A Study on the Case of the forgery of an Official Document
in the 18th Century China
This study focuses on the case of the forgery of an official document in the middle 18th century, and discusses the contents and form of the document, and its n ...
A Study on the Case of the forgery of an Official Document
in the 18th Century China
This study focuses on the case of the forgery of an official document in the middle 18th century, and discusses the contents and form of the document, and its network of distribution as well.
In early 1750's, a mysterious fake draft was circulated nationwide in China. It was disguised as a petition of appeal(上奏文shangzouwen) to the Emperor, forged as authored by the name of Sun, Jiagan(孫嘉淦). This document contained many comments on every last political faults committed by the Emperor Qianlong(乾隆帝). The royal tour to south(Jiangnan District江南) and harsh treatments to high-class officials, made by the Emperor Qianlong, were typical examples of the criticism.
Up to recent research, this case was characterized by a simple case of notorious 'Literary Inquisition(文字獄), often occurred in the Qianlong reign(1735-1795). But, there were many remaining obscurities with the document forger and his intention. Why the anonymous forger or forgers choose Sun, Jiagan Also, why this fake draft distributed such a large scale
This case calls for more attention of historical researchers, and should be understood differently, considering two factors at least. Firstly, the document was forged intentionally, and secondly, it was circulated on nationwide scale. This paper studies contents of the document, and social environment which induced the circulation of the document in such a large scale.
In the early modern period of China, there were strong requirements of political information among whole society. Sun, Jiagan never wanted to be a political hero, but his early reputation of 'justice and righteousness' never faded away among people. The anonymous forger wanted to express his political opinion in the name of Sun Jiagan and so many people wanted that kind of information. The fake draft was circulated almost all sphere of Ching Dynasty, by means of official document delivery system. Emperor Qianlong regarded it as a real evidence of crisis, and he tightened restriction over the whole communication system of the society.