Collective Memory under Political Repression: Circulation of the Deeds of Zhang Huangyan in the Early Qing

Abstract

When the anti-Qing resistance movement eventually failed, the wellknown Southern Ming loyalist scholar-general Zhang Huangyan 張煌言 chose to hide in seclusion on an island off the coast of Zhejiang. In 1644 he was unfortunately captured and soon after executed due to his repeated refusal to surrender. After Zhang's death, the circulation of his own writings and accounts written by his friends in Ming loyalist circles nevertheless ensured that his heroic deeds were transmitted to posterity and became an important historical memory. In the hundred years following Zhang's death, these stories passed from secrecy into open discussion, with different groups in society each offering their own interpretations. From the hearsay of a “Mr. Wang” of eastern Zhejiang and the memory of an isolated official among Ming adherents, to the “diehard” of the fallen dynasty in the works of early Qing scholars, Zhang's subtly changing image provides a valuable reference point for exploring early Qing social development. In the past, many historians tended to consider Qing scholars' admiration of Zhang a continuation of the anti-Qing sentiment shared by remnant Ming loyalists. This assertion seems problematic, as their praise of Zhang neither questioned nor challenged the legitimacy of Qing rule. On the contrary, their request for a government reevaluation of Southern Ming figures is an unmistakable acknowledgement of the cultural hegemony of the Manchu authorities in their times.

南明抗清名將張煌言在復國無望後隱居海島，但不幸於康熙三年（1664）為清人所執，並因屢勸不降而遭處決。張氏死後，其英雄事蹟通過他的遺集及遺民友人的筆錄而代代相傳，成為後世的重要歷史記憶。綜觀張氏身後百年，其事蹟由暗地流傳到公開談論，不同社群都嘗試對之提供各自的解讀。從浙東傳聞中的「王先生」、易代遺民記憶中的大明「孤臣」，至清初士人筆下的新朝「頑民」，當中的微妙變化，為我們探討清初的社會政治發展，提供了極具參考價值的資訊。過往，不少史學家傾向把清人對張煌言等抗清明臣的表彰，看成是明遺民反清情緒的延續。惟考諸史實，這些文字大部分並未隱含任何對清政府統治合法性的質疑或挑戰。反之，他們向清政府提出平反的要求，無疑是對滿洲統治者作為儒家倫理仲裁人之權威地位的認可。