Shushi

by Keith Hopkins

"This world is too crazy, full of the temptations of money and women. The rich are born in luxury villas, driving Ferraris everywhere to eat, drink, and have fun, spending a lot of money and surrounded by alluring and sexy women. The poor have to beg everywhere, being ridiculed and mocked during their lifetime, and their ashes scattered because they cannot afford a burial plot. Dai Liang, a corrupt official in the Qing Dynasty, is the most obvious example. Everyone knows that he was rich beyond comparison. After he was executed by the emperor, his descendants buried his body under seven pine trees in Jizhou. hasty burial, they even invited the famous longevity master Zhou Huan to preside over the funeral, and famous calligraphers and painters wrote couplets and created paintings as burial accompaniments. But Dai Liang was extremely utilitarian. He left a last wish before his death, that some celebrities should accompany him in death to prove his former wealth and status. Zhou Huan was one of them. ropes and he was buried alive in Dai Liang's tomb. His soul went to the underworld filled with hatred..."

73 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 22, 2023

About the author

Morris Keith Hopkins was a British historian and sociologist. He was professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge from 1985 to 2000.
Hopkins had a relatively unconventional route to the Cambridge professorship. After Brentwood School, he graduated in classics at King's College, Cambridge in 1958. He spent time as a graduate student, much influenced by Moses Finley, but left before completing his doctorate for an assistant lectureship in sociology at the University of Leicester (1961–63).
He returned to Cambridge as a research fellow at King's College, Cambridge (1963–67) while at the same time taking a lectureship at the London School of Economics, before spending two years as professor of sociology at Hong Kong University (1967–69) After a further two years at the LSE (1970–72), he moved to Brunel University as professor of sociology in 1972, also serving as dean of the social sciences faculty from 1981 to 1985.
In 1985 he was elected to the Cambridge chair in ancient history. The fullest account of his career and significance as an ancient historian is in his British Academy necrology (W.V. Harris, Proceedings of the British Academy 130 (2005), 3–27).