Ming Dynasty

In 1517, Lin Zhao’en was born into an elite family in Putian. His grandfather, Lin Fu (1474-1544), earned his Jinshi degree in 1502 and rose to become the Vice Minister of War and Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi. Lin was a child prodigy, passing the local civil service exam to become a Xiucai at age 15 in 1532. However, a pivotal shift occurred in 1546. At age 30, frustrated by his failure in higher-level imperial examinations and disillusioned by the rigid Neo-Confucianism of the time, he burned his scholar’s robes and abandoned the traditional career path. He turned his focus to Buddhist metaphysics and Taoist longevity practices, seeking truth outside the Confucian canon. ...

Did you know that some counties in Fujian were literally “pieced together” from scraps of their neighbors? Not just one. In the mountains of central Fujian during the Ming Dynasty, at least three counties were carved out—cut from the flesh of a “mother county,” stitched together at the borders, and stamped with a new name. The deepest cut went into Youxi County. Established in 741 AD during the Tang Dynasty, Youxi covered over 3,400 square kilometers in the early Ming—more than twice the size of modern-day Xiamen. But in 1452 and 1535, the imperial court took a knife to it: first slicing off four districts (Du) to create Yongan, then carving out another twelve to create Datian. ...

Background: The Ancestor of Fujianese Literature The Bamin Tongzhi (General Gazetteer of the Eight Min Prefectures) was completed in 1489 (the 2nd year of the Hongzhi Emperor) by the renowned Ming scholar Huang Zhongzhao [1, 2]. Prior to this, although Fujian had local documents such as Minzhong Ji and Sanshan Zhi, most had been lost or were limited to specific regions [2]. During the Ming Dynasty, Fujian governed eight prefectures (Fu): Fuzhou, Jianning, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Tingzhou, Yanping, Shaowu, and Xinghua, hence the name “Bamin” [3]. ...