Shi Kefa

Life

His father was Shi Congzhi (史從質), his younger brother Shi Kecheng (史可程), and his adopted heir Shi Dewei (史德威); Shi Kaichun (史開純) is listed as a direct descendant.

Shi Kefa was a student of Zuo Guangdou (左光斗) and a friend of Cui Zizhong (崔子忠); he wrote a funerary text for Zuo and received a reply from Ni Yuanlu (倪元璐). Quan Zuwang (全祖望) praised his moral conduct, while Shi Dewei in one form (史得威) and Wang Xianqian (王先謙) are listed as biographers.

He was a member of the Donglin movement and, with Jiang Yueguang (姜曰廣) and Gao Hongtu (高弘圖), was known as one of the “Three Worthy Ministers of the South” (南中三賢相). In the first year of the Chongzhen era he obtained the jinshi degree, ranking twenty-sixth in the third class; he was appointed a tuiguan of Xi’an Prefecture, transferred to the Ministry of Revenue as a zhushi, and later served as yuanwailang and langzhong.

In the eighth Chongzhen year (1635), he served as a deputy commissioner supervising the Jiangbei forces against rebel armies. In the tenth year he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor, governed Anqing and three other prefectures together with adjoining areas of Henan, Huguang, and Jiangxi, and supervised military affairs; he repeatedly checked the rebel advance. From 1641 to 1643, corresponding to Chongzhen years 14–16, he was governor of Fengyang and also held the offices of Vice Minister of Revenue and Right Assistant Censor.

In Chongzhen year 12 he left office to observe mourning. After completing the mourning period, he returned as supervisor-general of grain transport and rose to Minister of War in Nanjing, where he held the post in 1643–1644, corresponding to Chongzhen years 16–17. He also served as fenshoudao (分守道), fenxundao (分巡道), you canyi (右參議), hubu du jishizhong (戶部都給事中), Right Assistant Censor, dushi (都御史), governor, military supervisor, and military commissioner, including military commissioner posts in Wuhu and Jiangnan.

His later titles included Shaobao (少保), Shaofu (少傅), Shaoshi (少師), Grand Tutor (太傅), Junior Guardian of the Heir (太子少保), Grand Tutor to the Heir (太子太傅), and Grand Preceptor to the Heir (太子太師); he also held the posts of Grand Academician of the East Pavilion, Minister of Rites, and Grand Academician of the Wuying Hall.

In Chongzhen year 17 (1644), the Chongzhen Emperor died by suicide at Coal Hill. In April, Ma Shiying proposed enthroning the Prince of Fu in Nanjing, and Shi answered with “seven objections.” After the Prince of Fu’s accession, Shi was appointed Minister of Rites concurrently with Grand Academician of the East Pavilion, together with Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu. Soon pushed aside, he went to Yangzhou as Minister of War and Grand Academician of the Wuying Hall, supervising the Jiangbei front and holding the Four Garrisons under his authority.

The commanders Gao Jie (高杰) and Huang Degong (黃得功) contended for quarters in Yangzhou and allowed their troops to burn and plunder; Shi worked painstakingly to reconcile them and urged a northern expedition. The Qing regent Dorgon sent him a letter urging surrender, but Shi replied in refusal; when Qing forces advanced south to Yangzhou, none of the forces he summoned from the various garrisons arrived.

Accounts of his death differ. One says that after Yangzhou fell he attempted suicide, survived the attempt, and then died unyielding after capture; another says that Qing forces captured and executed him. A further account says that he escaped by being lowered from the city wall, while popular tradition held that he survived.

Works and posthumous commemoration

Later compilers assembled his writings as the Shizhongzheng Gong ji (《史忠正公集》), also titled Shizhongzheng ji (《史忠正集》); bibliographic entries include a four-volume edition with one introductory and one concluding volume, as well as a two-volume edition.

Under the Hongguang regime he reached the offices of Minister of War in Nanjing and Grand Academician of the East Pavilion, and he was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor (太師). His posthumous titles were Zhonglie (忠烈) under the Longwu court, Zhongjing (忠靖) under the court of the Prince-Regent of Lu, Wenzhong (文忠) under the Yongli court, and Zhongzheng (忠正) under the Qianlong reign; the variant form 忠靖 is also found.

During the Qianlong era, the Qing government established a shrine to Shi Kefa in Yangzhou and the officially commissioned history fixed his death as a martyrdom in Yangzhou. In the following year, Yangzhou residents buried his robes and tablet at Meihua Ridge. Yangzhou now has a Shi Kefa memorial hall and a cenotaph; the cenotaph was excavated during the Cultural Revolution and only a jade belt was found. The shrine also enshrines Ren Minyu, the prefect of Yangzhou, and tablets for the commanders who defended the city.