Zhang Zheng Donates Grain in the Famine of 1508

Background

The gazetteer records for 1508 that Lishui suffered drought and dearth. The donation of grain was made under those conditions; the entry gives no further account of the disaster.

Time and place

The donation was made in 1508, in Lishui itself.

武宗正德三年戊辰，溧水旱，荒。邑民张整捐谷千石以赈。 — Kangxi Lishui County Gazetteer, 卷之一·邑纪·武宗正德三年戊辰

Translated: In the third year of the Zhengde era, Lishui suffered drought and dearth. The resident Zhang Zheng donated a thousand shi of grain for relief.

Course and consequences

Zhang Zheng gave a thousand shi of grain for relief. The gazetteer records neither how the relief was organised, nor who Zhang Zheng was, nor how many people received grain; it gives only his name and the quantity. The entries that follow show a run of disasters in the early Zhengde years: in the sixth month of 1509 a sound came from the north like tens of thousands of armed men and lasted more than a month, and in winter heavy snow killed the trees; in 1510 Lishui was flooded and rent was remitted.

The gazetteer records one comparable case: in the great famine of 1588, when people ate one another, the Lishui residents Tang Fenggang, Chen Wenxin, Gong Tingji and Yang Jian each donated grain, with a note referring to the Biographies of Righteous Men.

Uncertainties

First, the measure of the thousand shi, the area relieved and the number of recipients are not recorded.

Second, Zhang Zheng appears nowhere else in the gazetteer and has no biography; his standing, family and later circumstances are unknown.

Third, the entry records only private donation and says nothing of official relief in 1508, and no neighbouring year records an officer sent to relieve the county.

Fourth, on the name "Zhang Zheng": the Kangxi gazetteer, juan 1 (Annals), writes 整, as does the excerpt Yiji Excerpts: Ming. He appears in no dynastic history, chronological record or veritable record, and no variant old gazetteer was available for collation; the character remains to be checked against the original.

Fifth, on the seven layers of sources searched: the official websites layer, the published documents and lists layer, the local-gazetteer layer (the surviving five editions are catalogued under src:jschina-shunzhi-dianjiao and src:difangzhi-kfly), the academic layer, the classical-text layer (the Ming Shi, the Ming Veritable Records, the Da Ming Hui Dian, the Du Shi Fang Yu Ji Yao and others), the media layer and the maps and fieldwork layer all yielded no second source. The fact — drought and dearth at Lishui in 1508 and the resident Zhang Zheng's gift of a thousand shi of grain — is peculiar to the Kangxi gazetteer, juan 1; no dynastic history, veritable record or code records such a local private donation. The entry therefore remains single-sourced at medium confidence, and Zhang Zheng's standing, family and the organisation of the relief are not supplied from elsewhere.