Jìn Wénxiāng zòushū 靳文襄奏疏
Memorials of Jìn Wén-xiāng by 靳輔 (撰)
About the work
A 9-juàn compilation (8 juàn main + 1 juàn appendix) of memorials by Jìn Fǔ 靳輔 (1633–1692; Wénxiāng his posthumous title), the principal Yellow-River commissioner of the Kāngxī period. The 8 main juàn preserve his river-management memorials; the appendix in 1 juàn — titled Fǔ Wǎn tígǎo 撫皖題藁 — preserves three earlier memorials from his Ānhuī xúnfǔ (Ānhuī Governor) tenure, particularly notable for their forceful argument against post-station (yìzhàn 馹站) abuses. The work was edited by his son Jìn Zhìyù 靳治豫.
Tiyao
Wénxiāng zòushū, 8 juàn, by Jìn Fǔ of the present dynasty (清). Fǔ, zì Zǐyuán, of the Xiānghóng Banner Hànjūn; first conferred Hànlínyuàn xiūzhuàn, served to Zǒngdū Hédào Bīngbù shàngshū; Wénxiāng his posthumous title. — This compilation is all his early-and-late river-management memorials. His son Zhìyù compiled and printed it. — When Fǔ was elevated from Ānhuī xúnfǔ to Zǒngdū Hédào, he met the river-troubles at their height: the great current in flood, Gāoyàn breached cross-wise; the river joined Huái-water and turned eastward; the old channel reverted to silt-blockage. Fǔ memorialized that the river-water carries silt and is easily silted; only the Huái’s clean water, helping to scour, can prevent stagnation. One must examine the whole picture, treat upper-and-lower together, not patch piecemeal — building east and breaching west — eventually to no benefit. Therefore he listed eight matters in his statement. Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì (Kāngxī) acceded fully to his requests. — There followed: clearing the Yùnhé (Grand Canal) and Qīngkǒu down to the sea-mouth; opening the Báiyáng and Qīnghé-eastward diversion-channel — at which the Yellow flow began to flow smoothly; opening the Qīngkǒu’s lànxùn qiǎn (silted shallows) and various diversion-channels — at which the Huái-water finally faced down the Yellow; building the Héyá yáodī (River-cliff outer embankment) and lǚdī (cord-embankment); rebuilding Gāoyàn; closing Zháibà; placing six jiǎnshuǐ (water-reduction) gates — at which discharge-and-retention all had reliable structures. As for opening the Zhōnghé and Zàohé — these are especially major works of his planning. — His doctrine took as guiding-principle: “build embankment-cliffs, clear the lower-flow, plug the breaches — there is order of priority but no relaxation.” Therefore in office for ten years he produced documented achievements; the various memorials are all in this collection, every one indicating cause and consequence, every word stamped with conviction. To this day those who discuss river-management still cite Fǔ. — Appended at the end are three memorials from his Xúnfǔ tenure; his pointed discussion of disturbance to the yìzhàn (post-stations) likewise displays his vigour. — Reverently presented in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Jìn Wénxiāng zòushū is the principal Qīng-period documentary monument of Yellow-River management. Together with KR2f0030 / KR2f0031 (Pān Jìxùn’s late-Míng works) it forms the canonical pair of pre-modern Chinese hydraulic engineering documentation. The collection’s eight-point program (1677) is the operational charter of the Kāngxī-era Yellow River stabilization, and the works it sets in motion — the Zhōnghé and Zàohé canal bypasses, the Yáodī / Lǚdī tiered-embankment system, and the rebuilt Gāoyàn — are the foundational infrastructure of the eighteenth-century lower-Yangzi-and-Huái flood-management regime. The work is also a documentary monument of Hànjūn (Chinese-bannered) administrative practice in the early Qīng — Jìn Fǔ being one of the most consequential Hànjūn technical-administrative officials of the dynasty. The appended Fǔ Wǎn tígǎo on yìzhàn abuses gives a brief picture of his pre-river career as Ānhuī Governor.
Translations and research
- Pierre-Étienne Will, “Une administration au stéréotype défaillant” (1994) — extensive treatment of Jìn-Chén program.
- Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China vol. 4.3 (1971) — technical discussion of the Zhōng-hé and Zào-hé construction.
- Christian Lamouroux, Fiscalité, comptes publics et politiques financières dans la Chine des Song (Collège de France, 2003) — long historical context.
- Yáo Hàn-yuán 姚漢源, Zhōng-guó shuǐ-lì-shǐ gāng-yào 中國水利史綱要 (Beijing, 1987) — standard Chinese reference.
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The JìnChén Huáng 陳潢 partnership — Chén being the actual hydraulic theorist of the team but never holding senior office — is one of the canonical examples of the Kāngxī-era pattern of senior-official-with-junior-specialist hydraulic governance. Chén’s contribution is implicit in Jìn’s memorials but not credited there.
Links
- Wikidata: Jin Fu
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.