In ancient Chinese officialdom, suicide in fear of crime was a common phenomenon. What kind of official culture makes criminal officials lose their reason to live? What kind of legal consequences make them feel more terrible than death? This paper attempts to explore the deeper reasons for this phenomenon through the cases of ancient officials committing suicide in fear of crime.

What crime can make an officer choose to commit suicide?

Roughly summarized, the ancient fear of suicide officials committed the error of political mistakes and economic mistakes of two categories. Political mistakes include committing crimes, being caught in the whirlpool of political struggles, and official conflicts, etc.; economic mistakes include corruption and bribery, and false publicity and self-interest. The following are a few examples from the Han and Ming dynasties.

political error

Tyrannical Shengzhi, an imperial historian under Emperor Wu of Han, was held accountable for failing to align his political stance with the central government of Emperor Wu during the rebellion of Crown Prince Liu Zhi, and committed suicide in fear of punishment. (Note 1)

Wei Zhongxian at the end of the Ming Dynasty, authoritarian and cruel, killing countless loyal people. After Chongzhen came to power, he hit him in one fell swoop. Knowing the depth of the sins he had committed, he committed suicide. (Note 2)

economic error

When Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty was in charge of the expansion of Emperor Zhaodi's tomb, Tian Yannian, the chief historian, took the opportunity to embezzle 30 million dollars and was impeached. Faced with the impending scrutiny of imprisonment, Tian Yannian committed suicide. (Note 3)

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Sheng Yong, the commander of the capital, was involved in many wrongful convictions for corruption and bribery, and was eventually investigated by Zhu Di. In the end, he committed suicide. (Note 4) This man had received bribes from Zhu Di, the King of Yan, during the Jianwen era, and surrendered to the King of Yan during the Battle of Jingwu, so he could be said to have a previous record of corruption.

What's worse than death anyway?

Death, in itself, is already a dead end, but these officials would rather choose to commit suicide than face scrutiny. What is more terrible than death?

fall into disrepute

The consequence of being investigated or imprisoned for a crime is often that one's name and reputation are tarnished. When Zhu Bai, a vassal king of the Ming dynasty, was accused of rebellion, he once said, "I have seen with my own eyes that many of the ministers who were convicted under Emperor Taizu were unwilling to be insulted and committed suicide, but I am the son of the High Emperor, how can I be insulted by the jailers in order to seek a way to live!" [Note 5 in Cai Dongfan: The Evolution of Ming History]. Thereupon, Zhu Bai committed suicide.

Another example is Hu Zongxian of the Ming Dynasty. Although he had a bad record, he had made great achievements for the court after all. After several impeachments, his honor and dignity were all lost, and he committed suicide because he had no reason to live. (Note 6) Hu Zongxian's staff, Xu Wei, the actual author of the legendary "Plum in the Golden Vase" was implicated in the case of Hu Zongxian and committed suicide nine times in a row: chopping his own head with an axe, driving nails into his own head, and hammering his own stomach with a hammer. However, this brother really bad luck, nine times did not die.

heavily implicated

In ancient times, the pattern of power fostered party rivalries and official rivalries. In general, a person who commits a crime will also implicate many people out. This kind of implication may be the same party faction of people, may also be their own relatives. For example, in the case of the Western Han Dynasty, there was the case of the Imperial Historian, Mr. Tyrannosaurus Sheng. After he committed suicide, Emperor Wu pardoned their family.

In addition, the case of impeachment and framing of Zhang Tang by Zhu Baichen and others in the Western Han Dynasty is also a case of suicide to save the family. After Zhang Tang, the imperial historian, was impeached, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty ordered Zhao Yu, the court captain, to interrogate Zhang Tang. Zhao Yu forced him to commit suicide to save his family. (Note 7) Zhang Tang had no choice but to commit suicide. After Zhang Tang committed suicide, his family was preserved.

The logic behind official suicides

As the only truly serious philosophical issue in Camus' eyes, suicide is a unique social phenomenon that requires a deeper understanding. On the surface, it is the unique official culture of China, and on the deeper level, it is the substitution of the rule of man for the rule of law in a totalitarian system, resulting in an inadequate judiciary.

The Chinese-American historian Huang Renyu pointed out, using the Ming Dynasty as an example, that in ancient China, the rule of law was replaced by abstract moral principles, and that there was only a difference between moral and immoral judgments on things, not between legal and illegal. (
(Note 8) Once a person is found guilty of a crime, he or she is in fact guilty of a serious matter of immorality. There will be no professional lawyers to defend them, nor will there be reasonable legal procedures to try them. This moral principle based on totalitarian rule of man brings a great sense of oppression and anxiety to officials.

In addition, under the principle of morality, when a person is dead, the matter is basically closed. In ancient times, when an official committed suicide for fear of committing a crime, many legal procedures were immediately terminated, except for serious political crimes. The official who committed suicide could not only keep the secret of his crime, but also save his family and even his own reputation. This concept of replacing the rule of law with abstract morality is invariably advocating the idea that one can take the risk of committing crimes in office, and once things go wrong, commit suicide. This also objectively encourages crime.

Note 1: See Ban Gu: Han Shu - Wu Di Ji.

Note 2: See Zhang Tingyu, "Ming History, Volume 306: Biography of the Eunuchs" (明史卷三百零六阉党传)

Note 3: See Ban Gu: Han Shu - Cool Officials' Biographies.

Note 4: See Zhang Tingyu, "Ming History, Volume 144".
The Thirty-Second Book of Lists.

Footnote 5: See Cai Dongfan, Evolution of Ming History.

Note 6: See Back in the Day, Ming Yue: Those Things in the Ming Dynasty.

Footnote 7: See Cai Dongfan, The Former Han Evolution.

Note 8: See [U.S.] Huang Renyu, The Fifteenth Year of the Wanli Calendar.

The totalitarian era, in which abstract morality replaces law, creates a great sense of moral oppression and anxiety for officials. In turn, this moral principle is prone to be blameless for those who die. Thus, committing suicide for fear of crime becomes the optimal choice. (Source
(Xinhua)