The Case of Lü Liuliang and Zeng Jing

In 1728, Zeng Jing, a scholar influenced by the anti-Manchu writings of the late Ming-loyalist thinker Lü Liuliang, dispatched his student Zhang Xi to deliver a seditious letter to General Yue Zhongqi, urging rebellion against the Qing Dynasty. Yue immediately reported the plot. Emperor Yongzheng traced the ideological roots to Lü Liuliang's works, igniting a massive literary inquisition. Although the principal conspirator Zeng Jing was surprisingly pardoned as a political gesture to demonstrate imperial benevolence, the deceased Lü Liuliang suffered posthumous dismemberment and his descendants were executed or exiled. The case prompted Yongzheng to publish the "Dayi Juemi Lu" to publicly defend his legitimacy. However, upon ascending the throne, Emperor Qianlong immediately reversed the verdict, executed Zeng Jing, and banned the publication.

Lü Liuliang was posthumously mutilated, his works systematically burned, and his male descendants executed or banished into slavery. Zeng Jing and Zhang Xi were originally pardoned by the Yongzheng Emperor. However, in 1735, immediately after his coronation, the Qianlong Emperor defied his father’s ruling, arresting and executing Zeng Jing and Zhang Xi by slow slicing. The "Dayi Juemi Lu" was also prohibited nationwide.

The central controversy lies in the extreme punishment of a dead man for ideological influence while the living instigator was initially pardoned. It highlights the arbitrary nature of imperial justice and the conflict between using severe corporal punishment versus moral persuasion to control political thought. The case raises fundamental questions about the criminalization of ideas and the retroactive application of treason laws.

The case marked a severe intensification of the Qing Dynasty's literary inquisition, fostering a climate of terror and widespread self-censorship among the Han literati. It consolidated absolute imperial power over judicial processes and historical narratives. The reversal of the verdict by Qianlong underscored the deep contradictions in the Qing regime's legitimation strategy, deterring political dissent by demonstrating that even an imperial pardon for ideological crimes was fatally revocable.