Literary inquisition refers to an unjust charge that rulers in the past used to persecute intellectuals. The emperor and his entourage deliberately excerpted words and sentences from poems and articles to make up crimes to charge against the writers. The serious offender and even his family members and relatives would be killed for the crime.

Ming (1368-1644) Emperor Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang, was an emperor born in an ordinary family, and did not have much education. After ascending the throne, he became very insidious, ferocious, suspicious and bloodthirsty. He went in a big way the literary inquisition, and beheaded many people just for characters that pricked his secret troubles.

The Qing rulers who were highly sensitive against any kind of anti-Manchu feelings on the side of Han Chinese scholar officials also carried out many literary inquisitions. They tried to ensure the correct legitimation of their rulership by ruthless "literary inquisitions". They had earlier works censored and writers imprisoned for suspected critical references to the Qing Dynasty. From Emperor Kangxi to Qianlong, there were more than 10 cases of literary inquisition, and a large number of people were killed.