The “Dai Zhi” Philosophy of a Literary Master

In the seventh year of the Chongzhen era (1634), on the eleventh day of the eighth lunar month, Feng Menglong, a legendary scholar from Suzhou in his sixties, crossed numerous mountain ranges to officially assume office as the Magistrate of Shouning County [1-3]. This master of vernacular literature, famous for compiling the “Three Stories” (San Yan), arrived from the prosperous Jiangnan region to the remote and rugged Shouning in eastern Fujian at the age of 61, beginning a four-year chronicle of “grassroots poverty alleviation” [1, 4]. In the early spring of 1637 (the 10th year of Chongzhen), he wrote the preface for his administrative legacy, Shouning Dai Zhi [5]. Feng called his work “Dai Zhi” (A Gazetteer in Waiting) because he believed previous records contained errors and later records were incomplete [5]. Instead of rushing to complete a flawed document, he chose to “wait” for future scholars with better knowledge and perspective [5]. According to his research, Shouning County was established alongside Jingning, Taishun, and Qingyuan in the seventh year of the Jingtai era (1456), a quartet known as “Jingtai Qing Shou” [6]. In the 45 years preceding his arrival (from Wanli to Chongzhen), the county saw 15 magistrates, many of whom were frustrated by local constraints and limited promotion prospects [7]. In this remote jurisdiction, he recorded the urgencies of the times, the purity of customs, and the economic conditions of the people, driven by a sense of responsibility where he “dared not fail to record” [5].

Fiscal Burden and Reform: A Grassroots Stalemate

Upon taking office, Feng faced an extremely heavy tax burden in Shouning. The original tax quota was 4,800 piculs of grain, with adult male taxes (Ding Liang) accounting for nearly half [8]. Each male was required to pay approximately 0.43 taels of silver, while females paid 0.013 taels, putting immense pressure on household labor [8]. Worse still, since the 20th year of the Wanli era, numerous imperial surcharges had pushed grassroots finances to the brink of collapse [8]. He meticulously documented these surcharges in Dai Zhi: 316.49 taels added in Chongzhen 1 (1628) for Liaodong military defense; and another 113.42 taels added in Chongzhen 4 (1631) due to advance tax collection, totaling 421.99 taels [9]. Combined with additional rents and temple taxes, the total amount to be remitted to the higher government surged from the original 1,600 taels to over 3,300 taels [8, 9]. Confronted with a scenario where “the people have no surplus and the treasury has no reserves,” Feng had to be incredibly frugal [8]. He cut unnecessary expenditures to support the military, such as deducting 4 taels from warehouse guard wages and even 2 taels from sacrificial ceremony budgets [9]. In 1636, he led by example, donating one month of his own salary—1.125 taels—while other local officials contributed similar amounts to demonstrate solidarity with the suffering populace [10].

Tigers and Militia: Securing a Remote Mountain Outpost

Located deep within the mountains, Shouning faced dual threats from bandits and wild animals. The county seat was shaped like “the bottom of a cauldron,” and its walls, destroyed by pirates during the Wanli era, were in a state of collapse, leaving the four gates defenseless [6]. Upon arrival, Feng petitioned for the use of fines and forfeited salaries to rebuild the four gate towers (Qiaolou) and repair the broken sections of the wall [6]. He also restored the East Dam (Dongba) for water storage and installed a large drum at the gatehouse, staffed by a watchman, to provide basic security infrastructure [6]. In terms of public order, the county’s militia had been reduced from 200 to 100 by 1630 due to funding shifts, with only 36 men actually available for duty [11]. Feng hired one head teacher and two assistants to intensify training and implemented strict rewards and punishments [11]. Regarding the severe tiger problem, Feng’s investigation suggested that the infestation had worsened as the city gates fell into disrepair [12]. He designed a specialized trapping house and used his own funds to build several units, placing them in tiger-prone areas [12]. He offered a reward of 3 taels of gold per tiger killed [12]. Within half a year, three tigers were killed in Hou Shan, Xitou, and Pingxi, effectively ending the threat [12]. He noted with irony that after the towers were rebuilt, the tigers were “trapped,” suggesting a link between physical and spiritual order [12].

Social Reform: The Edict against Infanticide

As a scholar with profound humanistic values, Feng Menglong moved decisively to abolish harmful local customs. His most famous reform was the Proclamation against Drowning Girls [13]. He asked poignantly in the edict: “A mother carries a child for ten months and suffers greatly; regardless of gender, it is one’s own blood. How can anyone bear to drown it?” [13]. He established harsh penalties: any man caught drowning or abandoning a female infant would receive 30 strokes of the heavy bamboo and be placed in a wooden collar (Cangue) for a month [13]. To encourage compliance, he rewarded those who reported such crimes with 0.5 taels and provided a 0.3-tael subsidy to poor families who adopted abandoned infants, celebrating their virtue with official certificates [13]. In education, Feng faced a “cultural desert” where no local had passed the higher imperial exams since the county’s founding [14]. The local school had only 150 students scattered across villages, and even book peddlers avoided the area [2, 14]. Feng established monthly assessments and distributed his own work, Si Shu Zhi Yue (Pointing to the Moon in the Four Books), to provide guidance on the classics [14]. He often found himself personally editing the sloppy official documents of his unlearned clerks, a task he performed with great patience [14]. Through these efforts, he sought to plant the seeds of civilization in a barren landscape.

Literary Legacy: The Humanistic Tint of an Official’s Life

Amidst heavy administrative duties, Feng Menglong remained a sensitive and warm-hearted writer. On the day after he took office in 1634, he observed golden clouds shaped like lotuses turning into red mist, which inspired him to write the poem “Recording the Clouds,” predicting a bountiful year: “No need to consult the Grand Historian; the auspicious aura heralds a good harvest” [3]. Though the harvest faltered the following year, the spring of 1636 saw the mountains of Shouning covered in “bamboo rice”—seeds shaped like wheat—which saved thousands of starving people [3]. He recorded this in his gazetteer as a sign of heaven’s mercy on the poor county [3]. He also penned the poem “Pressing for Taxes,” expressing deep sorrow for the peasants who had to “grind unripe early rice and sell their orphaned grandsons” to pay taxes [15]. He lamented, “Tax collection is not my path, yet I serve the Emperor in a time of crisis,” highlighting the struggle between bureaucratic duty and human conscience [15]. These governance practices and literary reflections provide a vivid picture of Ming Dynasty grassroots society, ensuring that Feng Menglong is remembered not only as a literary giant but also as a pragmatic and compassionate official who left an indelible mark on the history of Shouning [4, 5].

Geographic Connections

  • County/Cities: Shouning County, Fu’an County, Ningde County, Zhenghe County, Taishun County (Zhejiang), Jingning County, Qingyuan County [6, 9].
  • Townships/Forts: Xiaodong Fort, Nanyang Fort, Nanxi Fort, Dayang Fort, Yuxi, Pingxi, Houshan, Xitou [12, 16, 17].
  • Passes/Landmarks: Dabao Pit (11th Du), Shenku, Qianyang, Sanding Bridge, Sizhou Bridge, East Dam, West Gate, South Gate, North Guan [6, 12, 17].

Reference List

[18] Shouning Dai Zhi · Narrated by Magistrate Feng Menglong · Volume I [5] [19] Shouning Dai Zhi · Boundaries · Fortifications · Land [6, 20] [21] Shouning Dai Zhi · Population · Taxation [8, 15] [22] Shouning Dai Zhi · Surcharges · Maintenance Rents · Deductions [9, 10, 23] [24] Shouning Dai Zhi · Militia · Post Stations [11, 17] [25] Shouning Dai Zhi · Proclamation against Drowning Girls [13] [26] Shouning Dai Zhi · Officials · Biographies of Magistrate Dai Tang et al. [2, 7] [27] Shouning Dai Zhi · Volume II · Recording the Clouds · Bamboo Rice [3, 12] [28] Gazetteer of Funing Prefecture (Wanli Edition) · Preface [29] [30] Gazetteer of Fuzhou Prefecture (Vols 1-2) · Officials · Single Whip Law [31]