The Case of Cui Zhu's Assassination of Duke Zhuang and the Martyred Historians

In 548 BC, Duke Zhuang of Qi conducted an affair with Tang Jiang, the wife of the powerful minister Cui Zhu. Humiliated, Cui Zhu feigned illness and lured the Duke to his residence, where guards ambushed and killed the Duke. The Grand Historian of Qi recorded, "Cui Zhu murdered his sovereign." Enraged, Cui Zhu executed the historian. The historian's first younger brother succeeded him and wrote the same entry, only to be killed. The second younger brother did likewise and also met his death. The third brother again steadfastly wrote the truth, and Cui Zhu, realizing he could not silence the record, finally relented. Meanwhile, another historian, Nan Shi, believing the entire family had perished, was on his way with bamboo slips to ensure the truth was recorded, but turned back upon learning it had been written. This episode immortalized the unwavering commitment of ancient Chinese historians to factual accuracy, even at the cost of their lives.

No formal trial occurred; Cui Zhu summarily executed the historians. He failed to erase the truth from the annals. Years later, Cui Zhu's clan was destroyed in internal power struggles, and he committed suicide.

The core dispute was whether a historian had an absolute duty to record facts truthfully despite mortal threats from political power, and whether a powerful official could legitimately kill historians to alter the historical narrative. It highlights the tension between tyrannical authority and the ethic of truthful record-keeping.

This case became a defining symbol of historiographical integrity in Chinese culture. The phrase "the Qi historians' bamboo slips" is cited in Wen Tianxiang's "Song of Righteousness" as a model of moral courage. It reinforced the tradition that official historians must resist censorship and record events without fear or favor, influencing Chinese historiography for millennia and establishing the principle that true power ultimately lies in the unalterable written word.