Zhongxian Wu

The literary inquisition (simplified Chinese: 文字狱; traditional Chinese: 文字獄; pinyin: wénzìyù; lit. 'imprisonment due to writings'), also known as speech crime (以言入罪), refers to official persecution of intellectuals for their writings in China. The Hanyu Da Cidian defines it as "when a ruler persecuted intellectuals by deliberately extracting words or phrases from an author's writings to fabricate charges against them." ("旧时谓统治者为迫害知识分子，故意从其著作中摘取字句，罗织成罪"). The Qing dynasty was particularly notorio…