A Note on Loyalty in the Ming-Qing Transition
Ian McMorran1
It is when the state is in turmoil that loyal ministers emerge.
(Daode jing 18)
"In the world there are two supreme impera¬ tives, " said Confucius. "One of them is desti¬ ny, the other duty. A child's love of his parents is destined: it cannot be dispelled from his heart. A minister's service to his lord is duty; wherever he may go his lord is his lord. Bet¬ ween heaven and earth there is no escape from them: these are what I call the supreme impe¬ ratives. "
(Zhuangzi, "Renjian shi")
Two Sorts of Loyalty ?
One may say that the state was in turmoil throughout the Ming-Qing transition. It was a chaotic period that began well before the double invasion of Peking in 1644 and continued even into the early 1700s. However, by one of those ironies of history it was not a loyal minister but a figure condemned by historians as one of the most notorious traitors in the annals of imperial China, the Ming general Wu Sangui (1612-
1 Ian McMorran is Professor at the University of Paris 7, 2 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris.
Études chinoises, vol. XIII, n° 1-2, printemps-automne 1994
