On this date in 1661, scholar Jin Shengtan — the “father of vernacular Chinese literature” — was executed.

Jin Shengtan (English Wikipedia entry | Chinese) had the misfortune of reaching his intellectual maturity amid the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and the ensuing chaotic transition to the Qing.

In those years he contributed a perspicacious literary commentary that resides to this day in the canon of Chinese letters; his criticism is credited with raising the stature of Chinese vernacular literature, for instance via his meticulous analysis of Water Margin — now rated as one of the four classic Chinese novels.

In 1661, Jin took part in a protest against official corruption whose violent suppression is remembered to Chinese history as the “Lamenting at the Temple of Confucius”. Jin’s particular lament — probably apocryphal but too good not to repeat — has been remembered as a jest from the edge of the grave: “Being beheaded is the most painful thing, but for some reason it’s going to happen to me. Fancy that!”

On this day..

• 2001: Vishal and Sonu, honor killings
• 1849: Celigny Ardouin, Haitian Minister of the Interior
• 1849: Ernst Elsenhans, Rastatt revolutionary
• 1844: William Saville, brutalising scene
• 1933: The Simele Massacre of Iraq's Assyrians begins
• 2009: Li Peiying, corrupt aviation kingpin
• 1864: Li Xiucheng, Taiping Rebellion general
• 1896: Charles Thiede, the first since Utah statehood
• 1930: Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, strange fruit
• 1936: The Sacred Heart, by Spanish leftists
• 1859: Ormond Chase, casus belli not quite
• 1777: A British spy, by Israel Putnam