| Yi Xing County was under the control of Changzhou Prefecture in Ming dynasty and borders on counties like Chang xing, Wu Jin, Li Yang, Jin Tan, and etc. People in the county grew rice and tee trees in low-lying paddy fields surrounded with dykes in accordance with its mountainous landscape and interconnected rivers. In the late Ming Dynasty, the county underwent frequent natural disasters with 15 natural disasters in 24 years. Since rice growing depends on good weather, bad weather results in pin Ming Dynasty, people in the southern regions of the Yangtze River were forced to labor and pay heavier taxes. Located in the southern region of the Yangtze River, people in Yi Xing shouldered heavy taxes, oor harvests.In Ming Dynasty, people in the southern regions of the Yangtze River were forced to labor and pay heavier taxes. Located in the southern region of the Yangtze River, people in Yi Xing shouldered heavy taxes. In the middle-late Ming dynasty, imperial examinations became very popular, and the number of students and teachers rapidly increased, which outnumbered that in Yuan dynasty and early Ming Dynasty horizontally as well as other counties like Jiang Yin and li Yang transversely.These students and teachers can exempt from certain taxes and corvee. They made use of this benefit to occupy a great amount of lands, which brought heavier corvee to the common people. In this way, the contradiction between the people and land became increasingly glaring.After the rule of Zheng De Emperor(1506-1521) and Jia Jing Emperor (1522-1566), extravagant lifestyle became popular in the southern regions of the Yangtze River, pushing the living cost beyond common people’s reach. In order to survive or escape from corvee, people seek refuge with the squires. The squires tried to attract more people for sake of greater benefits. Gradually, the common people descended to servants or became tenants.In the Ming Dynasty, there were many prominent families in Yi Xing, including the Chen Family in the Bo Village. From Chen Yijiao, the Chen XII, to Chen Yutai and Chen Yuding, all the three had become successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations. This made the family outstanding among others. The Chen Family occupied a great amount of land by marrying other prominent figures, making friends with rich people and officials.In order to manage the lands, the family began to accumulate more servants to help them levy taxes and collect grains. With much wealth and power, they lived a extravagant life.Among these servants, there were cunning ones like Zhou Wenrang. These servants rely on the master’s might to bully innocent people by the way of cheat and blackmail. This posed great threat to common people’s lands and life, leading to the breakout of mass.In the first lunar month of 1633, Zhou Wenrang and Zhang Rui, causing discontent among local tenants and finally leading to a mass. uprising.The first uprising spread widely, Chen Shi and others burned many houses of Chen Yijiao and plundered family properties of some common people, bring about mobs in counties like Wu Jin and Jin Tan.People joined the uprising were from different social sectors. At the beginning, tenants played a major role in the uprising, however, many gangsters and hatchet men joined in later.The uprising caused uproar in the imperial government. The government sent Qi Biaojia and Xu Shiyin to put down the uprising so that it could not spread quickly. Jiang Ying and Shi Que took resolute measures to capture the servants and others who caused the uprising, and punished them accordingly. They also accepted local cases of appeal and compensated the victims.The second uprising happened in 1634, which was a small one and had little to do with the first one. A man named Hu Cai from HuZhou rent a house of Zhou Yanru. He fled away after he could not repay for the burned house. He encountered people escaped from the first uprising, who held a grudge against Zhou Yanru and seek revenge on him.After discussion, they grouped to rob Zhou’s ancestral grave, but failed and were captured. The event had a great influence since the former Prime Minister Zhou Yanru was involved in.The two uprisings happened in the Chongzhen year of Ming dynasty(1628-1644) are different. To some extent, the first one is legitimate, it is an event that led by common people to fight against the bully. The second one causes a little damage, however, it has some impact on local squires.Based on the historical records, the job titles of several officials, such as Qi Biaojia and Zhou Yanru, had changed.Through textual research, due to the uprising, the magistrate of Yi Xing county was dismissed and Chen Yutai and Chen Yuding retired. However, other officials changed their job titles for other reasons, though people thought otherwise at that time.Chen Yijiao and his sons got poor images due to this uprising and their surrender to the Qing Dynasty.By referring to The Book of Family Chen’s history and other historical records, it is found that the images of the three has been distorted and information about them has been omitted deliberately. This paper discusses the real images of the three person.Zhou Yanru is listed on the Biography of Treacherous Court Official because of corruption, nepotism, and etc.By analyzing the historical records, it is found that this not only has something to do himself, but a result delivered by the Qing Dynasty.In conclusion, the Yi Xing uprising happened occasionally and consequently. It reflects the social landscape and contradictions of Yi Xing then, and its result displays that local government’s ability to handle this kind of event and to solve the problem properly. |
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