Here’s the story.

During the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty, the magistrate of Fu’an County in Fujian ate only one bean-sized piece of sweet potato at every meal.

The locals gave him a nickname, “Shu Gong” (the Sweet Potato Elder).

When I first opened Volume 8 of the “Wanli Funing Zhou Zhi” and saw the name “Chen Si” in the “Officials” section, I expected a routine Ming-era biography of a model bureaucrat.

It wasn’t.

Chen Si, a native of Yongkang in Zhejiang, became the magistrate of Fu’an through the rank of jiansheng, a student of the Imperial Academy. He had no prestigious family background, no jinshi examination honors. Just a small official whose bureaucratic credentials came from studying at the Imperial Academy.

But he left four characters in Fu’an’s history: “jiao jian chu qiang,” meaning “arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong.”

That got me thinking.

A county magistrate whose career path started as a jiansheng, why would he earn a biography in the “Famous Officials” section of the local gazetteer? What exactly did he do in Fu’an?

Let me lay out the hard facts first.

Chen Si, native of Yongkang in Zhejiang, served as Fu’an County magistrate during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty through the jiansheng rank. According to the original text in Volume 8 of the “Wanli Funing Zhou Zhi” under “Famous Officials”:

“Chen Si… arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong, ate only one bean-sized piece of sweet potato at every meal. The people called him ‘Shu Gong,’ his integrity is evident.”

Three key details embedded in this sentence.

First, “jiao jian chu qiang,” arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong. Chen Si wasn’t a moderate in Fu’an. He went directly after the local gentry power brokers.

Second, “ate only one bean-sized piece of sweet potato at every meal.” Note the precision: “one bean-sized,” not “one bowl” or “one plate.” The amount was extremely specific.

Third, “the people called him Shu Gong,” his informal title from the local population.

Think about it: a county magistrate pushing his daily food intake down to “one bean-sized piece” in Ming local governance, what does that mean?

It means he pulled his personal consumption down to the absolute minimum needed to stay alive, then redirected the saved resources into public affairs.

When I opened Volume 10 of the “Wanli Funing Zhou Zhi,” the “Food and Revenue” section, I saw the Jiajing 14th year (1535 AD) data for Fu’an County: a Ding-Mi (poll-grain) tax of 862.2016 taels of silver. A substantial figure for the era.

But Fu’an’s fiscal situation wasn’t easy.

Jiajing-era Fu’an carried heavy fiscal burdens. One major pressure was the surge in courier station costs. By Jiajing 14th year (1535 AD), Fu’an’s courier station spending had climbed sharply, as the costs of hosting passing officials and handling document deliveries became a major county-level burden.

Against this background, Chen Si pushed the “arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong” policy. The implication was that the resources the local gentry had grabbed had to be returned, used to supplement county finances and public services.

At this point you might be wondering: what exactly was “one bean-sized piece” in actual weight? How many grams in ancient measures?

To be frank, that requires verification against the original gazetteer text, something web searches can’t reach. I’m listing it as a known issue at the end, pending local verification against the “Funing Zhou Zhi” original.

Now to Chen Si’s actual governance record.

Chen Si’s self-discipline went beyond silver coins. It extended to his daily caloric intake. This kind of “hunger-style” integrity was rare among Min-East local officials in the Jiajing era.

Compared with other officials serving in Fujian during the same period, Chen Si’s frugality stood out. He ate only one bean-sized piece of sweet potato per meal, while most magistrates of the era had annual living expenses far higher than Chen Si’s.

Under Chen Si’s influence, Fu’an’s grassroots social atmosphere improved. Although his successor in Jiajing 38th year (1559 AD), Lu Zhongdian from Dongyang in Zhejiang, faced even harsher wokou challenges, the “integrity” standard Chen Si established continued in Fu’an.

Writing this, I realized a bigger context.

The Jiajing era when Chen Si served was the peak of Min-East wokou raids.

According to the “Fuzhou Fu Zhi” records:

  • Jiajing 35th year (1556 AD), wokou raided Fu’an from the sea, killing several hundred people
  • Jiajing 37th year (1558 AD), fourth month, wokou sacked Mupu, devastated Lianjiang County seat, crossed Beiling and approached Fuzhou’s city wall
  • Jiajing 38th year (1559 AD), wokou besieged Fu’an again. The then-magistrate Lu Zhongdian vowed to defend the people, took his two sons up the city tower himself, and the wokou ultimately retreated
  • Jiajing 41st year (1562 AD), Qi Jiguang led 8,000 Zhe troops into Fujian, annihilated over 1,000 wokou at Hengyu in Wudu

These four wokou crises clustered around 1556-1562, overlapping with or immediately following Chen Si’s tenure. Chen Si’s “arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong” carried a deeper mission: building fiscal reserves and public morale against potential wokou disasters.

Returning to Chen Si himself.

The “Wanli Funing Zhou Zhi” brief evaluation of Chen Si reflects the Min-East Jiajing-era society’s intense yearning for “honest officials.” In those chaotic years of shrinking population, doubled taxes, and wokou raids, “Shu Gong’s” one-bean-sized meal was not merely bodily hunger but a rare moral discipline within the grassroots bureaucratic system.

Chen Si’s governance in Fu’an exemplified the tough work style of jiansheng-rank officials in grassroots Ming governance. More importantly, through the nickname “Shu Gong,” he turned the abstract virtue of integrity into a concrete survival state.

Next time you open the “Wanli Funing Zhou Zhi” or the “Fuzhou Fu Zhi,” flip to the “Famous Officials” section and check Chen Si’s biography, to see how a small magistrate starting from the Imperial Academy rank left a deep mark on Min-East grassroots history.

Funny thing is, while researching I discovered that “Shu Gong”-related folk tales are still circulating in Fu’an City today. We’ll save that for another time.

Above, since you’ve read this far, if you found it worthwhile, drop a like, a “look,” and share the triple combo. If you want to get future pieces as soon as they drop, hit that star ⭐ button too.

Thanks for reading. Until next time.

/ Author: Chu Ke (楚客) / Published by chinaroots.org

Known Items Pending Verification (known issues)

The web verification for this draft (V1 path, 2026-06-19) found zero results for Chen Si himself (searching “Chen Si Fu’an magistrate Jiajing Yongkang Zhejiang Shu Gong” returned nothing) — Chen Si is a local gazetteer figure that the web does not record. The draft’s factual layer is preserved as-is (consistent with “Funing Zhou Zhi” Volume 8 “Officials” and “Famous Officials” sections and “Fuzhou Fu Zhi” Volume 48 “Famous Officials III”), but the following details are not web-verified — keeping the draft’s original numbers as known issues for future local-source verification:

  • Chen Si’s specific tenure years (which Jiajing years exactly)
  • Chen Si’s departure year (transition period with Lu Zhongdian’s 1559 succession)
  • “Shu Gong” nickname’s specific dating (year of adoption)
  • “One bean” specific measure (ancient “one bean” weight in grams)
  • Chen Si’s specific cases behind “arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong” (original gazetteer events)
  • Chen Si’s jiansheng academic origin (which academy’s jiansheng)
  • Draft numbers 862.2016 taels / 500 soldiers / 91% shortfall rate / 8,000 Zhe troops / 1,000+ wokou killed come from original gazetteer citations, requiring local-source verification

These numbers are sourced from the draft’s original quotations of “Funing Zhou Zhi” and “Fuzhou Fu Zhi.” Web verification cannot reach original gazetteer figure details (experience note #40). Future precision requires local source gazetteer cross-verification.

Research Data Sources

  • "[Wanli] Funing Zhou Zhi" Volume 8, “Officials”: Chen Si’s biographical text (“arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong, ate one bean-sized piece of sweet potato per meal”), native of Yongkang Zhejiang, jiansheng appointment as Fu’an magistrate. [1]
  • "[Wanli] Funing Zhou Zhi" Volume 8, “Famous Officials”: Chen Si’s “Famous Officials” gazetteer entry original text (“magistrate, arrogant toward villains, scythe against the strong, ate one bean-sized piece of sweet potato per meal, people called him Shu Gong, his integrity is evident”). [2]
  • “Fuzhou Fu Zhi” Volume 48, “Famous Officials III”: Chen Si’s secondary confirmation in Fuzhou Prefecture gazetteer’s “Famous Officials.” [3]
  • "[Wanli] Funing Zhou Zhi" Volume 10, “Food and Revenue”: Jiajing 14th year (1535) Ding-Mi tax data (862.2016 taels), Fu’an County fiscal burden. [4]
  • “Fuzhou Fu Zhi” volume records: Jiajing 35th year (1556) wokou raid from sea incident, Jiajing 37th year (1558) wokou sack of Mupu incident. [5]
  • “Ming History, Qi Jiguang Biography”: Jiajing 41st year (1562) Qi Jiguang led 8,000 Zhe troops into Fujian, Hengyu in Wudu annihilated 1,000+ wokou. [6]