Zhou Youde

Zhou Youde was born in the late Ming period. He enrolled in the Hongwen Institution (宏文院) in around 1644 and studied prose-editing and poetry, graduating in 1661, the first year of Kangxi's reign.[2] Thereafter he enlisted as a banner-man in the Qing military and served under the Bordered Red Banner (镶红旗).[3] In 1663, he was appointed Governor of Shandong and became the ninth person to take the helm.[4] In 1665, Zhou petitioned the Kangxi Emperor to reduce taxes on the locals because they were experiencing sustained periods of drought and famine.[4] He also sought for maritime trade bans to be lightened, following the capture or destruction of several Portuguese trading vessels.[5] A year later, he spearheaded the modification of an abandoned German government palace into a prison hospital, rallying scores of villagers to assist in the construction with the promise of food;[4] some officials and workers had to travel approximately 150 kilometres to Qingzhou to procure some of the necessary construction materials, including wood and stones.[6] The compound is now referred to as "Pearl Springs" (珍珠泉) and is a historic landmark in Shandong.[4]

As Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, a role he held from January 1668 to February 1670,[7] taking over Qu Jinmei,[8] Zhou and fellow official Wang Lairen (王來任) jointly wrote a petition to the Kangxi Emperor, urging him to abolish the Great Clearance, a "forceful relocation of coastal communities inland to cut off the supply lines of Ming loyalists."[9] Zhou had personally witnessed the suffering of the victims and had long been a vocal opponent of the ban.[10] As he observed, "(the evacuation) resulted in an imbalance of demographics, and it plunged many into unemployment."[lower-alpha 1][11] The edict was officially lifted on 16 December 1668,[12] some seven years after it had been implemented.[13] His successor as Liangguang (兩廣) governor-general was Quan Guangzu.[8] In 1679 he became the governor of both Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. Zhou also served as Governor of Sichuan from 1674 to 1679.[14][2]

Zhou's career was plagued with controversy – in one instance he was accused of not providing supplies to the Qing military during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories while in another he was criticised for being unfilial by calling for the construction of a "grand residence when he was in a mourning period."[15] Zhou Youde died of illness in 1680.[4][14]

Left: The Lords Zhou and Wang Memorial Study Hall, Kam Tin; Right: An idol of Zhou Youde.

19th-century illustration of "Feng the Carpenter" from Xiangzhu liaozhai zhiyi tuyong (Liaozhai Zhiyi with commentary and illustrations; 1886)

Following the petition to repeal the Great Evacuation edict, Zhou and Wang became officials revered especially by Tang clan members. As Ng (2015) writes, "(the) requests made by Zhou Youde and Wang Lairen for the wellbeing of a large number of people in the coastal areas won them high respect. The sign of their esteem is demonstrated by the wide scope of worshipping activities and associated excessive quantities of steles dedicated to them throughout Guangdong province."[16]

The Lords Zhou and Wang Memorial Study Hall in Kam Tin was established by the Tang clan in 1684 as a tribute to Zhou and Wang Lairen.[17] Similarly, the Temple for Two Dukes (二公祠) in Guangzhou was built in honour of Zhou and Wang.[15] The Hongsheng temple in Chaolian contains imagery of Zhou; the displaced villagers had allegedly been given divine indication, after worshipping at the temple, that they would "return home after 1,800 days", a prediction which roughly came true following Zhou's efforts.[9] Zhou and Wang were also deified at the Temple to Famous Officials in Nantou.[18] Zhou is likewise treated like a deity by Chaoshan residents, who seek advice and divine help from him; this phenomenon is dismissed as "dross superstition" by a Chaoxue[lower-alpha 2] scholar.[19]

Zhou features in Hong Kong folklore and is referred to as a "benevolent official".[20] Descendants of the resettled villagers observe the Chou Wong Yi Kung festival at the start of the sixth lunar month annually, as a means of expressing their gratefulness towards Zhou and Wang.[21]

Zhou is briefly mentioned in "Feng the Carpenter" (冯木匠),[22] a short story implicitly criticising the Qing government by Pu Songling in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.[23] The tale makes reference to the "remodeling of a former prince's residence into an office for various government ministries". In reality, Zhou had indeed commissioned the construction of a provincial yamen on the abandoned premises of the Prince of Jinan's former residence.[24][25] According to Sondergrad (2014), "Pu inserts him (Zhou) obliquely into his story knowing that Zhou's reputation would not be tarnished by a fiction, while the mere mention of his name would help to keep his legacy alive."[23]

Relics such as imperial documents mentioning Zhou and seventeenth-century biographies of him are housed at the Qing section of the National Palace Museum in Shilin, Taipei. The collection also includes official records recognising Zhou as a governor of virtue, most notably a "monumental biography" highlighting Governor Zhou's requesting tax reductions for the famine-stricken villagers of Shandong.[2]

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• Media related to Zhou Youde at Wikimedia Commons