Journal paper

Issue No.	No. 34
Title	A study on the conduct of Li San-ts'ai in Late Ming Dynasty
Author	Chiu Wen-Huei
Page	59-96
Abstract	The drastic faction fights in the late Ming Dynasty is publicly recognized to be one of the main reasons for its destruction. The origin of faction disputes in late Ming Dynasty stems from the controversial of discussing politics by “Tung-Lin” people. However, the person who aroused “Tung-Lin” to be stuck into the dispute between the government and people is Li San-ts΄ai, a governor of Feng-Yang who is seldom discussed by scholars. When he was an official at Huai-Yang, his administrative achievements was outstanding, which was recognized by the colleagues and the common people, so his position was rising. Afterwards, due to the event of minerals tax, he submitted an appeal straight so his influence among the government, people and intellectuals increased a lot and his position is highly raised. In addition, Li San-ts΄ai was good at utilizing public sentiments, socializing everywhere, making friends with the intelligentsia and his freely-talking style makes him step into the court, even makes him a controversial person among the conflicts and confrontation by the ruling party and opposite party. 　　By the influence of broadcasting of public opinions, Li San-ts΄ai got close to intellectuals and led group discussions to become a newly rising direction of public opinions gradually. Nevertheless, his style of taking advantage of public opinions and freely talking about court politics makes him a frequent dispute focus by the government and people and causes confusion of political image and appraisal. The commentary by each faction is inclined to two extremes. Consequently, in the late Ming Dynasty, the function of public opinions for purpose of supervising the court, discussing political affairs by the intellectuals is almost vaporized. In instead, the biased controversies among different factions cannot be stopped.
Keyword	the late Ming Dynasty Li San-ts΄ai public opinion Tung-Lin.
Attached File