off with his head

談文字獄色變
　　文字獄亦是清史中最不光榮的一頁，較突出的是江西考官禮部侍郎查嗣庭試題「維民所止」案例。
　　「維民所止」句出《詩經》，亦記於《大學》，全兩句為「邦畿千里，維民所止」。意譯為：「京都地廣千里，是人民居而進止之地。」
　　雍正四年，查嗣庭在江南某省主持科考，被奸人以詭言告謀反，執意「雍正」兩字去了頭頂部首，便成「維」與「止」，寓意將皇上的頭宰下。雍正輕信大怒，拘查嗣庭幽禁，查嗣庭最終屈死獄中。另一例文字獄是翰林徐駿把「陛下」誤寫成「狴下」（「狴」是形狀像虎的野獸，古時傳統將其畫在獄門上），雍正見了，認為此無疑是羞辱他為虎狼野獸，馬上把徐駿革職。後來在徐駿的詩集裡找到「清風不識字，何事亂翻書？」兩句詩，更有人落井下石，挑剔指「清風」暗喻為清朝當代，徐駿因而犯了誹謗朝廷罪而送命。
　　詩人龔自珍《詠史》詩中嘆息說：「避席畏聞文字獄，著書只為稻粱謀。」 反映文人做文章只為謀生，提及文字獄，就談虎色變。

a famous example of "word hell:" during the reign of emperor Yongzheng (18th c), a province-level examination official, in charge of administering civil service exams, put in a question using a quote from the ancient Shijing (Poetry Classic). 維民所止. the emperor's name is雍正. notice, the first and last characters of the four character quotation, resemble the name of the emperor -- but they are without the top section, the little "hat" or "roof" to the characters. the story goes that this official's enemies used this test question as evidence to the court that he wanted Yongzheng's head chopped off!

i think the real history is more complex than that. but this example of "word hell" has become a part of the folklore around the political risks of writing characters. . .