Zuo Guangdou (12 October 1575 – 26 August 1625) was a prominent

censorate The Censorate was a high-level supervisory agency in Imperial China, first established during the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). The Censorate was a highly effective agency during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). During the M ...

official in the early 17th century. He detained hundreds of fake officials and confiscated hundreds of fake seals. His main rival was

Wei Zhongxian Wei Zhongxian (1568 – December 12, 1627), born Wei Si (魏四), was a Chinese court eunuch who lived in the late Ming dynasty. As a eunuch he used the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). He is considered by most historians as the most notorious eunuc ...

Biography

On 12 October 1575, Zuo Guangdou was born in

Tongcheng, Anhui Tongcheng () is a county-level city and former county in the southwest of Anhui province and is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Anqing. Its population is and its area is . Tongcheng is noted for the Tongcheng School. Admi ...

. He was named Guangdou because his birthday coincided with the god

Doumu Dǒumǔ (), also known as Dǒumǔ Yuánjūn ( "Lady Mother of the Chariot"), Dòulǎo Yuánjūn ( "Lady Ancestress of the Chariot") and Tàiyī Yuánjūn ( "Lady of the Great One"), is a goddess in Chinese religion and Taoism. She is also named ...

's birthdate. In 1607, he and Yang Lian both became censors for the censorate. After Zuo finished his investigations, seventy fake seals were confiscated while he detained one-hundred fake officials. After the

Taichang Emperor The Taichang Emperor (; 28 August 1582 – 26 September 1620), personal name Zhu Changluo (), was the 15th Emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was the eldest son of the Wanli Emperor and succeeded his father as emperor in 1620. However, his reign c ...

died,

forced Zuo and Yang to moved into the Renshou palace. Tensions grew between the eunuchs and the

Donglin movement The Donglin movement () was an ideological and philosophical movement of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties of China. The movement was established in 1604, during the Wanli era of Ming, when Gu Xiancheng (1550–1612), a Grand Secretary, and ...

faction, whose head was Yang. He was promoted to the Left Minister of the

Court of Judicature and Revision The Court of Judicature and Revision, also known as the Court of Judicial Review, was a central government agency in several imperial Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese. From the Chinese, the system was also studied and implemented by List of V ...

on March, 1623. In 1624, Zuo Guangdou was promoted to the Left Minister of the

Censorate The Censorate was a high-level supervisory agency in Imperial China, first established during the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). The Censorate was a highly effective agency during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). During the M ...

Against Wei Zhongxian

When Wei Zhongxian started to become a dictator in June of the same year, Yang Lian exposed Wei's twenty-four crimes and said that Wei should be put to death by

Lingchi ''Lingchi'' (; ), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE up until the practice ended aro ...

. Zuo Guangdou as well as more than seventy others supported Wei's impeachment. Along with them came another thirty-two crimes that were exposed. However, the Tianqi Emperor dismissed the accusations. On 25 April 1625, Wei Zhongxian countered with false accusations. He stated that six members of the Donglin faction, including Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, had excepted bribes from Xiong Tingbi. The Wei faction tortured Donglin faction's Wang Wenyan into admitting that they had accepted bribes. Wei ruled that Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou had twenty thousand stolen goods while Wei Dazhong had three thousand. This led to the imprisonment of Yang, Zuo, and four other members of the Donglin faction. They suffered five days of continuous torture.

Shi Kefa Shi Kefa (4 February 1601 – 20 May 1645), courtesy names Xianzhi and Daolin, was a government official and calligrapher who lived in the late Ming dynasty. He was born in Xiangfu (祥符; present-day Kaifeng, Henan) and claimed ancestry from D ...

, a disciple of Zuo, sneaked into the prison to visit his master. He said Zuo "was no longer in human form." Eventually, all six of them died by the tortured, with Zuo dying on 26 August 1625.

Posthumous Honors

After the death of the Tianqi Emperor, the

Chongzhen Emperor The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源)，''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...

posthumously awarded the titles of "Right Minister of the Censorate"() and "Assistant Protector of the Crown Prince" (). One of his sons was also accepted as an official. The

Hongguang Emperor The Hongguang Emperor (; 1607–1646), personal name Zhu Yousong (), childhood nickname Fuba (福八), was the first emperor of the Chinese Southern Ming dynasty. He reigned briefly in southern China from 1644 to 1645. His era name, ''Hongguang'', ...

gave Zuo the posthumous title "Duke of Zhongyi" ().

In Popular Culture

* '' A General, a Scholar, and a Eunuch'' is a 2017 Hong Kong science fiction drama show. Zuo Guangdou is played by Raymond Cho and is one of the protagonists. He is the "Scholar." * ''

Baifa Monü Zhuan ''Baifa Monü Zhuan'' is a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng. It was serialised between 5 August 1957 and 10 December 1958 in the Hong Kong newspaper ''Sin Wun Pao''. It is closely related to ''Qijian Xia Tianshan'' and '' Saiwai Qixia Zhuan''. The no ...

'' is a wuxia novel by

Liang Yusheng Chen Wentong (5 April 1924 – 22 January 2009), better known by his pen name Liang Yusheng, was a Chinese writer. Credited as the pioneer of the "New School" (新派) of the ''wuxia'' genre in the 20th century, Chen was one of the best known ...

. Zuo Guangdou is a minor character who is a censorate official who is murdered by Wei Zhongxian's men.

References

Bibliography

*Zhang Tingyu (1739). "Volume 244". ''History of the Ming Dynasty ()''. Qing Dynasty. *"Volume 2". ''Beilue of the Ming Dunasty ()''. *Zuo Zaizhuan; Ma Qichang. "Volume 1". ''The Chronicles of Zuo, Duke of Zhongyi ()''. Qing Dynasty. *Fang Bao. ''Zuo, Duke of Zhongyi's Anecdote ()''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuo, Guangdou 1575 births 1625 deaths Ming dynasty politicians Ancient Chinese censors People from Tongcheng, Anhui Chinese torture victims Donglin partisans