Hu Zhongzao

Hu Zhongzao, sobriquet Jianmosheng, was a Qing dynasty scholar who was a disciple of the Manchu politician Ortai. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, Ortai and all his political allies were implicated, and Hu Zhongzao and his entire family were sentenced to death for treason and literary crimes.

Background

Hu Zhongzao was the son of Hu Dazhi and was from Xinjian County, Nanchang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province.
In October of the fourth year of Qianlong, Hu Zhongzao was 29 years old, so he was born in the 51st year of Kangxi at the latest.

Career

In February of the 20th year of Qianlong, the Qianlong Emperor secretly told Wei Zhezhi, the governor of Guangxi, to inspect all the exam questions, poems, and evil deeds committed by Hu when he was studying politics in Guangxi, and strictly check Hu's performance. On March 13, the same year, Qianlong denounced Hu Zhongzao for "complaining" about "things humankind should not have".
Scholar Han Zhanke said that Hu violated the law and should be sentenced to lingchi.
Hu escaped the more severe sentence of lingchi, but was beheaded in 1755. At this time, Hu Zhongzao's father, son, wife, concubine, and daughter-in-law died one after another. Their property was confiscated, but they had little money at home: only 3,000 taels of silver and 70 stones. The case was tied back to Ortai as Hu Zhongzao was Ortai's disciple, and Ortai's memorial tablet was ordered to be withdrawn from Xianliang Temple on charges of forming "private cliques". Ortai's nephew, Ocang, was forced to commit suicide. Generally, historians believe that the Hu Zhongzao case was a means to crack down on private cliques.
Hu Zhongzao's poem "A handful of hearts are turbid and clear" was used as evidence of his rebellion as he put the character zhuo, meaning 'murky', before Qing, the same character referring to the Qing dynasty.