Reading Path One: Introducing the Source
This is a short description of the primary source that makes up the first path in this module, "The Case Against Shi Hou." I found the case in the Number One Historical Archives in Beijing, in the Grand Council Chinese-Language Palace Memorial Copies collection (junji chu Hanwen lufu zouzhe). The file number is 03-4007-048, DG 18.10.29. Each page in the path includes both the Chinese text of the original source as well as my English-language translation.
Nature of the source: This source is a Qing memorial, meaning it was a report sent up the chain from a Provincial Governor to the Emperor. A memorial like this is the final wrapped-up version of a legal case, written almost a year after the events it describes took place, based on the Governor’s reading of reports and documents on the case from the county, prefecture, and provincial judicial administration. The person who wrote this source was not present for the arrest or original interrogation of the subjects, and relied on reports forwarded from local officials. Documents like this can obscure information that might have created trouble for the lower officials who conducted the original arrests and interrogations, especially when there were potential implications of bribery and corruption.
Contents of the source: The memorial that forms the base of this path describes the opium operations of a man named Shi Hou (Monkey Shi), a native of Yakou Village, Jinjiang County, Fujian Province. The memorial describes how Shi Hou and his fellow Shi lineage members "enticed" foreign opium merchants "Big and Little Li" north from Guangdong into Fujian in order to establish a smuggling depot in Shenhu Bay. At the end of the case, 109 individuals are listed as having been arrested or "at large" and wanted for opium crimes related to the case.
