlemen and Chinese. All are men, but the barbarians are separated from the Chinese by frontiers, while the mean men arc differentiated from the gen- tlemen by their class. One cannot but be strict in drawing the lines of

demarcation.

[Quanshan yishu, Du Tongfian lttn 14:2<1-3a -· IM]

THE PRESERVATION OF CHINESE POLITICAL AND

CULTURAL INTEGRITY

Wang's conviction that different peoples should live separately, "ignoring one another

like the fish in rivers and lakes," is clearly linked to the philosophical conception outlined in his commentaries on the Classic of Changes and Zhang Zai. In his Huang shu, he develops the idea of a natural division into different species and draws out its political implications for Chinese survival. Wang's nationalism is remarkable in the

history of Chinese thought not only for the violence and frequency of its expression but also for its theoretical justification.

This is why mountain creatures have cloven hoofs and those in the marshes have webbed feet; why the strengths of animals used for riding and animals used for ploughing lie in different directions; why water birds are proper to the south and cold-weather birds to the north. It is not a deliberate suppression of the state of confusion and dispersion that causes this great classification into different species: it is simply that conditions bring it about as the only way that (these creatures) can preserve themselves and ward off disaster ....

Therefore the sage, finding that this was true for all creatures and that each species defined its own limits, in controlling the empire and acting as its ruler

separated the clever and the stupid, clarified cases where there was doubt, overcame the vicious and evil, and established lofty defensive barriers (between the groups) in order to ward off disaster and enable them to preserve themselves.

Man is like other creatures insofar as he is constituted of yin and yang and

eats and breathes, but he cannot be put in the same category as other creatures. The Chinese are like the barbarians insofar as their general physical character- istics are similar and they are both subject to assemblies and divisions, but the Chinese cannot be put in the same category as the barbarians. Why is this? It is because if man does not draw lines of de111arc.ation in order to set himself apart from other creatures, the order of Heaven is violated; if the Chinese do not draw lines of demarcation in order to set themselves apart from the barbar- ians, terrestrial order is violated. I-leaven and earth regulate mankind through such demarcations, and if men are incapable of drawing the lines of dernar-

The Chinese Tradition in Retrospect' )5

cation between different groups, human order is violated. This is the way the three orders control the three sectors of Heaven, earth, and humankind ....

Now even the anls have rulers who preside over the territory of their nests,

nnd \Vhen red ants or flying white ants penetrate their gates, the ruler organizes all his own kind into troops to bite and kill the intruders, drive them far away

from the anthill, and prevent foreign interference. Thus he who rules the swarm

rnust have the means to protect it. If, however, a ruler foils to make long-term

plans~ neglects the integrity of his territory, esteems his own person more than the empire, antagonizes co1leagues, creates divisions where none should exist, is driven by suspicion to exercise a repressive control, and wec1kens the central region, then, while he clings desperately to his privileged sb1tus and enjoys the advantages of his position without fulfilling its obligations, disaster strikes and

he is incapable of overcoming it. Confronted with an external menace, he is

unable to stand firm against it. He can neither keep the succession for his own

descendants nor protect his own kind. Such an extinction of the Way of the

true king was what the Spring and Autumn Annals mourned . ... And so, with a mind full of grief and anger, and a heart full of sorrow, I

rectify what went wrong in order to restore the original divisions established by the Yellow Emperor. I look forward eagerly to the advent of an enlightened

ruler, who will restore sovereignty to the country, accomplish its mission, and stabilize its frontiers, and thereby guard the central territory and drive off the

harharians forever. Onee this were accomplished, then though my body may

perish my soul would rejoice.

[Quanshan yishu, Huang shu ia-2b, and fwuxu 1b ~ Ilv1]

In Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 282-286.

61

TAXES AND LABOR SERVICE

From early times the Chinese government imposed taxes and service obligations directly on ordinary households, not going through tax-farmers or other inter- mediaries. Equitable taxation was the goal, and periodic reforms were instituted to rationalize the collection of taxes and make their burdens more even. Reform of labor service obligations was also regularly undertaken from the Tang dynasty on, and generally involved efforts to commute service obligations to cash pay- ments. However, since local officials did not always have the resources to hire workers whenever something needed to be done, time and again they would draft people to serve without pay.

The following essay reveals some of the complaints of the sorts of families who had to bea,· much of the burden of /,roviding taxes and labor service. Middle income families, including the families of lower degree holders, were often heavily burdened, since they did not have the power or privileges of the highest ranking families, nor were they so poor that there was nothing the government could take from them. This essay is specifically concerned with the tax and labor service systems in Song prefectttre (in the modern Shanghai area) in the seventeenth century. The author, Ye Mengzhu, relied on the recollections of old people for some of his evidence but also had personal experience with aspects of the system, having lost his post because of tax arrears in 1661.

TAXES

Our prefecture's taxes are the highest in the country. Suzhou yields more tax income than does the whole province of Jejiang. The land en- compassed by Song prefecture, although only one-third the size of Suzhou, yields half as much tax income as Suzhou. From this one can see that Su and Song prefectures are the most heavily taxed in the whole southeast delta area,

282

and that Song prefecture's taxes are by far the highest.

I have talked with old people about how things were during the Longqing [1567-1572] and Wanli periods (1573-1620], and they all say that at that time local produce was abundant and the people were happy. Officials were not punished for their performance in tax collection, and the common people were not disturbed by tax- prodders. Today our taxes are not much higher

than before, but the officials make strenuous ef- forts to collect them, piling one penalty on top of another for failure to pay, and, since the people are drained of all their riches, their overdue taxes never get paid ....

Throughout the Ming dynasty, officials con- sidered their tax collection accomplished when they had collected eighty percent of the required amount, and the people who paid eighty percent of their taxes were considered law-abiding sub- jects, even those who only paid sixty to seventy percent were considered cooperative. Moreover, because peace had existed for a long time, the reg- ulations had become routine. As there were ex- tensive stores of grain, the tax grain to be shipped out could be reduced in quantity. There were pri- ority expenses that had to be met, such as the sal- aries of government officials, the wages for workers, the expenses for schools, and the allow- ance for the salaried students; but other expenses could be delayed. The yearly repair of government buildings, city walls, and storage structures did not have to be done on time. The alms granaries had to be filled, but not necessarily with the first round of collected tax grain. The yearly rewards for scholars who passed the civil service examina- tion and the traveling expenses for the new can- didates could not be ignored bur they did not have to be given regularly, and the traveling expenses for those on the waiting list could be deferred. The soldiers who defended our cities had to be paid; yet the seasonal display of their training and equipment could be omitted. Other such cases where the expenses might be delayed were innu- merable. So, when sixty or seventy percent of the tax was collected, it was ready to be shipped. When eighty percent was collected, some revenue could even be set aside as savings. In this way, taxes were collected in insralJments and the reve- nue was spent as actual needs arose. Officials were not punished for neglecting their tax collection duties, and the people were not squeezed dry.

Beginning with this dynasty, things changed. In the fifth month of 164 5, an imperial decree was issued to reduce the taxes of the southeast delta area by fifty percent. As a result, local govern-

Taxes and l..abor Service 28 3

ments had to reduce all taxes that could be de- layed and to cut out all but urgent expenses. It was true that, owing to the good intention of the emperor, the yearly taxes, though not quite as low in the reigns of Longqing and Wanli, were much lighter than before. And yet, when non-urgent ex- penses were cut, everything else was absolutely necessary, and officials could no longer balance out by appropriating funds set aside for non- urgent matters to supply immediate needs. Fur- thermore, much of the tax revenue was used to pay the soldiers. Since they had to be paid in full, taxes also had to be paid in full. Consequently, a local official now had to collect one hundred per- cent of the taxes before his duties were fulfilled, and he had to punish those who did not pay the full amount. For this reason, all local officials con- centrated on their tax-collection duties and paid little attention to the welfare of the people.

As to the taxpayers) some were law-abiding, others were defiant. Their fields also varied in quality, as did their yearly harvests .... All these factors made it impossible to obtain a one hun- dred percent tax collection. Moreover, although the tax was lowered, people were accustomed to the old ways and failed to anticipate the conse- quent strict execution of the law, so many contin- ued to owe taxes. As a result, 111any magistrates lost their posts because of their failure to collect all the taxes due. The connty revenue officer usu- ally counted the newly collected tax against the old deficit. The transfer of county officials also caused problems because the new and old magis- trates evaded their responsibilities to each other. Often magistrates had to rent houses and stay near their former post because of unfinished tax business. This situation continued until the last years of Shunzhi [1644-1661], when the prefect of Jiangning was unable to solve the problem and blamed the gentry, the literati, and the govern- ment functionaries. He proposed to the throne that they be punished. The order was first applied to Wuxi county in Zhang and the Jiating county in Su, and then, in the fifth month of 1661 the new tax law was adopted in the four prefectures Su, Song, Zhang, Zhen, and the county of Liyang. It

284 The Qing Dynasty

required an explanation for delayed tax payments and stipulated that the owed amount be paid up by the end of the year.

Now, while it was true that the gentry, literati, and government functionaries did owe taxes, the sum was barely ten percent of the amount owed by the common people. Besides, there were mistakes in the records when the law was first im- plemented. The bookkeepers, who did not com- prehend the seriousness of the matter, only recorded rough figures for the taxes paid by indi- viduals from one day to another. Sometimes a completed payment was erroneously recorded as still outstanding; other times, a small unpaid amount was mistakenly recorded as a large one. Sometimes, the name of the person who had paid up his taxes failed to show up on the record; other times, such a person's name failed to be de.leted from the list of delinquents.

In its· severity, the new law made no distinc~ tion based on how high one's office was or how much or how little tax one owed. All the govern- ment officials on the list of delinquents were to be dismissed from their offices and all the gentry in retirement were to be demoted in rank. Con- sequently, 2,171 local gentry and literati and 11,346 lower degree holders were listed as of- fenders and were scheduled to be dismissed or demoted. At first, it was reported that these of- fenders were to be extradited to the capital to be severely punished, and all hearts pounded. Then it was decided that those who could pay up be- fore the imperial decree arrived could avoid ex- tradition, bringing some relief. But still, hundreds were unable to pay up by that date and were released only if they managed to clear their debts before the scheduled extradition. Those people certainly would not have remained pris- oners if they had had some way out.

Then officials began to collect unpaid taxes for the previous ten years, and the citizens, frightened of the devastating consequences, rushed in to pay, selling their estates at any price. Sometimes, a person would face several deadlines on one day, or would be called upon to appear before several officials. When he tried

to comply with one, he would have to ignore the others. The officers were as fierce as wolves and tigers, and the literati were treated as if they were common criminals. At such moments, the only course for many was to borrow. And yet, the monthly interest was twenty to thirty percent and one day's delay in payment would result in compounded interest .... Consequently, when a person borrowed ten taels of silver, he would only get nine to begin with, and this would be equivalent to little more than eight taels of pure silver. When he brought in the latter amount to the revenue office, it would be regarded as little more than seven taels. If he should fail to meet the deadline for the tax payment, then he might spend more than half of his loan just to appease the tax collectors. One month later, the officers would be out for his blood again, in packs. A person who owned one hundred mu could have his land, his house, his pots and pans, even his children confiscated and still be in debt for the taxes. Fettered by the law and driven by the whip, he would be too desperate to make a wise decision. That is why so many people aban- doned their property and fled to other areas and still congratulated themselves on having pre- served their lives. That was the saddest episode in the history of the tax system.

On the 15th day of the eleventh month of 1662 there was a rumor that all unpaid taxes had to be paid up by the end of that day and those who failed to do so would be exiled to the most deso- late areas of the country. People turned panicky and fought to pay their taxes, so much so that the tax collectors were not able to handle the rush. Later it was discovered to be only a rumor, yet everyone's heart had sunk in fear .... At this time the emperor was young and the state was ruled by four regents who were strict and allowed no ex- ceptions .... The officials Zhang Renan and Ye Fangai were demoted because they both owed one-thousandth of a tael of silver. The county stu- dent Cheng Pijie was dismissed from office be- cause he owed 0.7 of one-thousandth of a tael. From these cases one can see the severity of the law ....

LABOR SERVICE

Our prefecture ranks first not only in land taxes but also in labor service. This phenomenon is not found in any other province or prefecture.

The heaviest duties used to be the "transporta- tion of cloth" and the "northern transportation of rice." At first our county had to supply one person per year to attend to the transportation of doth; later, the number increased to three. Their task was to buy cloth of various colors and qual- ity with state revenue, then ship it to the capital by boat. Each year our county supplied twenty-three persons to undertake the northern transportation of rice. Their task was to select more than 13,000 piculs of fine white rice and glutinous rice and ship itto the capital for the court of imperial entertain- ments to use in supplying the granaries for the officials' salaries. Only the richest people were as- signed such duties. In addition to the northern transportation of rice, there was also a shipment of rice to the south, to Nanjing. For this shipment two persons were assigned each year from our county. Besides these duties there was tax collec- tion. Each year forty-eight persons were drafted for collection of the county revenue-a total of more than 200,000 taels of silver. Another thirty- eight persons were assigned to exchange the ll 0,000 piculs of tax rice for silver and hand it over to the transporters.

All the above duties were categorized as heavy ones and were reassigned and reviewed every five years. Light duties included expediting tax prod- der and hastening tax prodder. These were reas- signed and reviewed every ten years. Only landowners were assigned to them. There was also a public works superintendent responsible for the repair and maintenance of city walls, pub- lic halls, ponds, and waterways, as well as other miscellaneous duties.

When the labor service rules were first imple- mented, there were subsidies for transportation expenses, for loss of rice in refining, and for the cost of labor. Because these were important du- ties, the system was worked out in detail. But it gradually deteriorated so that, for instance, the

Taxes and Labor Si!rl/icu 28.)

people responsible for transportation and deliv- ery were told to collect the taxes themselves. But this was not the worst. These people, because of their service obligations, hecame subject to con- tinual extortion: at home they faced unreasonable demands from the local government headquar- ters; en route they were at the mercy of various local runners and lower government officials; ar- riving in the capital, they became victims of insa- tiable officials from all government departments and often were detained for a whole year without being able to obtain a discharge. Thus, those as- signed to transportation and delivery suffered ex- tremely.

As to those who served as tax collectors, many had to hire bookkeepers and accountants of their own. Others had to deal with powerfol gentry and officials who protected their relatives. These rel.a- tives would underpay or pay in low-qunlity silver, and the rax collectors did not dare to protest. They also had to entertain and present gifts to the con- tinually arriving local functionaries. All these ex- penses, plus having to make up taxes not paid, brought great suffering to the tax collectors.

Those who were assigned the task of grain ex- change, on the other hand, were sometimes even able to make a profit, provided they were shrewd and encountered good times. The reason was that, for each picul of rice, the taxpayer actually had to pay another three pecks of rice to cover wast- age .... After 1646 or 1647, however, the gov- ernment tightened the rules and stipulated that tribute rice would have to be sifted and tossed against the wind before ir could be submitted. Consequently, people began to select good qual- ity rice for taxes. Before it was deposited in the granaries, there were inspectors who carefully ex- amined its quality. If they found unhusked grains, they would punish the exchange workers. As a result, some corrupt practices were eliminated, but exchange workers could be blackmailed by the transporters .... This financial burden, to which were added presents for the officials and other miscellaneous expenses, amounted to a to- tal expenditure which was often twice as much as the value of the rice. Thus, in the end no one per-

286 The Qi11K Dy11,1sty

forming grain exchange duties could escape bank- ruptcy and people began to fear this duty as a trap.

lt was not until l646 that Imperial Inspector Tu Guobao, sensitive to the people's distress, or- dered prefectures and county governments to make detailed studies of the possible simplifica- tion of the three major labor service duries, namely, the transportation of cloth, the northern transportation of rice, and the collection of taxes. He also ordered that the prefecture and county governments take over collection and transporta- tion. As a result, an unnecessary source of waste was eliminated as the heavy labor service duties were terminated ....

Originally the duty of the public works super- intendent was confined to public construc- tion .... Later on, however, local officials and influential gentry began to treat the public works superintendent as a private servant. If a river were located close to a gentry family's graveyard, then the family would order the public works superin- tendent to dredge .it; if a public pond were near their residence, they would dem.and that the pub- lic works superintendent repair it. They would make up various excuses to persuade the local government to grant their requests) and the offi- cials would knowingly comply, thereby establish- ing a sysrem of corruption. Thus, an official might dispatch one hundred workers for a job which re- quired only ten so that the gentry would receive payoffs from people who wished to be exempted from their assigned duty. Should there be no con- struction work, the official would extort twenty to thirty taels of silver from each, on the pretext that they had neglected their duties.

The miscellaneous duties also increased day by day. During the Ming dynasty there were many types of labor service but never any miscellaneous duties, which came into being only after the heavy duties were abolished. Thus, in the early years of

the Shunzhi reign [1644-1661], when the govern· ment was trying to eliminate the Mao pirates, peo- ple were drafted as sailors; when troops were mobilized from other areas, people had to take care of the provisions for the horses; when war• ships were being built, people had to work as drill- ers and wood purchasers. Lacer, when the pirates penetrated inland, people were assigned to build bridges and to place cast iron chains and stock~ ades along the beaches. They also had to repair forts, bonfire platforms, and patrol stations along the coast.

All the common people who were assigned du- ties were filled with fear and resorted to bribing their way OL1t of the assignments. For each dis- trict, it would take from a few dozen to one or two hundred raels to get out of an assignment; yet once a person escaped one, he would immediately be assigned to some other. As a result, tbose who succeeded in getting out of all assignments bank- rupted themselves. And those individuals who did report for their duties were subject to so many ploys that they eventually would end up paying more than those who bribed the officials. Only then would those who had bribed their way out feel that they had gotten their money's worth, and only then would the people who actually served regret that they had not offered bribes in the first place ....

I had a rather wealthy neighbor, Mr. Gu, who used to send his children to study under my in- struction. Later be was ruined by labor service du- ties. He told me that in order to accommodate the runners, he once had to make twenty-four meals in one day. Between 1664 and 1665, he aban- doned his estate and fled. It is not hard to discern why the people all lived in fear!

Translated by Clara Yu