生平

查繼佐為查爾翰之子，生於明萬曆二十九年（1601年）七月四日。家貧多病，崇禎六年（1633年）中舉人。明亡後，隨魯王監國紹興，授兵部職方。在浙東地區親自率軍抗擊清軍。監國魯元年（1646年）清軍攻佔紹興，隱居海寧硤石東山萬石窩，改號為左尹非人。監國魯七年（1652年）於西湖覺覺堂講學，旋至杭州鐵冶嶺之敬修堂講學，從學者眾，人稱敬修先生。

康熙二年（1661年），捲入南潯莊廷鑨私刻《明史》案，列名參校，下獄論死，後因提早自首而免罪，與范驤、陸圻等三人皆獲救。遂縱情聲色。晚年喜寫梅，于清康熙十五年元月二十日戌時去世，年七十六。

著作

著有《罪惟錄》、《國壽錄》、《魯春秋》、《東山國語》、《班漢史淪》、《續西廂》等。

爭議

有證據顯示查繼佐是《明史》案檢舉者。道光以後人陳康祺于《郎潛紀聞》中推斷查繼佐應負主要責任，實在是違背「虎兕出于柙，龜玉毀于櫝」，則守土者不得推諉其過的原理。清初谷應泰《明史紀事本末》對其記載則略為平恕公允。當事人陸圻的女兒陸莘行則提到其父等三人曾向學官自首。《范氏記私史事》一書提到周亮工勸另一位當事人范驤檢舉明史案一事：「刻書列參評常事也，曷以知其禍而檢舉焉。得故周櫟園先生語余父曰偶見莊氏書，載闖逆入宮有禪表，下注龔鼎孳手筆。且言合肥（龔鼎孳）慕大范老子久以未獲一識為恨事，望速檢舉日後好相見也。但為首查某為人反覆勿使知可耳。」

傳言查繼佐曾濟助發跡前的吳六奇，後者因此在案發後營救前者，但是真實情況卻並非如此。《查繼佐年譜》裡，查繼佐本人亦否認有此事，說：「葛如，方布衣野走，世傳余有一飯之恩，懷之而思報。其實無是也。是則公在時已傳其事，故公為之辨。」乾隆時詩論家吳騫也認為此傳聞事不可靠。

Names

Zha Jizuo's given name was originally Jiyou (繼佑) before he changed it to "Jizuo" (繼佐). His courtesy name was originally Sanxiu (三秀) but was later changed to Yousan (友三). He was also known by various pseudonyms, including Yihuang (伊璜), Yuzhai (與齋), Dongshan Diaoshi (東山釣史), Dongshan Diaoyu (東山釣玉), Zuoyi Feiren (左尹非人), and Mr. Jingxiu (敬修先生).

Life under the Ming dynasty

Zha Jizuo was born in an impoverished family in Haining, Zhejiang Province, during the reign of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. His father was Zha Erhan (查爾翰). In 1633, during the early reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, he sat for the imperial examination and obtained the position of a juren (舉人).

After the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, Zha Jizuo accompanied Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu, to Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, where the latter assumed the title of Jianguo (監國; "Regent") of the Southern Ming dynasty, a state formed by Ming loyalists. Zha Jizuo was appointed as an official in the Ministry of War. When the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty invaded Zhejiang Province, Zha Jizuo joined the Southern Ming forces to resist the invaders until Shaoxing fell to Qing forces in 1646.

Life under the Qing dynasty

Zha Jizuo then went into retirement in present-day Xiashi District in Haining City, Zhejiang Province. In 1652, he moved to Hangzhou, where he taught at Juejue School (覺覺堂) near the West Lake and later at Jingxiu School (敬修堂) in Tiezhiling (鐵治嶺). He had thousands of students, who referred to him as "Mr. Jingxiu".

In 1661, during the early Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty, Zha Jizuo was implicated in a case of literary inquisition involving a merchant Zhuang Tinglong (莊廷鑨), who sponsored the publication of an unauthorised book about the history of the Ming dynasty. (This book was different from the History of Ming, which the Qing government approved.) This was because Zha Jizuo had served as a proofreader for the book. Although he was arrested and imprisoned, he was eventually released.

Two historical texts – Lang Qian Ji Wen (郎潛紀聞) and Ming Shi Ji Shi Ben Mo (明史紀事本末) – mentioned that Zha Jizuo was the one who reported the unauthorised book to the Qing government.

Another account stated that the general Wu Liuqi saved Zha Jizuo from imprisonment because he wanted to repay Zha's kindness. Zha Jizuo himself denied this account in Zha Jizuo Nianpu (查继佐年譜). Wu Qian (吳騫; 1733–1813) also wrote in Bai Jing Lou Shi Hua (拜經樓詩話) that this account was unreliable and unlikely to be true.

In his later years, Zha Jizuo wrote a number of books and other writings, including Zui Wei Lu (罪惟錄), Guo Shou Lu (國壽錄), Lu Chunqiu (魯春秋), Dongshan Guoyu (東山國語), Ban Han Shi Lun (班漢史淪), and Xu Xixiang (續西廂).

Relation to Jin Yong

Zha Jizuo was from the scholarly Zha clan of Haining, whose members include the wuxia writer Jin Yong (birth name Zha Liangyong). Jin Yong was also born in the same place as Zha Jizuo: Haining, Zhejiang. Zha Jizuo appears as a minor character in one of Jin Yong's novels, The Deer and the Cauldron.