Hé Wénjiǎn shūyì 何文簡疏議
Memorial Discussions of Hé Wén-jiǎn by 何孟春 (撰)
About the work
A 10-juàn recovered collection of the memorials of Hé Mèngchūn 何孟春 (1474–1536; Wénjiǎn his posthumous title), with the editorial frame indicating his successive offices: juàn 1–2 from his Bīngbù tenure; juàn 3 from his Hénán cānzhèng and Tàipúsì qīng tenures; juàn 4–8 from his Yúnnán xúnfǔ tenure; juàn 9–10 from his shìláng tenure. The collection was rescued from oblivion in early Wànlì by the Húguǎng xúnfǔ Zhào Xián 趙賢 of Rǔyáng, who printed Hé’s poetry and prose at Yǒngzhōu and his memorials separately at Héngzhōu.
Tiyao
Hé Wénjiǎn shūyì, 10 juàn, by Hé Mèngchūn of the Míng. Mèngchūn, zì Zǐyuán, from Chēnzhōu, Hóngzhì guǐchǒu (1493) jìnshì, conferred Bīngbù zhǔshì, rising to Yòu fù dū yùshǐ xúnfǔ Yúnnán; entered as Lìbù zuǒ shìláng; in the controversy over the Dàlǐ he wept-and-remonstrated and was demoted to Nánjīng gōngbù zuǒ shìláng; shortly afterward struck off the rolls; in early Lóngqìng posthumously promoted Lǐbù shàngshū with Wénjiǎn as posthumous title; his career in his Míng shǐ biography. — After Mèngchūn’s death, the surviving manuscripts were scattered and lost. In early Wànlì, the Húguǎng xúnfǔ qiāndū yùshǐ Rǔyáng’s Zhào Xián 趙賢 began to gather his poetry and prose and have it cut at Yǒngzhōu; he separately recorded his memorials as one collection and had them printed at Héngzhōu. — Juàn 1, 2: from his Bīngbù tenure. Juàn 3: from his Hénán cānzhèng and entry as Tàipúsì qīng. Juàn 4 to 8: from his Yúnnán xúnfǔ tenure. The last two juàn: from his shìláng tenure. — Mèngchūn in youth studied at Lǐ Dōngyáng’s school; his learning was wide; his poetry and prose were rather direct, not forming a school. But his life was devoted to the moral exemplar; his service everywhere produced memorials clear and incisive, well worth reading. The major matters recorded in his Shǐ biography — saving the yánguān Páng Bàn 龐泮 et al.; requesting suspension of the Wànsuìshān 萬歲山 construction works; the Qīngnínggōng 清寧宮 disaster eight-matters memorial; the Lǐ Shǎnxī mǎzhèng memorial setting forth five reforms; the remonstrance against Wǔzōng’s progress to Xuānfǔ; the early-Jiājìng eight-matters memorial in response to drought-and-flood — all his eminent contributions are mostly in this collection. On the whole sincere and detailed, plain and incisive — in this respect surely useful to court politics, not at all to be compared with those who flare up in the moment for fame. — Reverently presented in the second month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Hé Wénjiǎn shūyì is a principal documentary monument of Hóngzhì-late through early-Jiājìng officialdom, especially the southwestern frontier (his Yúnnán governorship) and the Zuǒshùnmén episode of the Dàlǐ yì. Notable memorials include: the Wànsuìshān construction-suspension request (resisting Wǔzōng’s palace expansion); the eight-matter memorial after the Qīngnínggōng fire; the early-Jiājìng drought-and-flood eight-matters memorial; the southwestern frontier-management memorials from his Yúnnán tenure (notably on the tǔsī 土司 system and the silver-mine corvée). Hé’s role in the 1524 Zuǒshùnmén protest is not directly preserved in the memorial corpus (he was executive in protest rather than memorial-author) but the early-Jiājìng memorials in juàn 9–10 record his deepening opposition to Zhāng Cōng / Guì È in the run-up to the protest.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography (1976) — entry on Ho Meng-ch’un.
- Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One (1990) — for the Dà-lǐ yì and Zuǒ-shùn-mén episode in which Hé played a major role.
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s observation that the original printed edition came from a Wànlì governor’s rescue effort — separately printing the memorials at Héngzhōu and the prose at Yǒngzhōu, both in southern Húguǎng (where Hé had served at Chēnzhōu) — illustrates the regional-loyalty pattern of late-Míng documentary recovery work.
Links
- Wikidata: He Mengchun
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.