Xie Jin and the Yongle Encyclopedia: The Pinnacle and Tragedy of a Jishui Prodigy
Xie Jin (1369—1415), styled Dashen, art-name Chunyu, was born in Jishui County, Jiangxi Province—a region known as the “Land of Literary Integrity and Righteousness” (文章节义之邦), which produced 552 jinshi (进士, successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) and 6 zhuangyuan (状元, top scorers) from the Tang to Qing dynasties [1]. Coming from a distinguished Jishui family—his father Xie Kai (解开, 1312—1398) served as a county school official and authored the 40-volume Shu Jie Wen Ji [4]—Xie Jin displayed extraordinary talent from childhood. At 5 he could recite texts after a single reading; at 7 he composed poetry already with “old composure” (老成语); at 10 he memorized thousands of words daily and retained them for life; and at 13 he had mastered the Four Books and the entire Confucian canon [2]. ...