In 1775, during the process of collecting books for the Sìkù qúanshū (四庫全書) project, an empire-wide literary inquisition was imposed on the deceased monk Jīnshì Dánguī (今釋澹歸) (1614–80).

The Qianlong Emperor and his officials went to extraordinary lengths to posthumously prosecute a Ming-official-turned-monk for his unflattering writings about the early Qing, showing the limits of monastic withdrawal and the importance of historical memory.