Hai Rui Dismissed from Office

Hai Rui Dismissed from Office
Original title海瑞罢官
Written byWu Han
Date premiered1962
Place premieredBeijing
Original languageMandarin Chinese
Genretragedy
Hai Rui Dismissed from Office
Traditional Chinese罷官
Simplified Chinese海瑞罢官
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHǎi Ruì bàguān
Wade–GilesHai3 Jui4 Pa4-kuan1

Hai Rui Dismissed from Office (Chinese: 海瑞罢官; also called Dismissal of Hai Jui in English) is a stage play, written by Wu Han (1909–1969), notable for its involvement in Chinese politics during the Cultural Revolution. The play itself focused on a loyal Ming minister named Hai Rui, who was portrayed as a savior to passive peasants for whom he reversed unjust land confiscations. The play became a center of scholarly and political controversy because of its implications for debates within the communist party, including at the Lushan Conference, regarding the political role of peasants going forward in light of the failures during the Great Leap Forward.