Hai Rui

Also known as Zi Ruxian · Hao Gangfeng

Hai Rui, styled Ruxian and Gangfeng, came from Qiongshan on Hainan and passed the provincial examination in 1549. As magistrate of Chun'an he punished the travelling son of the commander Hu Zongxian. In 1566, as a secretary in the Board of Revenue, he submitted a memorial accusing the Jiajing emperor of neglecting the court for twenty years in pursuit of Daoist immortality; having first bought a coffin and bid his family farewell, and stayed in jail until the emperor died. As governor of Yingtian from 1569 he curbed the great families, showed no favour to the household of the retired grand secretary Xu Jie, and had the Wusong and Baimao rivers dredged. The History of Ming says he enforced land surveys and the single-whip tax wherever he served. Recalled in 1585 after years out of office, he died in office at Nanjing in 1587, receiving the posthumous name Zhongjie. Wang Yongji, visiting his lodging, found only hemp curtains and battered baskets that a poor student would scorn.