1965年11月，上海《文匯報》發表署名姚文元的〈評新編歷史劇《海瑞罷官》〉一文，批判時任北京副市長吳晗創作的《海瑞罷官》為「十分有害」的「毒草」，由此點燃了「文革」的導火線。然而此事件的巨大影響力則遮蔽了五十年代末、六十年代初與此相關的更為細微複雜的社會、政治、文化和文藝思潮問題。實際上，自1957年至1962年，以明代歷史人物「海瑞」及其生平故事為主要題材的劇曲、小說、電影創作與改編逐漸形成了一股潮流，並出現了當代史上的「海瑞現象」。本文將返本求源，探討這些「海瑞題材」創作在不同階段、不同版本中的思想、美學價值及其時代特征，並在史料蒐羅、考證與分析之基礎上探究其生成、演變的內在文藝美學規律和外在社會歷史因素。而除文藝問題外，本文將進一步考察由這些作品之創作消長與主題變化所鏡照出的五六十年代大陸社會、政治、文化複雜多變、忽左忽右、矛盾叢生的歷史境況，尤其是部分海瑞戲「借古諷今」、「影射現實」的寓意，和彭德懷等中共領導人發揚「海瑞精神」的行為，以及「大躍進」後期農民「分田到户」的訴求和做法所牽連出的毛澤東思想變化脈絡與當代政治史情形。

In November 1965, Shanghai newspaper Wenhui Bao published an article entitled Review of the Newly Edited Historical Drama Hai Rui Dismissed from Office by Yao Wenyuan. In the article, the author criticizes that the drama Hai Rui Dismissed from Office by the deputy mayor of Beijing, Wu Han, is “a very harmful” and “poisonous weed.” This newspaper article ignited the fuse of the “Cultural Revolution.” However, the huge influence of this incident had obscured the subtle and complicated social, political, ideological and literary issues related to it in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In fact, from 1957 to 1962, dramas, novels, and movie creations and adaptations based on the Ming Dynasty historical figure Hai Rui and his private life stories, gradually formed a trend. Eventually it formed the “Hai Rui Phenomenon” in modern Chinese history. My article will return to the original sources and explore the thought, aesthetic value and the characteristics of these “Hai Rui theme” creations through different time periods and versions. Furthermore, this article also explores the aesthetic factors and socio-historical factors in the emergence and development of such creations, based on the collection, evidential study and analysis of historical data. In addition to literary and artistic issues, this article will further examine the society, politics, and culture of Mainland China in the 1950s and 1960s, which were volatile, erratic, and contradictory. My further explorations focus particularly on the changing context of Mao Zedong’s thought and the history of political struggle in modern China caused by the implications of some Hai Rui dramas. These implications included the practice of “using the past stories to satirize the present” and “insinuating the reality,” Peng Dehuai and other Chinese leaders’ acts to promote the “Spirit of Hai Rui,” as well as the demands of peasants in the late “Great Leap Forward” to “divide land to each households.”