Huang Daozhou was born on 9 March 1585 and died on 20 April 1646; one account gives 5 March 1646 as the date of his death. He was a late-Ming and early-Qing official, scholar, calligrapher, painter, poet, and calendrical mathematician. His courtesy name was Youxuan, with the variants Youyuan, Youping, Chiruo, Xizun, and Canxuan; he used the style name Shizhai, was known to his disciples as “Master Shizhai,” and also used Dadi and Yeyuan. He was a native of Zhangpu in Fujian, with his native place also given as Zhenhai Guard in Zhangzhou; in southern Fujian and Taiwan he was honored as General Zhushun, and he received the posthumous names Zhonglie and, later, Zhongduan.
Life
He passed the metropolitan examination in 1622, entered the Hanlin Academy as a Shujishi, and was appointed a Hanlin compiler and a presenter of texts at the Classics Banquet; he later left office during mourning. In the early Chongzhen reign he returned as a compiler, became Right Zhongyun in 1630, and subsequently held posts including Right and Left Yude, Hanlin Academy Reader-in-waiting, and Shao Zhanshi; he also served as an examiner for the Zhejiang provincial examination.
Daozhou submitted three memorials seeking the release of Qian Longxi and was demoted three ranks for defying the throne. He repeatedly criticized officials for pursuing mutual reprisals at the expense of the larger political order, his words touching the grand secretaries Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren, and he was dismissed as a commoner. In 1638 he opposed the reappointment of Yang Sichang, Chen Xinjia, and Fang Yizao while they were in mourning; after a disputation with Yang Sichang he was demoted six grades, imprisoned, transferred to the Jiangxi Administration, and sent into exile in Guangxi. He then resigned and lectured at the Yeshan academy; imprisoned again in 1640 after Xie Xuelong recommended him for an instructorship, he was convicted of “deceiving the world through false learning,” flogged eighty times, and transported to Guangxi, before being pardoned and restored in 1641 and regaining office in 1642.
After the fall of the Ming, Daozhou became Minister of Rites under the Prince of Fu. When Nanjing fell and the Tang prince established his court at Fuzhou, he was promoted to Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall and concurrently made Minister of Personnel and Minister of War. With military power in the hands of Zheng Zhilong, Daozhou returned home to raise troops and provisions for a restoration. On 19 September 1645, he recruited several thousand men and left through the Xianxia Pass; after his defeat he was captured at Mingtangli with four disciples, Cai Chunrong, Zhao Shichao, Lai Jijin, and Mao Zhijie.
In captivity he refused Hong Chengchou’s attempt to secure his submission and fasted for twelve days in the Jinling prison. He composed the couplet “史筆流芳，雖未成名終可法；洪恩浩蕩，不思報國反成仇,” while his wife Cai wrote urging him to remember that “a loyal minister has a state but no family; do not look inward.” He was executed on 5 March 1646; before his death he painted, left a testament, and wrote a blood inscription to his family. His body reportedly remained standing after decapitation, and the four disciples were killed on the same day; together they became known as the “Four Gentlemen of the Huang Gate.”
Scholarship and works
Daozhou devoted himself to the Confucian classics and excelled in calligraphy and painting, while also working in poetry, prose, calendrical calculation, and philosophy. His works include *Yixiang Zhengyi* (also found as *Yixiang Zhengshu*), *San Yi Dongji*, *Hongfan Mingyi*, *Shizhai ji*, *Xiaojing Jizhuan*, *Rongtan Wenye*, *Huang Zhangpu ji*, *Ruxing Jizhuan*, *Fangji Jizhuan*, *Yueling Mingyi*, *Ziyi Jizhuan*, *Biaoji Jizhuan*, *Dadi Hanshu*, and *Haoran Yong*. He associated with Huang Zongxi, Wen Zhenmeng, Zheng Man, and Sun Jiaji, was a fellow examinee of Ni Yuanlu, and wrote Ni Yuanlu’s epitaph.
References
- 法鼓佛教人名规范数据库 黃道周 (A007643)
- 搜韵 黃道周 (55833)
- CBDB Huang Daozhou (65942)