Líng Yìqú 凌義渠 (1593 – 26 April 1644), zì Jùnfǔ 駿甫, hào Míngkē 茗柯; native of Wūchéng 烏程 (Zhīlǐzhèn 織里鎮 in modern Húzhōu, Zhèjiāng). Jǔrén of Tiānqǐ 4 / 1624, jìnshì of Tiānqǐ 5 / yǐchǒu (1625). Appointed Lǐkē jǐshìzhōng (Supervising Secretary, Office of Scrutiny for Rites) in Chóngzhēn 3 / 1630; held that jiànyuán (remonstrance) office for nine years, in which time he submitted dozens of memorials, including the celebrated Qǐng yuán Sānhé zhīxiàn Liú Wěi zécháng xiǎngyín shū (on the impoverishment of magistracies by ration-collection), memorials on factional restraint of the yánlù (avenue of remonstrance), the unfit performance of the Zhōngshūshěng central administration, and the East-River (Dōngjiāng) revolt. He later went out as Fújiàn cānzhèng, was promoted to àncháshǐ there, transferred as Shāndōng yòu bùzhèngshǐ, recalled as Nánjīng Guānglùsì qīng, and serving as Acting Yīngtiānfǔ yǐn. In Chóngzhēn 16 / 1643 he was promoted to Dàlǐsì qīng (Chief Justice, Court of Judicial Review). When Lǐ Zìchéng’s forces broke Běijīng on the nineteenth day of the third month of Chóngzhēn 17 (24 April 1644) and the Chóngzhēn emperor hanged himself at Méishān, Líng — having waited at the Chángānmén in vain — beat his head bloody against the yá-pillar in lamentation, sat alone burning his cherished books, and on the dawn of the twentieth day (= 26 April 1644) donned purple robes, performed the rite of facing the throne, wrote a final letter to his parents — ‘To exhaust one’s loyalty is to exhaust one’s filial piety; that I am able to die will surely save my father from disgrace’ — and hanged himself, aged fifty-two. The Southern-Míng Hóngguāng court posthumously raised him to Xíngbù shàngshū and canonised him Zhōngqīng 忠清; under the Qīng he was further canonised Zhōngjiè 忠介, whence the WYG title Líng Zhōngjiègōng jí (KR4e0241). He destroyed his own writings before death; the surviving 6 juǎn (4 of verse, 2 of prose) were edited by his friend 徐汧’s disciple 姜垓. Míngshǐ j. 265. CBDB 34757.