Friday, September 5, 2014

Yinyuan's Hometown Fuqing 福清

Recently, a Fuqing native who is a Ph.D student in Hong Kong contacted me after reading my paper "Taikun's Master from China." He was amazed by Yinyuan's achievement. Yes. All Fuqing people should be proud of him. Not only Yinyuan, his teacher Feiyin Tongrong also hailed from Fuqing.

Fuqing map

I have been to Fuqing only once, during my research trip in the summer of 2001. In recent history, Fuqing is famous for legal and illegal immigration during the 1980s. There are a lot of Fuqing people in Japan. (People from its neighboring country Changle 长乐chose to go to New York, according to local sayings.) However, this is not a remote and culturally impoverished place. It is rich in culture. The Song New Confucian thinker Zhu Xi came here at least twice to spread his teaching. Another Song scholar Lin Xiyi 林希逸  was a Fuqing native. His family clan still thrived in the late Ming. One of his descendant became Yinyuan's disciple, the famed Jifei Ruyi 即非如一 in Nagasaki, who published his ancestor's work in Japan. Fuqing produced many jinshi degree holders throughout history. The late Ming prime minister Ye Xianggao 叶向高 was a Fuqing native and it is evident that Ye introduced the Jesuit missionary Guilio Aleni 艾儒略 to Fujian, who temporarily resided in Fuqing. Therefore, Fuqing had a small Christian population in Ming and Qing. Jesuit archival materials in Rome proved it.

Local gazetteer also says that the soil in Fuqing was so poor that many became salt workers, fishers, sailors, or even pirates. Japanese wako pirates sacked Fuqing at least twice and Qi Jiguang fought them with a big victory. It is clear that the land is not rich enough to support its population. I read the local gazetteer of Jianyang country in norther Fujian, where its magistrate complained that monks in his territory often came from Fujian and were often family members and relatives.

Remember that Fuqing is also called Futang 福唐 and Yurong 玉融 in historical sources.


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