Selections from the Annals: Late Ming and Early Qing

Scope and method

This selection takes the late Ming and early Qing part of the annalistic volume, from the building of a pagoda in 1606 to the imperial order of 1658 commuting the grain tax. The dates in this stretch cross the Ming-Qing transition, and the gazetteer's wording changes with them: the Ming years are given by era name, while the Qing years are prefixed "Great Qing".

The method is that of the four preceding selections: a list of entries first, then six reproduced in full with notes. The six chosen here follow the thread of the grain tax commutation, with one entry from the change of dynasty.

List of entries

Date	Subject
34th year of the Wanli era (1606)	A band of red light in the northwestern corner of the town on the second night of the first month; the magistrate Xu Liangyan builds a pagoda there to suppress it
36th year of the Wanli era (1608)	Floodwaters drift away the dwellings; famine that year
39th year of the Wanli era (1611)	Earthquake after the full moon of the tenth month
42nd year of the Wanli era (1614)	A good year, rice at five cash a pint
45th year of the Wanli era (1617)	Five-coloured clouds seen at night after the full moon of the eighth month
46th year of the Wanli era (1618)	With military needs pressing, half the grain tax is levied again at Lishui and other counties
1st year of the Taichang era (1620)	The grain tax levied in full again; gold found in the ground south of the town and handed in to help pay the troops
1st year of the Tianqi era (1621)	Thirty-eight households exiled for their connection with the loyal minister Qi Tai are pardoned and restored to the Lishui register
2nd year of the Tianqi era (1622)	The grain tax at Lishui is commuted to silver in perpetuity; the whole county is grateful
4th year of the Tianqi era (1624)	A flood-burst in the fifth month drowns the dwellings
5th year of the Tianqi era (1625)	Two earthquakes; a great storm darkens the day; autumn drought; the capital granary empty and a year's grain borrowed, after which the commutation is never restored
6th year of the Tianqi era (1626)	Drought
1st year of the Chongzhen era (1628)	The magistrate Zeng Jiuyi memorialises for the building of more than three thousand zhang of embankment below Shizi Mountain
2nd year of the Chongzhen era (1629)	A gale uproots trees on the third day of the fifth month
3rd year of the Chongzhen era (1630)	Hail on the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month
5th year of the Chongzhen era (1632)	Autumn drought
8th year of the Chongzhen era (1635)	Hail on the seventh day of the fourth month damages the wheat
10th year of the Chongzhen era (1637)	Earthquake on the twenty-ninth day of the eleventh month
11th year of the Chongzhen era (1638)	Drought; locusts eat the crop
12th year of the Chongzhen era (1639)	The starving take white earth from Fushan for food, called Guanyin powder
13th year of the Chongzhen era (1640)	Unprecedented famine, no seed grain left; earthquake with sound; arrears of tax before 1639 remitted
14th year of the Chongzhen era (1641)	Famine again; locusts darken the fields; hail on the nineteenth day of the eighth month
16th year of the Chongzhen era (1643)	Rain and thunder in the tenth month; earthquake with sound in the twelfth
17th year of the Chongzhen era (1644)	The local officials Yang Gonghan, Zhao Tiyuan and others petition to restore the commutation of the grain tax; the dynasty falls before it is granted, and the old levy resumes
2nd year of the Shunzhi era (1645)	The great army crosses south of the river; the magistrate Wang Guanying abandons office; the registrar Fang Zhidao leads the people out and surrenders the whole town; in the twelfth month local bandits burn the county hall and the treasury, and the loyal man Liu Qian dies fighting
3rd year of the Shunzhi era (1646)	Yingtian Prefecture renamed Jiangning Prefecture, with Lishui still under it
4th year of the Shunzhi era (1647)	This year's arrears remitted and prisoners in doubtful cases pardoned
5th year of the Shunzhi era (1648)	The fields of Lishui surveyed
6th year of the Shunzhi era (1649)	Rice flies out of the granary of the Wu family at Pucun in Shanyang township like a swarm of gnats
7th year of the Shunzhi era (1650)	Wheat with double and triple ears in the fourth month; a gale uproots trees in the sixth month; the magistrate An Yingsui asks that the garrison be withdrawn and a local militia raised
8th year of the Shunzhi era (1651)	Hail in the fourth month damages the wheat and a gale uproots trees; Li Yingkui of Bailu township reaches a hundred and is honoured by the authorities
9th year of the Shunzhi era (1652)	Drought
11th year of the Shunzhi era (1654)	The magistrate Min Pailu rebuilds the county hall, repairs the drum tower and restores the granary at Honglanbu
12th year of the Shunzhi era (1655)	The magistrate Min Pailu compiles the Register of Equalised Households and Corvée, printed and circulated throughout the county
13th year of the Shunzhi era (1656)	A strict order in spring that the grain boats pass Huai'an within the first month; the lake is low, and the magistrate Min Pailu leads ten thousand men to break the ice and dredge
15th year of the Shunzhi era (1658)	In the third month the imperial order commuting the grain tax arrives

The quotations and notes

34th year of the Wanli era (1606): a pagoda to suppress the light

三十四年丙午，正月二夜，县西北隅有赤光一道，直抵东南。知县徐良彦即其地建浮图以镇之。详《永寿寺记》。

Translated: In the thirty-fourth year, bingwu, on the second night of the first month, a band of red light ran from the northwestern corner of the county town straight to the southeast. The zhixian (county magistrate) Xu Liangyan built a pagoda on that very spot to suppress it. See the Record of Yongshou Temple for details.

Note. This entry ties an anomalous sighting to a building in the same year and links the two with the words "on that very spot". Anomaly records are the gazetteer's own idiom; this site reproduces the text as it stands but treats the red light and the pagoda separately. The pagoda's existence and date rest on the heritage inventory, while the red light remains only what the gazetteer recorded. The pagoda built is the present Yongshousi Pagoda.

2nd year of the Tianqi era (1622): the grain tax commuted in perpetuity

二年壬戌，应天府尹徐必达据知县张锡命详文，移抚院王象恒、按院易应昌会题，准溧水漕米永远改折，［阖］邑戴之。事载《改折全书》。

Translated: In the second year, renxu, Xu Bida, prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, acting on the detailed report of the zhixian Zhang Ximing, referred the matter to the grand coordinator Wang Xiangheng and the censor Yi Yingchang, who jointly memorialised; the grain tax at Lishui was approved for commutation in perpetuity, and the whole county was grateful. The matter is recorded in the Complete Book of Commutation.

Note. This is the high point of the county's tax thread in the Ming. Through the magistrate's detailed report, the prefect's referral, and the joint memorial of the grand coordinator and the censor, the grain tax was approved for commutation in perpetuity. The gazetteer closes with "the whole county was grateful" and notes that the matter is recorded in the Complete Book of Commutation. Commutation meant assessing the grain tax in silver; against the transport of grain in kind it saved the cost of carriage, and it was therefore what the county wanted.

5th year of the Tianqi era (1625): the commutation is never restored

五年乙丑，二月十九日，地震。五月十七日，大风雨，昼如晦。秋旱。十一月二十五夜，地震有声。是年京储告匮，天下改折地方暂借漕米一年。溧水自是不复改折。相沿。

Translated: In the fifth year, yichou, on the nineteenth day of the second month, an earthquake. On the seventeenth day of the fifth month, a great storm, and the day was as dark as night. Drought in autumn. On the night of the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month, an earthquake with sound. That year the capital granary was exhausted, and everywhere that had commutation had a year's grain tax borrowed back. From this time Lishui was never commuted again, and so it continued.

Note. This entry records the turning point of the commutation. Granted "in perpetuity" only in 1622, in 1625 the capital granary was empty and a year's grain was "borrowed", and the gazetteer goes on: "from this time Lishui was never commuted again" — the loan became the rule. The gazetteer ends with "and so it continued". In 1644 the local officials petitioned again, but "the dynasty fell before it was granted and the old levy resumed", and only in 1658 did the imperial order commute it. Three reversals, thirty-six years from first to last.

13th year of the Chongzhen era (1640): unprecedented famine

十三年庚辰，溧水奇荒，绝禾种。拾月十二夜，地震有声。诏自十二年以前民所逋欠粮税悉行蠲免。

Translated: In the thirteenth year, gengchen, Lishui suffered an unprecedented famine, and no seed grain was left. On the night of the twelfth day of the tenth month, an earthquake with sound. An edict remitted in full all arrears of grain tax owed by the people from before the twelfth year.

Note. This entry records the worst famine of the late Ming; "no seed grain left" means that not even seed remained. The gazetteer puts the earthquake and the remission under the same entry. The remission covers arrears from before 1639, not the current year's tax, and the distinction is clear in the gazetteer's wording; it is reproduced as it stands.

2nd year of the Shunzhi era (1645): the whole town surrendered

大清顺治二年乙酉，大兵渡江南，溧水知县王观瀛弃官去之，典史方至道率民众以全城降。

Translated: In the second year of the Shunzhi era of the Great Qing, yiyou, the great army crossed to the south of the river; the zhixian of Lishui, Wang Guanying, abandoned his office and left, and the dianshi (registrar) Fang Zhidao led the people out and surrendered the whole town.

Note. This is the key entry for the county at the change of dynasty: the magistrate abandons office, the registrar leads the people out and surrenders, and the town escapes destruction. Under the same entry the gazetteer goes on to record the proclamation of the general commanding the southern expedition that the people shave their heads, the withdrawal of the garrison, the remission of seven tenths of two taxes, and, in the twelfth month, local bandits scaling the wall and burning the county hall and the treasury, the loyal man Liu Qian dying in the fighting, and troops sent by the Grand Secretariat to retake the town. The records of the transition are tangled; the entries on this site separate what can be verified, and because the record is so brief the confidence is set at medium.

12th year of the Shunzhi era (1655): the Register of Equalised Households and Corvée

十二年乙未，时值审编，知县闵派鲁执法矢公，迎邑城隍神于县堂，与共莅厥事。详核里甲，分拨差徭，裒多益寡，务使相均。勒成一书曰《均甲平徭册》，锓板传布通邑，豪户不得避役，奸民无由变更，百姓乐之。

Translated: In the twelfth year, yimei, at the time of the review of the registers, the zhixian Min Pailu enforced the law with impartiality, received the city god of the county in the county hall and sat with him over the business. Households were reviewed in detail, corvée apportioned, the surplus taken to fill the shortfall, all to make the shares equal. A book was drawn up, called the Register of Equalised Households and Corvée, cut on blocks and circulated throughout the county, so that no powerful household could evade service and no cunning man could alter the register, and the common people were glad of it.

Note. This entry records a review of taxation and corvée in the early Qing, whose outcome was the Register of Equalised Households and Corvée. The gazetteer gives the method as "households reviewed in detail, corvée apportioned, the surplus taken to fill the shortfall, so that all were equal", and adds that it was "cut on blocks and circulated throughout the county" — printed and put into circulation everywhere, so that "no powerful household could evade service". The same entry records that the magistrate "received the city god in the county hall and sat with him over the business", a ceremony of the time reproduced here without comment.

Choices and uncertainties

First, this selection stops at 1658. The Kangxi gazetteer's annalistic volume has entries after that date, but they fall outside this batch and are treated separately.

Second, anomaly records such as the red light, the rice flying from the granary and the calf born with an extra hoof are numerous in the gazetteer. This selection reproduces them as they stand, neither as established fact nor with any scientific explanation.

Third, the records of the change of dynasty, in 1645 and the years after, are tangled and thin in detail, and touch on warfare, the head-shaving proclamation, the garrison and the militia; they belong in a separate treatment. Only the most important entry is quoted here.

Fourth, the three reversals of the grain tax commutation — granted in 1622, borrowed back in 1625, petitioned for in 1644, ordered in 1658 — lie scattered under four entries in the gazetteer. The notes here string them together; the text itself is reproduced entry by entry and not conflated.