Ting Cheung practice page

During the Qing dynasty, the operation and development of imperial power has attracted much scholarly attention. The operation and influence of imperial power at both the central and local levels, and the interaction between the two, are diverse and complex topics to study. The court of Qian Mingshi, which occurred in the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign, is a political case that has received less scholarly attention in the past. Emperor Yongzheng deliberately labelled Qian Mingshi as a ‘Sinner of the Confucianism’ and ordered the central officials to write poems to criticise him. During this process, the interaction between the imperial power and the central officials is significantly illustrated. However, when it came to local communities, the local intellectuals, including local elites who were not in the government or the officials sent to local areas, responded to imperial power in very different ways, which reflects the fact that imperial power extended to local communities not only with the cooperation of collaborators but also with resistance. The multiplicity of attitudes displayed by the local communities in response to imperial power further proved that even living in the repressive political atmosphere; local communities were still able to indirectly raise their voices against imperial power.

A Collection of Poems criticised Qian Mingshi.

The Emperor Yongzheng ordered the officials in the central government to write poems to insult Qian Mingshi. This was also considered as a method of terror ruling  to intimidate the officials to show their loyalty.

Local gazetteers.

Imperial China had a rich source of local gazetteers. The local gazetteers were usually edited by officials and local gentries which could reflect the attitude and will of local communities. After the court of Qian Mingshi, many local gazetteers recorded that the local schools collected the Collection of Poems criticised Qian Mingshi as Emperor Yongzheng's edict required. However, the local gazetteers of  birthplace of Qian Mingshi, Wujin, provided a different voice from the local community that the gentries kept connection with Qian Mingshi although Emperor Yongzheng ordered people not to interact with Qian Mingshi.