Shìzōng Xiànhuángdì shàngyù nèigé 世宗憲皇帝上諭內閣
Yōngzhèng’s Imperial Pronouncements to the Grand Secretariat by 允祿 (奉敕編), 弘晝 (續編)
About the work
The principal compilation of Yōngzhèng-period yùzhǐ 諭旨 (imperial pronouncements) issued through the Nèigé 內閣 (Grand Secretariat) channel — i.e. those concerning general administration as opposed to the Banner-specific pronouncements collected separately as KR2f0007. In 159 juàn total, the work was begun under Yǔnlù 允祿’s editorship in Yōngzhèng 7 (1729), submitted in Yōngzhèng 9 (1731) covering the years 1722–1729, then continued under the Héqīnwáng 和親王 Hóngzhòu 弘晝’s editorship after Yōngzhèng’s death and completed in Qiánlóng 6 (1741), covering 1730–1735. The compiled work is the most important Yōngzhèng-era imperial-document collection.
Tiyao
Shàngyù nèigé, 159 juàn. In Yōngzhèng 7 (1729), Shìzōng Xiànhuángdì (the Yōngzhèng emperor) acceded to the request of his court ministers and commanded Héshuò Zhuāngqīnwáng Yǔnlù 允祿 to make a fair copy and have it printed; the contents began with his accession and ended with that year. The work was completed in Yōngzhèng 9 (1731). After our present emperor (Qiánlóng) ascended the throne, he further commanded Héshuò Héqīnwáng Hóngzhòu 弘晝 to edit further the imperial pronouncements of Yōngzhèng 8 to 13 (1730–1735), to collate and continue the printing as a complete work; this was completed in Qiánlóng 6 (1741). The original recensions had each month separately demarcated, without numbering of juàn; we have respectfully followed the original sequence and ordered the work into 159 juàn. The original also bore no work-title; we have respectfully understood that the imperial pronouncements were chiefly issued through the Nèigé (Grand Secretariat), and have therefore titled it Shàngyù nèigé to distinguish it from Shàngyù bāqí (and the related Banner compilations). — Examining: under our state’s old institutions, the Three Inner Palace Halls were first established, then changed to the Nèigé to issue the lúnyīn (silken pronouncements). The various sage emperors held the Qiángāng 乾綱 (the Heavenly Bond, i.e. supreme authority) singly. Since the introduction of zòuzhé memorials, all matters were addressed by the emperor in person from his exalted seat, brushing the vermilion himself; among the ministers in attendance, none could add a single word — this is what is called Zhūpī yùzhǐ (the vermilion-rescript imperial pronouncements). Where the tíběn memorials, by way of piàonǐ (Grand Secretariat draft proposals), bore upon two-fork matters, double slips were respectfully made and submitted, none daring to act unilaterally. As for special imperial xùngào — those drafted by ministers within the Forbidden Precincts — if the slightest detail failed to convey the imperial intent, the emperor himself amended it with vermilion brush, blotting and inserting; nor did any minister dare interpose private will. After the emperor’s review, the document was promulgated through the Grand Secretariat to be made public — there was no possibility, as in earlier ages, of grand councillors usurping authority through pīdá (rescript-replies). These 159 juàn are nominally edited by the ministerial servants, but in substance no different from imperial despatches and hand-edicts. The labour-by-night-and-dawn that the Yōngzhèng emperor took up, and the integrity with which he held the kuíbǐng (the great handle of authority), can be read off through the ages by reverent perusal. Our present emperor’s yùbá on Chéng Yí 程頤’s Jīngyán zházǐ 經筵劄子 forcefully refutes Chéng Yí’s argument that the safety of all-under-Heaven hangs on the prime minister — truly an instance of “Listen with intelligence to the yíxùn (constant teaching) and bequeath blessing to the descendants.” Reverently presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Chief Editors: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
This is the principal Yōngzhèng-period official compilation of yùzhǐ on civil-administrative matters, paralleling the KR2f0007 Shàngyù bāqí on Banner affairs and the KR2f0009 Zhūpī yùzhǐ on memorial-rescript decisions. The 1729 imperial decision to compile and print these pronouncements was in keeping with Yōngzhèng’s project of administrative transparency and his self-presentation as a hands-on, qīnzhèng 親政 emperor — but also with the political function of fixing his sometimes controversial zhìshì directives in canonical form. The two-stage editorial history is significant: Yǔnlù was the natural choice for the 1729–1731 phase as senior imperial-prince administrator; Hóngzhòu’s 1736–1741 continuation was a charge from his elder brother Qiánlóng. The Sìkù editors’ 1777 tíyào notes the institutional implication: the yùzhǐ of the Qīng emperor were drafted by him and not by the Grand Secretaries — a sharp rejection of Chéng Yí’s classical-political argument for ministerial primacy.
Translations and research
- Madeleine Zelin, The Magistrate’s Tael: Rationalizing Fiscal Reform in Eighteenth-Century Ch’ing China (UCalP, 1984) — extensive use.
- Beatrice S. Bartlett, Monarchs and Ministers: The Grand Council in Mid-Ch’ing China, 1723–1820 (UCalP, 1991) — institutional foundation of the Jūn-jī chù.
- Pierre-Henri Durand, Lettrés et pouvoirs (1992).
Links
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.