Pān Sīkōng zòushū 潘司空奏疏
Memorials of Pān, Minister of Works by 潘季馴 (撰)
About the work
A 7-juàn compilation of memorials by Pān Jìxùn 潘季馴 (1521–1595), the great late-Míng hydraulic engineer, divided into three sub-collections by office: 1 juàn of his Xúnàn Guǎngdōng (Guǎngdōng circuit-inspector) memorials of Jiājìng 38 (1559); 4 juàn of his Dūfǔ Jiāngxī memorials of Wànlì 4 (1576); and 2 juàn of his Bīngbù memorials.
Tiyao
Pān Sīkōng zòushū, 7 juàn, by Pān Jìxùn of the Míng. Jìxùn, zì Shíliáng, from Wūchéng, Jiājìng gēngxū (1550) jìnshì, served to Zǒngdū Hédào Gōngbù shàngshū concurrent Yòu dū yùshǐ, his career in his Míng shǐ biography. — This collection: 1 juàn of Xúnàn Guǎngdōng memorials; 4 juàn of Dūfǔ Jiāngxī discussion-memorials; 2 juàn of Bīngbù memorials. Jìxùn’s Xúnàn Guǎngdōng tenure was in Jiājìng 38 (1559); after his memorials his son Dàfù 大復 has appended a note saying: “The original draft was nearly three cùn thick; scattered and lost; only what we could find from the yèyuán (i.e. the censorate registry) is here recorded — only this much.” His Dūfǔ Jiāngxī tenure was in Wànlì 4 (1576); the memorial-collection has prefaces by Lǐ Qiān 李遷 and Wàn Gōng 萬恭. His Nánjīng shàngshū tenure was in Wànlì 9 (1581); the original recension placed the Bīngbù (it should be Gōngbù — the tíyào has a slip) memorials after, but this is editorial mistake. — Jìxùn was famous for zhìhé (river management) but in all his offices he had real achievements. Items in this collection — the deliberation on gōngbīng gōngshí (work-troops’ provisions), the discussion on losses and gains in Nánjīng military administration — supplement what the Míng huìdiǎn lacks; further the memorials on resolving the bīngwèi (military-guard) garrison-grain reserves for the frontier — these too cut deeply into the abuses of the day, fit to be set against the Shǐ monographs. — Reverently presented in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Pān Sīkōng zòushū is one of two principal documentary monuments of Pān Jìxùn’s career (the other being KR2f0031 Liǎng Hé jīnglüè, the comprehensive Yellow-River strategy work). The 7 juàn preserve memorials from three offices spanning two decades: the 1559 Guǎngdōng inspectorate (only fragmentarily preserved from the censorate registry); the 1576 Jiāngxī governorship; and the early-1580s Nánjīng Gōngbù shàngshū tenure. The Sìkù editors note one editorial point — the original recension placed the Gōngbù memorials after the others (the actual sequence is correct here). The collection is essential supplementary material to the Míng huìdiǎn and the Shíhuò zhì, particularly for late-Míng military-supply and frontier-garrison fiscal practice. The principal hydraulic-policy memorials are reserved for KR2f0031.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography (1976) — entry on P’an Chi-hsün.
- Pierre-Étienne Will, “Une administration au stéréotype défaillant: gestion des risques et leur réception dans la Chine moderne” (1994) — on Pān’s hydraulic theory and practice.
- Charles O. Hucker, “Ming government in transition,” in Cambridge History of China, vol. 8 (1998).
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s textual note that “原本列在兵部之後編次誤也” — the original recension wrongly ordered the Gōngbù (or Bīngbù) memorials — is a small but characteristic Sìkù editorial intervention re-ordering an inherited recension’s chronology. The tíyào itself is slightly inconsistent on whether the displaced category was Bīngbù or Gōngbù; the underlying issue is that Pān’s last office was concurrent Gōngbù shàngshū and the memorials in question are routinely styled with both designations.
Links
- Wikidata: Pan Jixun
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.