About the work
A play by the historian Wu Han about the Ming official Hai Rui, who in the 16th century publicly protested the arbitrary rule of the Jiajing Emperor. Wu Han developed the material from his own newspaper article into a stage work written for Peking opera, which, after several revisions, premiered in Beijing in 1961.
Plot
The honest official Hai Rui takes up impoverished peasants' complaints against a corrupt landowner and accuses the emperor of inaction; dismissed from office as punishment, he is rehabilitated only after the emperor's death.
Cultural significance
In 1965 the writer Yao Wenyuan attacked the play in a widely noted newspaper article as veiled criticism of Marshal Peng Dehuai's 1959 dismissal; this attack on Wu Han is considered one of the triggers of the Cultural Revolution. Wu Han was subsequently persecuted and died in prison in 1969.