Hai Rui was a politician in the Ming Dynasty and a famous upright official in history. He was born on January 12, 1515 in Qiongzhou, Guangdong (now Haikou City, Hainan Island). He died of illness on November 13, 1587 at the age of 73.

Hai Rui experienced four emperors: Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in his life. It was the era when the Ming Dynasty went from its heyday to its decline. He was born in a declining feudal bureaucratic family. His father passed away when he was 4 years old, and the family only had more than ten acres of land. His mother, Xie, who was only 28 years old at that time, was upright and strong. She did not remarry or ask for help. She helped her poor and raised Hai Rui to grow up. Hai Rui was very filial to his mother and often asked his mother for advice when he encountered difficulties in being an official. His family background made him closer to the poor, and he maintained the quality of hard work and plain living throughout his life. Even though he had been an official for many years, on his mother's birthday, he only bought two kilograms of meat to improve her life, which was in sharp contrast to the bureaucrats who spent more than 1000 taels of silver for a meal and even had to be made of silver for a toilet pot. Hai Rui has never accepted gifts from others, nor has he ever purchased an acre of land. On weekdays, I grow my own vegetables and my family go up the mountain to gather firewood. Three days before his death, he discovered that the firewood money he deserved from the Ministry of War was 7 taels of silver more, and he immediately asked someone to send it back. After his death, when his colleagues counted his belongings, they found that all the family wealth was only the salary they deserved for the month. Even the funeral was held by their colleagues. Chen Hailou, the censor who was severely punished by Hai Rui for corruption, has always held a grudge against Hai Rui. After Hai Rui died, he personally visited Hai Rui's house and found that Hai Rui's life was more miserable than that of ordinary poor scholars. His grudge immediately turned into admiration.

Hai Rui was upright and upright all his life, calling himself a strong front. As early as when he was a teacher in Nanping County, Fujian Province, he was known as the "Doctor Bijian" because it was rumored that he was the only one who sat in the middle and did not kneel when he and two other instructors welcomed the censor. He said that this was a school, not a yamen, and should not kneel down to accept it. Hai Rui hated bullies, sympathized with the sufferings of the people, and dared to fight against those local tyrants and evil gentry who deprived farmers of their land. Even Xu Jie, the largest landlord in Jiangnan, who was a prime minister and was indebted to him, was still ordered to take the lead in withdrawing "half" of his land from the farmers. He insisted on implementing the Equalization Tax Law that reduced the burden on the people and opposed exploitation among officials at all levels. He also personally led the people in building the Wusong River Water Conservancy by using work-in-aid methods to benefit the people.

Hai Rui is full of righteousness and is not afraid of evil. When he was promoted to the head of the Ministry of Revenue, he saw that the border was troubled. The Jiajing Emperor did not care about state affairs. He built palaces and temples, cultivated and refined alchemy, and only wanted to become immortal. He ignored the lives and lives of the people. He asked for the people and published the "Public Security Bulletin", asking the emperor to rectify the court's program. Therefore, he angered the emperor and was almost sentenced to capital punishment. Some officials with a sense of justice helped to save them, and were later imprisoned in Zhao Prison. Hai Rui was dismissed from office at the age of 56 and was able to come back at the age of 72, which proves that his "world-shaking reputation" recorded in historical books is no exaggeration.

After the death of Hai Rui, the people were extremely sad and wept for many days. At the funeral on the river, people stood on both sides of the river wearing white crowns in mourning. In order to commemorate him, later generations have composed many operas, novels, and other works to express his glorious image, and his achievements will never be lost.