Hai Rui - Legacy

Legacy

Hai Rui's fame lives on in modern times. An article entitled "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office", was written by Communist Party official Wu Han in 1959 and later made into a Peking Opera play. Wu's play was interpreted by the Gang of Four member Yao Wenyuan as an allegorical work, in which the honest moral official Hai Rui representing the disgraced communist marshal Peng Dehuai, who was purged by Mao after criticizing the Great Leap Forward. According to Yao, the corrupt emperor in Wu's play represented Mao Zedong. The November 10, 1965, an article in a prominent Shanghai newspaper, "A Criticism of the Historical Drama 'Hai Rui Dismissed From Office'" (评新编历史剧《海瑞罢官》), written by Yao, began a propaganda campaign that eventually led to the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution the grave of Hai Rui was destroyed, but it has since been rebuilt. Yao's campaign led to the persecution and death of Wu Han.

Haikou, the largest city on Hai Rui's home island of Hainan, celebrates Hai Rui's deeds. A memorial has been constructed and his tomb is open for worship.