Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

It is worth noting, however, that repression was not completely successful: his books have been burned and banned, but they have been reprinted on several occasions, even after his death. Circulating unorthodox writings was often considered a crime, which in Li’s case was exacerbated by his unconventional and socially “deviant” behavior. The cases discussed in this chapter are just a few of the many examples that attest to how ideological control and repression, as well as intellectual resistance and quest for social acceptance, were present in imperial China, very much like in Europe during the age of inquisition and the Enlightenment.