Chen-Mian Wang
Tamkang University
The Concept of Loyalty In Early Ch’ing official Histories as Seen in the Case of Hung Ch’eng-Ch’ou (1593–1665)
35th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, 1992
Loyalty was universally recognized as a key value in Confucianism in traditional China. Chinese historical writing was consequently influenced by this concept of loyalty. As a result, an individual’s actual role in history was potentially subject to distortion or disregard if he was regarded as having failed this standard. Such was often the case, especially with respect to transitional periods between dynasties.
The case of Hung Ch’eng-ch’ou, a high official in both the Ming and Ch’ing governments, well illustrates the importance of political loyalty as a guiding concept in Chinese historiography. Hung was a high ranking Ming official and later was defeated and captured by the Manchus at the battle of Sungshan. Since the Manchus recognized his potential value in their future conquest of China, they induced him to switch sides. Hung faithfully served the Manchus in forming a Chinese-style govermnent and as the senior field commander in the conquest of China.
Later, when they evaluated Hung’s role in history, the Manchus faced a dilemma. In the pre-ccnquest era, when they had needed his assistance, they were generous in their praise of his abilities and importance. However, after the conquest and consolidation eras, and the Hung himself had passed into history, his contributions were gradually minimized in the official histories as the sinicized Manchu emperors more and more emphasized the importance of traditional concept of political loyalty.
A close examination of the available evidence about Hung reveals this gradual change in attitudes, and serves to clarify the limitation of the official historiography as well as changing Manchu ideas of loyalty.