Dōngguān zòujì 東觀奏記
Memorial-Records from the Eastern Observatory by 裴庭裕 (compiler)
(The catalog meta gives the surname as 斐庭裕 in error; the standard form, used by the Xīn Tángshū “Chancellors’ Family Tables” and by the Sìkù tiyao, is 裴庭裕.)
About the work
A late-Táng court historiographical draft compiled by Péi Tíngyù 裴庭裕 (fl. 880s–890s) during his service in the Bureau of Historiography (shǐguǎn 史館), where he was one of the five scholars assigned in Lónɡjì 1 (889) by chief minister Dù Ràngnéng 杜讓能 to the joint compilation of the Sānshèng shílù 三聖實錄. Péi was specifically responsible for the Xuānzōng shílù 宣宗實錄. Because the daily qǐjū zhù 起居注 records of the Xuānzōng reign (846–859) had perished entirely in the chaos of the late-Táng wars, Péi gathered firsthand testimony of those who had been at court in those years and submitted this 3-juǎn draft (literally “memorial records”) to Dù Ràngnéng for archiving and scholarly use. It is therefore the principal surviving source for the political history of the Xuānzōng reign and was extensively drawn on by Sīmǎ Guāng for the Tōngjiàn.
Tiyao
Composed by Péi Tíngyù 裴庭裕 of Táng. Tíngyù is sometimes written 廷裕; zì Yīngyú 膺餘. He was a man of Wénxǐ 聞喜 and held office as Right Reminder (yòu bǔquē 右補闕). His name appears in the “Chancellors’ Family Tables” of the Xīn Tángshū, in the eastern branch of the Péi clan. Wáng Dìngbǎo 王定保’s Zhíyán 摭言 says of him that during the Qiánníng 乾寧 reign (894–898) he was at the inner court and was so quick at literary drafting he was nicknamed “Down-stream Boat” (xià shuǐ chuán 下水船). Otherwise nothing is preserved of his career. His book is exclusively concerned with the affairs of the Xuānzōng 宣宗 reign. The author’s preface says: “From [Xuānzōng’s] accession from his Shòu princely residence onward, in [Lóngjì] 2 [actually 1, 889] the Director of the Office of Historiography, Chief Minister Duke of Jìn Dù Ràngnéng 杜讓能, submitted a memorial requesting that fifteen learned scholars be selected to divide the work of compiling the Three-Sage Veritable Records (i.e. of Xuānzōng, Yìzōng, and Xīzōng). The Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel Liǔ Pín 柳玭, the Right Reminder Péi Tíngyù 裴庭裕, the Left Recorder Sūn Tài 孫泰, the Vice Director of Posts and Carriages Lǐ Yǔn 李允, and the Tàicháng Bóshì Zhèng Guāngtíng 鄭光庭 were specifically assigned to the Xuānzōng shílù. From Xuānzōng’s reign down to the present is now nearly forty years; the Central Plain has fallen into chaos; not one character of the daily qǐjū zhù survives. Respectfully I have collected what I have heard and seen, composed the present three juǎn, and submit it to the Duke of Jìn for the archive, to assist in scholarly discussion.” This is therefore a draft submitted to the Director of the Office of Historiography while Péi was at the bureau. The end of the preface gives no date. Examining: Dù Ràngnéng was concurrently appointed Vice Director of the Chancellery (ménxià shìláng 門下侍郎) in the 3rd month of Lóngjì 1 (889); in the 12th month he became Minister of Public Works (sītú 司徒); in Jǐngfú 1 (892) he was Defender-in-Chief (tàiwèi 太尉); in Jǐngfú 2 (893) he was demoted and died. The 2nd year of Zhāozōng was Dàshùn 1 (890). When the preface says “submitted to the Director of the Office of Historiography Duke of Jìn,” this must therefore fall in the Dàshùn–Jǐngfú interval. The “nearly forty years from Xuānzōng to the present” is a rounded reckoning from Dàzhōng (847–860) onward. If reckoned from the last year of Xuānzōng, “forty years” would point to early Guānghuà 光化 (898), by which time Dù Ràngnéng had long been dead and no submission to him was possible. The book’s record of events is generally well-formed, head and tail intact. Sīmǎ Guāng in the Tōngjiàn drew on it heavily but did not always trust it. Where what one has heard and seen is recent, the reporting of recent events is usually accurate; where personal grievances and gratitudes are not yet exhausted, the reporting of recent events is also often slanted. This has always been so, not just in this book.
Abstract
The Dōngguān zòujì is the principal surviving source for the politics of the Xuānzōng 宣宗 reign of the late Táng (846–859), and it is also one of the most candid late-Táng court records, since the author was a participant-observer in the bureaucratic memory it records. Péi Tíngyù 裴庭裕 (zì Yīngyú 膺餘, of Wénxǐ 聞喜 in modern Shānxī, of the Eastern Branch of the Hédōng Péi clan) was assigned in Lóngjì 1 (889) by chief minister Dù Ràngnéng 杜讓能 to the team of five scholars (with Liǔ Pín 柳玭, Sūn Tài 孫泰, Lǐ Yǔn 李允, and Zhèng Guāngtíng 鄭光庭) charged with compiling the Xuānzōng shílù 宣宗實錄 — one of three Táng veritable records being attempted in the Sāntáo dynasty’s last decade. Because the daily qǐjū zhù 起居注 records of Xuānzōng’s reign had been entirely destroyed in the wars of the late 9th century, Péi was forced to collect oral testimony from surviving court personnel who had served Xuānzōng. The 3-juǎn result was submitted to Dù Ràngnéng before Dù’s death in 893, hence the date bracket here (Dàshùn 1 to Jǐngfú 2, 890–893). The work is therefore an ad hoc memorial-record (zòujì 奏記) submitted to the Director of the Office of Historiography for archiving rather than a formal shílù; the formal Xuānzōng shílù into which the team’s work was to be redacted appears never to have been completed, and the Dōngguān zòujì survives as an independent text. Sīmǎ Guāng drew on it heavily for the Xuānzōng portion of the Zīzhì tōngjiàn but treated some passages with caution, since the firsthand reporting was naturally also a vehicle for the personal animosities of court factions still unsettled. The Sìkù base text is the manuscript copy from the Tiānyī gé 天一閣 of the Fàn Mǎozhù 范懋柱 family of Zhèjiāng. Péi’s nickname xiàshuǐ chuán 下水船 (literally “down-stream boat,” i.e. very fast) was earned during his Qiánníng-period (894–898) court service.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature dedicated specifically to this work located.
- Denis Twitchett. 1992. The Writing of Official History under the T’ang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, esp. ch. 5–6. Discusses the structure of the late-Táng shíguǎn and the failed Sānshèng shílù project.
- Tián Tíngfāng 田廷芳. 1994. Dōngguān zòujì jiàozhù 東觀奏記校注. Beijing: Zhōnghuá shūjú. Standard modern annotated edition.
- Hú Sānxǐng 胡三省, throughout his commentary on the Zīzhì tōngjiàn’s Xuānzōng juǎn, regularly compares Sīmǎ Guāng’s reading with the Dōngguān zòujì original.
Other points of interest
The Dōngguān zòujì is the most circumstantial late-Táng source on Xuānzōng’s celebrated suspicion of his ministers, his personal interventions in administrative routine, and his cultivation of a reputation for learning — all themes developed at length by Sīmǎ Guāng. It is also a rare survivor of the genre of zòujì (memorial-records / submitted draft) from the medieval shíguǎn.