ABSTRACT
A ll the while, however, L i Chih earned much notoriety among the scholar-officials fo r his iconoclastic conduct and eccentric behavior, fo r his indifference to the established social e ti quette and customs, but above a ll, fo r his v itr io lic attacks on the Confucian doctrines and the traditional social and po litica l institutions. His trenchant critic ism s and self-righteous a tti tudes subsequently provoked the conservative scho lar-o ffic ia l Keng Ting-hsiang政 免 句 (1570-1596) and his associates. They condemned him as a heretical rebel against the orthodox ideology and treacherous renegade to the dynastic establish ment. However, L i Chih refused to yield, continued to voice opposition in speeches and w ritings 一 even shaving his hair in 1588 like a Buddhist monk to show his determination 一 and attracted considerable following from the sympathetic and d is sident inte llectuals， Finally, his carping critic ism s and a r rogant attitudes enraged the chief supervising secretary in the m in istry of R ites, Chang W en-ta淡 問 道 (cs 1583，d. 1625). In A p ril 1602, he drew up an indictment before Emperor Shentsung神 ^ ( r . 1573-1620), impeaching L i Chih fo r his im m oral conduct, deviant behavior, relentless attacks on the Confucian orthodoxy, and attempt to misguide the people with his heretical philosophy. Thereupon, L i Chih was incarcerated by the au thorities at T Tung-chou i^tH , near Peking, to be sent back to his native place fo r tr ia l as a heretical tra ito r, and a ll his w ritings were proscribed as heterodox and dangerous. A month la te r, however, he committed suicide in prison while waiting to be extradited, ending his life at the age of seventytwo as a m artyr fa ith fu l to his independent character and in te llectual conviction.0
