Mǎ Duānsù zòuyì 馬端肅奏議
Memorials of Mǎ Duān-sù by 馬文升 (撰)
About the work
A 12-juàn compilation of 55 memorials by Mǎ Wénshēng 馬文升 (1426–1510; Duānsù his posthumous title), the senior Míng Bīngbù and Lǐbù shàngshū of the Hóngzhì and early-Zhèngdé periods. The work was edited by his grandson Mǎ Tiānyòu 馬天祐 in Jiājìng dīngwèi 嘉靖丁未 (1547), more than thirty-five years after Mǎ’s death. The selection deliberately omits Mǎ’s early-career Chénghuà-period memorials (when his proposals were largely blocked by the Wāng Zhí faction) and concentrates on his post-1488 Hóngzhì and Zhèngdé memorials when his proposals were implementable. The collection records his frontier-reform program, personnel reforms, and ritual rectifications — including the famous proposal to fix the Běiyuè 北岳 sacrifice at Húnyuánzhōu 渾源州 (preserved in Lǐ zhì but absent from his Míng shǐ biography proper) and his fifteen-chapter “zhènsù fēngjì” memorial submitted as Zuǒ dū yùshǐ.
Tiyao
Duānsù zòuyì, 12 juàn, by Mǎ Wénshēng of the Míng. Wénshēng, zì Fùtú, from Jūnzhōu, Jǐngtài xīnwèi (1451) jìnshì, served to Bīngbù shàngshū, posthumous Duānsù, his career in his Míng shǐ biography. — Wénshēng polished his integrity, was conversant with administration; in major court matters his counsel was often awaited; together with Wáng Shù 王恕 and Liú Dàxià 劉大夏 he held the foremost reputation of his generation. This collection of 55 memorials was edited by his grandson Tiānyòu in Jiājìng dīngwèi (1547). All the upright and outspoken memorials recorded in his Shǐ biography are present here in full text. The memorial requesting that the Běiyuè sacrifice be fixed at Húnyuánzhōu is not in his Shǐ biography but is in the Lǐ zhì. The fifteen-chapter “zhènsù fēngjì” memorial submitted while Zuǒ dū yùshǐ — the Shǐ biography does not give the chapter titles; only here are they preserved. — On the whole, all bear on the great affairs of state. Wénshēng during the Chénghuà served as Xúnfǔ Liáodōng and Zǒngdū cáoyùn, with documented achievements; he must have established many proposals at the time, but this collection contains nothing from that period — only those memorials submitted after his recall by Xiàozōng (Hóngzhì) are recorded, and these are recorded without omission. — In Xiànzōng’s reign Wénshēng, despite his ranging service, was repeatedly obstructed by Wāng Zhí and Lǐ Zīshěng, unable to fully carry out his policies; on his recall by Xiàozōng, the bright sovereign and the worthy minister fitting together, he could spread out his counsels — hence everything he then said cuts to the bone. The whole intent of his life of loyal service is here in outline; reading his prose one may know the changing fortunes he encountered. — Reverently presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Mǎ Duānsù zòuyì is one of the principal documentary monuments of the Hóngzhì “good government” period (1488–1505) — the canonical Míng “Hóngzhì zhōngxīng” 弘治中興 (Hóngzhì restoration) memorialized by later historiographers. The 55 memorials cover: frontier reorganization (the Liáodōng and Cáoyùn programs of his earlier service are absent, but the post-1488 Bīngbù memorials reorganizing the Three-Border defence are here in full); personnel and examination reform; the Běiyuè sacrificial reorganization; ritual rectifications; and impeachments. The collection’s editorial choice to omit the earlier Chénghuà-era memorials reflects the family’s view that those proposals — frustrated by Wāng Zhí’s faction — were less worth preserving than the implemented Hóngzhì program. The fifteen-chapter “zhènsù fēngjì shíwǔ zhāng” memorial is one of the most celebrated administrative-discipline memorials of the Míng dynasty.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography (1976) — entry on Ma Wensheng.
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s observation that the editorial selection deliberately omits Mǎ’s Chénghuà-era memorials is significant: the family-editor (Mǎ’s grandson) was making a historiographical judgement that frustrated reform-proposals were less worth preserving than implemented ones. This is itself a Hóngzhì-period self-image, characteristic of the mid-Míng “good government” memory.
Links
- Wikidata: Ma Wensheng
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.