Tales of the Shaoxing Private Secretaries

These tales are a folk-literature tradition of Shaoxing's Keqiao district, built around the 'shiye' — the Shaoxing-born private secretaries and legal clerks who served officialdom in Ming-Qing times — portraying their resourcefulness and command of law through anecdote. They entered Zhejiang's second provincial ICH list in 2007.

Holding no official rank and serving only their patrons, the secretaries were most active across nearly four centuries from the late Ming to the Qing — so common that 'no yamen ran without a Shaoxing man.' Keqiao sustains the tales through heritage bases and collected volumes, with Anchang town a key centre.

The secretary culture is a distinctive Shaoxing phenomenon, and the tales illuminate Ming-Qing administration and local society; the Shiye Hall in Anchang old town serves as its showcase.

The Shiye Hall in Anchang old town is the main place to learn about Shaoxing's secretary culture.