Hai Rui, a native of Qiongshan in Hainan (present-day Haikou), was an upright man and an incorruptible official who severely punished corrupt officials, earning deep affection from the people; as a renowned honest official of the Ming Dynasty, he was later honored with the title "Hai Qingtian" (Hai the Clear Sky).
Hai Rui lost his father in childhood and depended solely on his mother for survival. Like Mencius's mother, Hai's mother deeply understood the importance of early childhood education, so she had her son study the Classic of Filial Piety and the Book of Documents during his early years.The Doctrine of the Mean》and other Confucian classics, hoping her son would develop proper Confucian values. However, Mother Hai was overly strict with her son, depriving him of the right to play like other children, which left Hai Rui well-read but unable to get along well with others due to his withdrawn personality.
In the twenty-eighth year of the Jiajing reign (1550), the thirty-five-year-old Hai Rui passed the provincial examination and was appointed as a school instructor in Nanping, Fujian. When a supervising official came to inspect Nanping County, Hai Rui and two other instructors went to greet him. In the officialdom of the time, subordinates were generally expected to kneel and announce their names when receiving a superior. The other two instructors did exactly that, but Hai Rui only performed a fist-and-palm salute, and the three of them stood in a formation resembling a brush rest. Enraged, the supervising official scolded Hai Rui for being discourteous, but Hai Rui replied with neither humility nor arrogance: "According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, as a dignified instructor and a model for others, I cannot perform the kneeling bow to you." This left the supervising official with no recourse. As a result, Hai Rui earned the nickname "Hai Brush Rest."
After several years, Hai Rui was promoted to the magistrate of Chun'an County in Yanzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang, due to his outstanding performance in evaluations. By this time in the Ming Dynasty, social corruption was rampant; when high-ranking officials and nobles passed through counties, they not only expected lavish banquets but also generous gifts. This trend gradually spread, so that even the sons and attendants of officials demanded grand receptions from local authorities. Chun'an County, located on a major north-south transport route, was burdened with endless social obligations, and with its local economy lagging, the people suffered greatly. Upon taking office, Hai Rui strictly adhered to standard protocols when receiving officials, showing no leniency even to the powerful. One day, the son of Governor Hu Zongxian, known as Young Master Hu, passed through Chun'an County. When the courier station staff served him a meal, he found it lacking in delicacies and, believing they had deliberately slighted him, angrily overturned the table and ordered his attendants to tie up the station officer, hang him from a tree, and whip him harshly. Upon hearing of Young Master Hu's brutality from his subordinates, Hai Rui rushed over and declared, "In the past, when Governor Hu inspected various regions, he always instructed that no extravagance be shown along his route. This gentleman's grand display cannot possibly be that of Governor Hu's son!" He then confiscated all the gold, silver, and treasures that Young Master Hu had extorted along the way, expelled him from Chun'an County, and immediately sent a letter to Hu Zongxian, solemnly reporting, "Someone claiming to be your son has been bullying the people along the route. I believe Governor Hu could not have such a son, so this must be an impostor. To avoid tarnishing your honorable reputation, I have confiscated his valuables and banished him from the county." Upon receiving the letter, Hu Zongxian did not blame Hai Rui. In this way, Hai Rui cleverly thwarted Young Master Hu's exploitation and extortion.
When the Censor-in-Chief Yan Maoxing inspected Chun'an County, the food and drink provided were extremely simple. Hai Rui loudly declared that the county was too small to accommodate so many carriages and horses. Although Yan Maoxing was very angry, because he had long heard of Hai Rui's reputation for integrity, he could only leave in resentment.
Hai Rui also vigorously implemented land surveys, enforced the Single Whip Law, repeatedly overturned wrongful convictions, and strictly cracked down on corrupt officials. These measures benefited the common people, earning him widespread popular support.
Also in the 28th year of the Jiajing reign, Hai Rui returned to his hometown to honor his ancestors, where he witnessed government troops killing Li ethnic minority compatriots. Out of indignation, he submitted the "Strategies for Governing the Li" and the "Memorial on Pacifying the Li," in which he explained the significance and methods of handling ethnic conflicts, and proposed building roads and establishing county seats to stabilize the region, making significant contributions to the peaceful governance of Hainan.
Later, Hai Rui was convicted by Salt Inspector Yuan Chun for having previously offended Yan Maoging and was demoted to the position of Assistant Magistrate of Xingguo Prefecture. In the forty-fifth year of the Jiajing reign (1566), Hai Rui was promoted to the post of Secretary of the Yunnan Department of the Ministry of Revenue on the recommendation of Minister of Personnel Lu Guangzu. By this time, the great traitor Yan Song had already fallen from power, but Emperor Shizong, Zhu Houcong, still neglected state affairs, spending his days secluded in the Western Park, devoted to setting up altars and seeking the Dao. None of the court officials dared to speak frankly about current governance. Hai Rui purchased a coffin, bid farewell to his wife, dismissed his servants, and then submitted a memorial criticizing the emperor for his superstition in witchcraft, his extravagant lifestyle, and his neglect of state affairs, urging him to return to governing. Upon reading it, the emperor angrily threw the memorial to the ground and ordered Hai Rui's immediate arrest to prevent his escape. Eunuch Huang Jin told the emperor that Hai Rui had always been foolish; it was said that when submitting the memorial, he knew he was offending his sovereign, so he bought a coffin and parted from his wife, awaiting punishment from the court—he would not flee. Hearing this, the emperor was left speechless. Not long after, the emperor read Hai Rui's memorial repeatedly, sometimes raging furiously, sometimes sighing deeply, torn by inner conflict. He could only keep the memorial in the palace for several months, saying, "This man can be compared to Bi Gan, but I am not King Zhou of Shang." He also said, "If I could discuss state affairs in a side hall, how could I suffer this man's reproach?" Then he arrested Hai Rui and investigated who had instigated him. After the indictment was submitted, the emperor kept it in the palace. A clerk in the Ministry of Revenue named He Yishang, sensing that the emperor had no intention of killing Hai Rui, submitted a memorial requesting his release. The emperor was furious and ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to give He Yishang one hundred strokes of the cane and interrogate him day and night under torture. Grand Secretary Xu Jie did his utmost to save Hai Rui, while Minister Huang Guangsheng compared Hai Rui's memorial to a son scolding his father to mitigate his crime, and took the opportunity to keep Hai Rui in prison. In December of the same year, Emperor Shizong died, and Emperor Muzong ascended the throne. Only then were Hai Rui and He Yishang released.
In the third year of the Longqing era of Emperor Muzong (1569), Hai Rui was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief, and as always, he punished corrupt officials, cracked down on powerful bullies, and built water conservancy projects. Among the people, a ballad praising him circulated: "Hai Gangfeng fears not death, covets no money, neither bullies the weak nor fears the strong—truly a man of iron!" This reflects Hai Rui's spirit of "not being soft on the weak or afraid of the strong." Thus, the people called him "Hai Qingtian" (Hai the Clear Sky). Soon after, because of his uprightness and incorruptibility as an official, he was sidelined and subsequently spent a long period at home without office.
In the early Wanli era, Zhang Juzheng was in charge of the imperial court. Although he admired Hai Rui's character and court officials repeatedly recommended Hai Rui for a position, Zhang never appointed him, believing Hai Rui was excessively upright. One year, Zhang Juzheng's son took the imperial examinations in Hai Rui's hometown. Upon hearing this, Hai Rui immediately wrote to warn the examiners not to cheat, and as a result, Zhang's son indeed failed the exam. Zhang Juzheng was furious and ordered the imperial censor to investigate Hai Rui. When the censor arrived, Hai Rui entertained him with a simple meal of chicken. Seeing Hai Rui's humble dwelling and meager lifestyle, the censor sighed and left. After hearing the censor's report, Zhang Juzheng also let out a long sigh and abandoned his intention to punish Hai Rui.
Hai Rui lived in retirement at home for sixteen years, and it was not until the thirteenth year of the Wanli era (1585) that he was reappointed to office. Before this, Emperor Shenzong had repeatedly wanted to summon Hai Rui for service, but because the grand secretaries in charge of state affairs secretly obstructed it, the emperor could only appoint Hai Rui as the Right Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing. The various government offices had long been accustomed to negligence and laziness, so Hai Rui personally set an example to correct these abuses, continuing to prohibit the private acceptance of bribes and strictly punishing corrupt officials. At that time, Hai Rui was already seventy-two years old. He submitted a memorial stating that he was old and near death, and wished to emulate the ancients by offering a deathbed remonstrance, hoping that the emperor would adopt the Ming founder's law that "anyone who perverts the law and accepts bribes amounting to eighty strings of cash shall be sentenced to death" to punish corrupt officials. Furthermore, he earnestly discussed current political affairs. A censor impeached Hai Rui, arguing that it was wrong for a minister to urge the emperor to use harsh punishments. Although Emperor Shenzong also thought Hai Rui's words were excessive, he knew that Hai Rui was loyal, and therefore did not punish him.
Hai Rui was an incorruptible official throughout his life, deeply loved by the people, but his marriage life was far from happy. Due to his mother's strict upbringing, Hai Rui never understood what happiness was and often brought misfortune to his wives. He married three wives and took two concubines. His first wife bore him two daughters but was divorced because she clashed with Hai Rui's mother. His second wife was also divorced after just one month of marriage for the same reason. As for his third wife, she died suddenly without cause. One of his concubines also committed suicide before the third wife's sudden death. However, Hai Rui was extremely filial to his mother, even sleeping in the same room with her until he was thirty or forty years old, completely unable to be independent. Therefore, the unhappiness in Hai Rui's marriage was largely due to his mother.
In the fifteenth year of the Wanli era (1587), Hai Rui died while in office. On his deathbed, he was still worried about owing the Ministry of Revenue five coins for firewood. Hai Rui was cared for in his final days by Wang Yongji, a Censor-in-Chief of the Nanjing Censorate, who wept upon seeing that Hai Rui's household was even poorer than that of some impoverished scholars. When the common people learned of Hai Rui's death, they donned mourning clothes to see him off, and their wails of grief could be heard for over a hundred miles without end.