Zha Jizuo


Zha Jizuo was a Chinese writer and scholar who lived during the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty.

Names

Zha Jizuo's given name was originally Jiyou before he changed it to "Jizuo". His courtesy name was originally Sanxiu but was later changed to Yousan. He was also known by various pseudonyms, including Yihuang, Yuzhai, Dongshan Diaoshi, Dongshan Diaoyu, Zuoyi Feiren, and Mr. Jingxiu.

Life under the Ming dynasty

Zha Jizuo was born in an impoverished family in Haining, Zhejiang Province, during the reign of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. His father was Zha Erhan. In 1633, during the early reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, he sat for the imperial examination and obtained the position of a juren.
After the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, Zha Jizuo accompanied Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu, to Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, where the latter assumed the title of Jianguo of the Southern Ming dynasty, a state formed by Ming loyalists. Zha Jizuo was appointed as an official in the Ministry of War. When the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty invaded Zhejiang Province, Zha Jizuo personally led the Ming army to resist the invaders until Shaoxing fell to Qing forces in 1646.

Life under the Qing dynasty

Zha Jizuo then went into retirement in present-day Xiashi District in Haining City, Zhejiang Province. In 1652, he moved to Hangzhou, where he taught at Juejue School near the West Lake and later at Jingxiu School in Tiezhiling. He had thousands of students, who referred to him as "Mr. Jingxiu".
In 1661, during the early Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty, Zha Jizuo was implicated in a case of literary inquisition involving a merchant Zhuang Tinglong, who sponsored the publication of an unauthorised book about the history of the Ming dynasty. This was because Zha Jizuo had served as a proofreader for the book. Although he was arrested and imprisoned, he was eventually released.
Two historical texts – Lang Qian Ji Wen and Ming Shi Ji Shi Ben Mo – mentioned that Zha Jizuo was the one who reported the unauthorised book to the Qing government.
Another account stated that the general Wu Liuqi saved Zha Jizuo from imprisonment because he wanted to repay Zha's kindness. Zha Jizuo himself denied this account in Zha Jizuo Nianpu. Wu Qian also wrote in Bai Jing Lou Shi Hua that this account was unreliable and unlikely to be true.
In his later years, Zha Jizuo wrote a number of books and other writings, including Zui Wei Lu, Guo Shou Lu, Lu Chunqiu, Dongshan Guoyu, Ban Han Shi Lun, and Xu Xixiang.

Relation to Jin Yong

Zha Jizuo was from the scholarly Zha clan of Haining, whose members include the wuxia writer Jin Yong. Jin Yong was also born in the same place as Zha Jizuo: Haining, Zhejiang. Zha Jizuo appears as a minor character in one of Jin Yong's novels, The Deer and the Cauldron.