Yáng Wénzhōng sānlù 楊文忠三錄
Three Records of Yáng Wén-zhōng by 楊廷和 (撰)
About the work
An 8-juàn compilation by Yáng Tínghé 楊廷和 (1459–1529), the foremost Míng Senior Grand Secretary of the late Zhèngdé and early Jiājìng periods. Despite the title “Three Records” the work in fact comprises four bodies of material: Tízòu qiánlù 題奏前錄 in 1 juàn (memorials of Zhèngdé); Tízòu hòulù 題奏後錄 in 1 juàn (memorials of early Jiājìng); Shìcǎo yúlù 視草餘錄 in 2 juàn (drafted-document records, his hands-on cabinet decisions); and Cíxiè lù 辭謝錄 in 4 juàn (resignation and gratitude memorials). The first three lù form the “sān lù” of the title; the Cíxiè lù is a separate appendix. The work was prefaced by Qiáo Yǔ 喬宇 with a self-preface dated Jiājìng 6 (1527); its contents however close at Jiājìng 2 (1523), reflecting Yáng’s resignation in Jiājìng 3 / 1 (1524).
Tiyao
Yáng Wénzhōng sānlù, 8 juàn, by Yáng Tínghé of the Míng. Tínghé, zì Jièfū, from Xīndū, Chénghuà wùxū (1478) jìnshì, served to Huágàidiàn dàxuéshì, posthumous Wénzhōng, his career in his Míng shǐ biography. — This compilation, though titled Three Records, in fact contains four parts: Tízòu qiánlù in 1 juàn, Tízòu hòulù in 1 juàn, Shìcǎo yúlù in 2 juàn, Cíxiè lù in 4 juàn. The Tízòu qiánlù is from Zhèngdé, the Tízòu hòulù from Jiājìng. Qiáo Yǔ wrote a preface; there is also a self-preface stating: “While serving in the cabinet, the court memorial-and-reply texts and the discussions of policy-feasibility, I recorded as the matters arose.” The self-preface is dated Jiājìng 6 (1527), but the records cease at Jiājìng 2 (1523) — Tínghé having left office in Jiājìng 3 / 1 (1524). — Items worth cross-checking with the Shǐ: the Wǔzōng běnjì records, in Zhèngdé 13 / 1 / bǐngwǔ, “[The emperor] arrived from Xuānfǔ. The court ministers were ordered to prepare colored canopies, sheep, wine and meet at the suburb. The emperor arrived in his pavilion and accepted congratulations.” This work records that the emperor’s order was conveyed via zhuàn yù (verbal pronouncement) to the Five Boards and the Three Great Camps to prepare flag-canopies for ceremonial reception; Tínghé did not comply. Qián Níng 錢寧, Liào Péng 廖鵬, Zhāng Lóng 張龍 repeatedly conveyed the imperial wishes pressing him; Tínghé in the end did not comply; on the emperor’s return, no flag-canopies were used, and the imperial wish was not crossed. From this entry, the běnjì records the beginning but is unclear about the end; this work has the full course. — Also: in Zhèngdé 14 / 1 / 7 (1519), the bureau-officer brought the Bīngbù shìláng Féng Qīng’s 馮清 victory-report memorial to the cabinet; the order was to draft an imperial reply praising and rewarding Wēiwǔ dàjiāngjūn 威武大將軍 [the emperor’s self-given mock-title]; Tínghé refused. Zhāng Lóng and Qián Níng pressed in succession; Tínghé in the end drafted the reply praising and rewarding Féng Qīng without a single character mentioning Wēiwǔ dàjiāngjūn. — Also: the Císhòu (Empress Dowager Císhòu) sent a bureau-officer to convey wishes to change yìzhǐ 懿旨 (Empress Dowager’s order) into shèngzhǐ 聖旨 (Emperor’s edict); Tínghé contested twice and only then was the change abandoned. — Also: at the death of Shòuān hòu 壽安后, Shìzōng (Jiājìng) firmly wished to mourn three years and intended to issue a yígào (posthumous edict-bequest); Tínghé contested forcefully and the mourning was reduced to twenty-seven days within the palace; the yígào was abandoned. These several events are not in the Wǔzōng běnjì or in Tínghé’s biography. — Also concerning the matters of capturing and executing Jiāng Bīn and the deliberations on the Xīngxiàn temple — this collection has more detail than the Shǐ. The Cíxiè lù is all resignation-and-gratitude memorials; Lín Jùn 林俊 wrote the preface for it. Its volume is greater than the Sānlù but is not counted among them — being personal matters rather than state policy. Some of the memorials are too plain in style; “advising the sovereign takes intent-conveyance as primary, not formal elaboration.” Examples like the Zhèngdé memorials requesting reverence for the Jiāomiào and requesting return-to-palace, or the Jiājìng memorial requesting cessation of zhāijiào (Daoist offerings) — these all directly address contemporary failings; in their day they may be called dǎngyán (upright discourse). The others are mostly direct and to the point, plain language but moral substance — different indeed from those who flaunt with springtime flowers. — Reverently presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Yáng Wénzhōng sānlù is the principal documentary monument of the late-Zhèngdé / early-Jiājìng transition, the most consequential institutional moment of the sixteenth-century Míng. The Tízòu qiánlù covers Yáng’s resistance to Zhèngdé’s Mongol-style military pretensions (the Wēiwǔ dàjiāngjūn episode is the canonical case); the Tízòu hòulù covers his orchestration of the post-Zhèngdé succession in 1521 — including the yízhào of Zhèngdé announcing thirty-two reforms. The Shìcǎo yúlù preserves cabinet-level decisions including the planning to capture and execute Jiāng Bīn 江彬 (Wǔzōng’s military favourite). The Cíxiè lù, although technically appended, is the principal documentary witness to Yáng’s resignation in Jiājìng 3 / 1 in protest against the Dàlǐ yì (the elevation of Jiājìng’s biological father). The Sìkù editors’ detailed comparison with the Wǔzōng běnjì — showing the work’s superiority to the History on several specific episodes — is one of the most thoroughly worked-out such notices in the tíyào corpus.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography (1976) — entry on Yang Tinghe.
- Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shih-tsung (Sydney UP, 1990) — the most thorough English account of the Great Ritual Controversy.
- James Geiss, “The Cheng-te reign, 1506–1521,” in Cambridge History of China, vol. 7 (1988).
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The Tízòu qiánlù’s account of the 1518 Wēiwǔ dàjiāngjūn episode (where Yáng successfully refused the emperor’s demand to be greeted under his self-given mock-title at the jiāo sacrifice) is one of the most-cited episodes in the canon of Míng Grand-Secretary independence — a key documentary anchor for the historiographical thesis that the late-Míng Grand Secretariat could indeed check imperial capriciousness.
Links
- Wikidata: Yang Tinghe
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.