1. Hai Rui, courtesy name Ru Xian, art name Gang Feng, was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Ming dynasty, remembered as a model of honesty and integrity in office.
15 Facts About Hai Rui
1. 2.
Hai Rui's father died when he was three, and he was raised by his Muslim mother.
3.
Hai Rui's great-great-grandfather was an Arab named Hai Da-er, and his mother was from a Muslim family with ancestry that originated from the Indian subcontinent.
4.
Hai Rui took the Imperial examination but was unsuccessful, and his official career only began in 1553, when he was 39, with a humble position as clerk of education in Fujian.
5.
Hai Rui gained a reputation for his uncompromising adherence to upright morality, scrupulous honesty, poverty, and fairness.
6.
Hai Rui was released after the Emperor died in early 1567.
7.
Hai Rui was reappointed as a minor official serving at South Zhili under the Longqing Emperor, son and heir of Jiajing Emperor, but was forced to resign in 1570 after complaints were made over his overzealous handling of land-tenure issues.
8.
Hai Rui devoted considerable time to investigate these cases, pressing for the lands' return to their previous owners, but was in turn accused by officials of violating procedures and encouraging frivolous complaints and impeached by Tai Feng-Hsiang, a supervising secretary.
9.
Hai Rui was promoted to censor-in-chief of Nanjing in 1586, but died in office a year later.
10.
In 1959, writer and scholar Wu Han became interested in the life of Hai Rui, and wrote several articles on his life and his fearless criticism of the emperor.
11.
Hai Rui then wrote a play for Peking Opera titled "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office", which he revised several times before the final version of 1961.
12.
Wu's play was interpreted by the Gang of Four member Yao Wenyuan as an allegorical work, in which the honest, moral official Hai Rui represented the disgraced Chinese communist marshal Peng Dehuai, who was purged by Mao after criticizing him as corrupt.
13.
The November 10,1965, article in a prominent Shanghai newspaper, "A Criticism of the Historical Drama 'Hai Rui Dismissed From Office'", written by Yao, began a propaganda campaign that eventually led to the Cultural Revolution.
14.
Yao's campaign led to the persecution and death of Wu Han, as well as others involved in related works, such as Zhou Xinfang for his opera Hai Rui Submits His Memorial.
15.
Hai Rui asserts that Hai, 'despite a hundred setbacks, still continued the struggle to build a socialist society.