Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Chu I-hai
CHU I-hai 朱以海 (T. 巨川), July 6?, 1618–1662, Oct. 28?, fifth son of Chu Shou-yung 朱壽鏞 (the eleventh Prince of Lu 魯王), was a descendant in the tenth generation of the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. In 1633 he was given the title Chên-kuo Chiang-chün 鎮國將軍, and on March 23, 1644, he became the thirteenth Prince of Lu, succeeding his brother, Chu I-p'ai 朱以派, who committed suicide (1642) when the Manchus attacked his princedom at Yenchow, Shantung. After Peking fell to Li Tzŭ-ch'êng [q. v.] on April 25, 1644, Chu I-hai abandoned Yenchow and went to south China. On June 19, 1644, Chu Yu-sung [q. v.] was enthroned at Nanking and Chu I-hai was ordered (1645) to station himself at T'ai-chou (present Lin-hai), Chekiang. When Nanking was taken by the Manchus (June 8, 1645), Ming loyalists of Chekiang straightway begged Chu I-hai to continue the cause by assuming the title "administrator of the realm" 監國. Among those who so urged him were Chang Huang-yen, Chang Ming-chên [qq. v.], Hsiung Ju-lin, Sun Chia-chi, Ch'ien Su-yüeh (for these see under Huang Tsung-hsi), Chang Kuo-wei 張國維 (玉笥, 其四, 九一, 止庵, 1594–1645, chin-shih of 1622), Chêng Tsun-ch'ien 鄭遵謙 (T. 履恭), and Huang Pin-ch'ing (see under Chang Ming-chên). After some time, on August 19, 1645, Chu I-hai assented to their appeal that he assume the title, and upon the invitation of Chang Kuo-wei, proceeded to Shaohsing, Chekiang, where a temporary court was established. Meanwhile Chu Yü-chien [q. v.] was proclaimed emperor at Foochow (August 18, 1645) and sent Liu Chung-tsao 劉中藻 (T. 薦叔, chin-shih of 1640, d. 1649), to demand the allegiance of Chu I-hai, whose supporters, however, refused to comply.
For the first few months after the establishment of his court Chu I-hai was able to consolidate his position with the aid of troops under the command of Chang Kuo-wei who recovered for him Fu-yang and Yü-ch'ien (both in Chekiang), and on December 1, 1645, pushed the Manchu forces back to the northern bank of the Ch'ien-t'ang River. An independent calendar for the new regime, constructed by Huang Tsung-hsi, was presented by Wang Chêng-chung 王正中 (T. 仲撝, 1599–1667), then magistrate of Yü-yao, Chekiang, and was adopted in the following year (1646). Realizing the importance of consolidating all the Ming forces, Chu I-hai dispatched Chang Huang-yen to Chu Yü-chien at Foochow where a partially successful attempt was made to reconcile the two courts. The generals of Chu I-hai soon began to compete for supplies sent from Foochow and one of their number, Fang Kuo-an 方國安 (T. 磐石, d. 1646), forcibly seized for himself a bounty fund designated by the court at Foochow for distribution among the generals of Chu I-hai. The commissioner, Lu Ch'ing-yüan 陸清原 (T. 嗣白, 嗣昌, H. 岫青, 鷲青, chin-shih of 1634, d. 1646, age 42 sui), appointed by Chu Yü-chien to deliver the funds, was killed in the disturbance. On July 9, 1646, when the Manchu troops attacked the Ming loyalists, Fang Kuo-an abandoned his military base and went with Chu I-hai to T'ai-chou. Consequently the Ming forces on the south bank d the Ch'ien-t'ang river were dispersed and the Manchu troops were able to cross the river four days later. In order to free himself from the dominance of Fang Kuo-an, whose loyalty he questioned, (Fang later surrendered to the Manchus), Chu I-hai fled to Hai-mên, southeast of T'ai-chou. He and Chang Ming-chên went to the Chusan Islands to join Huang Pin-ch'ing, but the latter refused to receive them. In the meantime Chu Yü-chien had been killed and his court scattered. Chêng Ts'ai 鄭彩 (d. 1659), one of the chief supporters of the Foochow Court, planned to establish another and, with that in view, welcomed Chu I-hai to Amoy where the letter arrived on December 30, 1646. Chêng Chih-lung [q. v.] having surrendered to the Manchus, suggested that Chêng Ts'ai deliver Chu I-hai to the Ch'ing forces and himself join the Manchu cause; but this Chêng Ts'ai refused to do. Later when Chêng Ch'êng-kung [q. v.] was assisting the Ming cause, he declined to receive orders from Chu I-hai, although he cooperated with Chêng Ts'ai in a campaign against the Manchu armies in Fukien.
For a period of one year (1647) Chu I-hai, now with few resources, sought safety at various places along the Fukien coast while the Ming loyalists of the province recovered Chien-ning, and twenty-seven other districts. Late in 1647 I-hai and his followers moved to Min-an, a small town near Foochow. Soon the Manchu forces started a campaign from three directions against the Ming troops and recaptured all the lost districts in Fukien except Ning-tê and Fu-an. Early in 1649 Chu took refuge in Sha-ch'êng, a town on the Fukien coast east of Fu-ting. A few months later Ning-tê and Fu-an also fell to the Manchus. In the meantime Chang Ming-chên occupied Chien-t'iao-so, a coastal town southeast of Ninghai, Chekiang, and there welcomed Chu I-hai on August 12, 1649. Chu maintained a small court supported by a group of his loyal followers, including Huang Tsung-hsi, Chang Huang-yen and a few others, on a boat known as the "Water Palace" (水殿). Three months later (November 23, 1649) he moved his headquarters to Chusan which had been captured from Huang Pin-ch'ing by the Ming troops under Chang Ming-chên. For two years the administration of the Chusan regime showed little progress in its struggle with the Manchu forces on the mainland, and vainly asked help from Japan. In 1651 the Manchu forces, commanded by Ch'ên Chin (see under Chang Ming-chên), attacked the Ming loyalists at Chusan, capturing that place on October 15, 1651. Chu I-hai, under the protection of Chang Ming-chên, fled again to Amoy and later moved to the near-by island of Chin-mên where he was supported financially by Chêng Ch'êng-kung, until 1653 when Chu renounced his title, "administrator of the realm". Thereafter Chu I-hai played no important rôle in the restoration of the Ming regime, even after Chu Yu-lang [q. v.] re-instated him, in 1659, as "administrator of the realm". He died three years later (1662) at Chin-mên. Some sources put the date of his death as December 31, or 23, but according to Cha Chi-tso [q. v.], it was October 28.
[M.1/116/14b; M.35/6/1a; M.41/10/57a and following; Cha Chi-tso, Tsui-wei lu (紀) 19/19a; idem., Lu ch'un-ch'iu, passim; 同安縣志 T'ung-an hsien-chih (1929) 27/2b; Huang Chung-ch'in 黃仲琴 and Hsia T'ing-yü 夏廷棫, 金門明監國魯王墓 National Sun Yat-sen University Bulletin of Language and History vol. VI, no. 69; Hsieh Kuo-chên, W.M.S.C.K., chüan 12.]
J. C. Yang