Bāo Xiàosù zòuyì jí 包孝肅奏議集
Memorials of Bāo, the Filial-and-Reverent by 包拯 (撰), 張田 (編)
About the work
A 10-juàn collection of the official memorials of Bāo Zhěng 包拯 (999–1062, Xiàosù 孝肅 his posthumous title), edited by his disciple Zhāng Tián 張田 (1054–1103). The memorials are arranged in 30 thematic categories, from yìng zhào 應詔 (response to imperial edict) to qiú tuì 求退 (request for retirement).
Tiyao
Bāo Xiàosù zòuyì, 10 juàn, by Bāo Zhěng of the Sòng. Zhěng, zì Xīrén, from Lúzhōu Héféi, jìnshì of Tiānshèng 5 (1027), serving through to Yùshǐ zhōngchéng, Zhī Kāifēngfǔ, and finally Lǐbù shìláng and Shūmì fùshǐ; posthumously promoted Lǐbù shàngshū with Xiàosù as posthumous title; his career is in his Sòng shǐ biography. — The Sòng [Yìwén] zhì records Bāo Zhěng zòuyì in 15 juàn; the present recension is the version edited by his disciple Zhāng Tián, in 30 categories from yìng zhào (responding to imperial edict) to qiú tuì (requesting retirement) — only 10 juàn. Zhāng Tián’s preface also says 10 juàn, agreeing with this edition but disagreeing with the Sòng shǐ Yìwén zhì. However, the Sòng [Yìwén] zhì is famously confused, beyond repair as a documentary witness; one cannot adduce it as definitive — most likely “5” is a copyist’s error for the original “0” (i.e. the original 10 juàn misread as 15). Yet Zhāng Tián’s editorial arrangement is in many places obscure: as Wáng Yìngchén’s 汪應辰 preface (cited in Wénxiàn tōngkǎo) puts it, “the master’s memorials are arranged by category, but the beginnings and ends of the events, and the chronological sequence, cannot be traced. The three petitions on transferring Héběi troops — two are in juàn 8 (military matters), one in juàn 9 (frontier matters) — they fail to interlock thus.” The text Wáng Yìngchén describes matches our edition. Wáng’s preface also says: “I have now examined the years and months and attached them under each chapter, with the personal-history details following — for those whose dates are visible within the chapter, and for those for which dates cannot be determined, I have not omitted to leave a blank … so that readers may still trace the general outline.” Therefore Wáng Yìngchén had appended dating-annotations to each chapter in his time, but our edition has none of them — Wáng’s annotations are long lost; what survives is the original text only. — Wáng’s preface also states: “He impeached and ousted Zhāng Fāngpíng 張方平 and Sòng Qí 宋祁 from the Three Finance Bureaus, but the zòuyì does not record this — could it be that Bāo’s descendants did not wish to display the matter?” The Sòng shǐ records that Bāo attacked and removed Zhāng Fāngpíng and Sòng Qí, and that the court then placed Bāo himself in Sòng Qí’s stead as Sānsī shǐ; Ōuyáng Xiū wrote the famous “xītián duóniú” memorial; Bāo retired to his home, declining the appointment for some time. Wáng’s surmise must refer to this. But Bāo’s straightforward integrity could not have been a case of expelling another to covet his office; though Ōuyáng Xiū wrote that memorial, this is just the customary Sòng habit of factional argumentation — Bāo’s heart and conduct will be forgiven by the world. To suppress and remove the draft memorials would actually appear as if Bāo really had this fault — this is Zhāng Tián’s editorial blindness, not Bāo’s intent. Zhāng Tián, zì Gōngzài, from Chánzhōu, served as Zhī Lúzhōu in the Jiāyòu period (1056–1063) and won great popular acclaim — fit not to shame his master. The ninth juàn of this book contains a memorial Jìn Zhāng Tián biānshuō qī piān zhuàng 進張田邊説七篇狀, with imperial reply-edict (chìshū 勅書) attached — different in editorial pattern from the rest of the book — confirming the work was indeed edited by Tián. Wáng Yìngchén supposed the descendants suppressed the Zhāng Fāngpíng / Sòng Qí impeachments, but this is not the case. — Reverently presented in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
This is the principal documentary monument for the historical (as opposed to legendary) Bāo Zhěng. The 30-category organisation gives clear thematic access to the major debates of the Rénzōng court (1023–1063): the Three Finance Bureau reforms, the Héběi border defence, the Western Xià campaigns, the management of court favouritism, the impeachment of senior officials including the emperor’s affinal kin (especially the Zhāng Yáozuǒ 張堯佐 episodes). The textual history is one of the most clearly reconstructed in the Sìkù tíyào corpus, with the editors’ careful weighing of Wāng Yìngchén’s earlier critique against Zhāng Tián’s defensible editorial decisions. The memorials surveying the Wén Yànbó 文彥博 case, the Zhāng Yáozuǒ disputes, and the impeachment of the Three Finance Bureau heads remain the principal contemporary witnesses to those mid-eleventh-century court conflicts.
Translations and research
- Hǎn-è 韓鄂, Bāo Zhěng yán-jiū (1990s monograph series).
- Wilt Idema, Judge Bao and the Rule of Law: Eight Ballad-Stories from the Period 1250–1450 (World Scientific, 2010) — for the legendary tradition.
- Cheng Yuan-min 程元敏, Bāo Zhěng zòu-yì jí jiǎo-zhèng 包拯奏議集校證 (Hé-féi, 1989) — the principal critical edition.
- Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.
Other points of interest
The memorial entitled Jìn Zhāng Tián biānshuō qī piān zhuàng 進張田邊說七篇狀 (“Memorial submitting Zhāng Tián’s Seven Pieces on Frontier Affairs”) in juàn 9 — uniquely in this collection accompanied by the imperial reply-rescript (chìshū) — is what allowed the Sìkù editors to definitively confirm Zhāng Tián as the editor.
Links
- Wikidata: Bao Zheng
- Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.