Governor Tends Plague Patients in Ancient China

Xin Gongyi avoids infection and cures a cruel local custom at the same time

Part of a Qing Dynasty painting titled “Activities of the Twelve Months (The Sixth Month),” showing various activities people engage in during the month of June. One of a set of 12 hanging scroll paintings by anonymous Qing Dynasty court artists. Public Domain

When Xin Gongyi took up his new post as governor of Minzhou, he was deeply troubled by a cruel local custom. The residents had such a fear of disease that during an outbreak, family members had no qualms about abandoning their stricken loved ones to save their own lives. 

This was during the Sui Dynasty (581–618) in ancient China, when filial duty had already been established for hundreds of years as a central tenet of traditional Chinese society.