Nèxī zòushū 訥谿奏疏
Memorials of Nè-xī by 周怡 (撰)
About the work
A 1-juàn compilation of 13 memorials by Zhōu Yí 周怡 (1505–1569; Nèxī his hào, Gōngjié his posthumous title), the much-imprisoned Míng remonstrance official. The work was edited by his younger brother Zhōu Kè 周恪 and consists of 11 memorials from Zhōu’s Lìyuán (i.e. Lìkē gěishìzhōng) tenure under early Jiājìng and 2 from his late-life Tàichángsì shǎoqīng tenure under early Long-qìng.
Tiyao
Nèxī zòushū, 1 juàn, by Zhōu Yí of the Míng. Yí, zì Shùnzhī, hào originally Dūfēng later changed to Nèxī, from Tàipíng, Jiājìng wùxū (1538) jìnshì. — Yí first served in the Lìyuán (Personnel Affairs office); for memorial-criticism that crossed Yán Sōng he was beaten in the palace court (tíngzhàng) and put in the Jǐnyī prison for three years. Shìzōng, moved by the words of the jīxiān (planchette-divination spirit), released him together with Yáng Jué 楊爵 and Liú Kuí 劉魁. Soon thereafter, Xióng Jiā 熊浹 impeached the jīxiān as fraudulent and false, inflaming Shìzōng’s anger; Yí was again imprisoned for two more years before release. — In early Long-qìng he was recalled as Tàichángsì shǎoqīng; again he memorialized to offend a zhōngguān (court eunuch) and was transferred to Shāndōng ànchásī qiānshì; soon advanced to Sīyè and again Tàichángsì shǎoqīng; died in office. — Throughout his life he offended the powerful and favoured, twice and thrice; broken and stumbling in succession, with barely a breath remaining, yet his will did not bend through a hundred reverses. Firm in uprightness, loyal and bright — he stood as a yī dài zhī wánrén (complete man of his age). — This collection was edited by his brother Kè: 11 Lìkē memorials, 2 Tàicháng memorials. Although the juàn and pages are few, the spirit stands stern; one may still glimpse his outline. — The final memorial in the collection is a request for retirement, with annotation: “Lǐ Shílù xiànggōng did not allow it to be submitted.” Lǐ Shílù is the Senior Grand Secretary Lǐ Chūnfāng 李春芳’s hào; Yí after his disgrace did not wish to come out again, but Chūnfāng — under Mùzōng’s new policies of recommending and rewarding direct ministers — withheld it and did not let it reach the emperor. Yet Yí was never finally given great employment — perhaps as in Guō Gōng’s shàn shàn (the Guō Gōng who could appreciate goodness but not implement it). — Reverently presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Nèxī zòushū is a small documentary monument of Jiājìng / early-Long-qìng remonstrance practice. The 11 Lìkē memorials precede the famous jīxiān spirit-divination episode of Jiājìng 26 (1547) — when Jiājìng, persuaded by a planchette spirit’s request, briefly released Zhōu, Yáng Jué, and Liú Kuí from the Jǐnyī dungeon, only to re-imprison them when Xióng Jiā impeached the spirit-divination itself as fraud. The 2 Tàicháng memorials are from his late-Long-qìng recall (1567–69), when his offence to a court eunuch sent him out again. The work’s brevity, set against the extreme severity of his life, gives it disproportionate moral force in the Sìkù canonical sequence.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography (1976) — entry on Chou I.
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The jīxiān episode of Jiājìng 26 — Zhōu Yí, Yáng Jué, and Liú Kuí released through a planchette-spirit’s intercession with the emperor, then re-imprisoned through Xióng Jiā’s impeachment of the spirit-divination as fraud — is one of the more bizarre vignettes of mid-Jiājìng court life. The Sìkù tíyào gives it briefly but enough to mark Zhōu’s life as exemplary of the Jiājìng persecution-pattern.
Links
- Wikidata: Zhou Yi (Ming)
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.