Yùxuǎn Míngchén zòuyì 御選明臣奏議
Imperially Selected Memorials of Famous Ming Officials by 高宗弘曆 (敕編)
About the work
A 40-juàn anthology of Míng-period memorials commissioned by the Qiánlóng emperor (Gāozōng 高宗 / Hónglì 弘曆, 1711–1799, r. 1735–96) by shàngyù of Qiánlóng 46 / 10 / 27 (1781). The work was directed by Cài Xīn 蔡新 (1707–1799) as Chief Editor (Zǒngcái) under the supervision of Qiánlóng’s sons (Huángzǐ) and the Hànlín tutors of the imperial grandsons and great-grandsons. It is the principal Qing-imperial selection of Míng-period memorials, designed as a moral-political mirror (jiàn) for the imperial-clan and ruling elite.
The work belongs to the broader Yùxuǎn (Imperially Selected) program of late-Qiánlóng canonical editing — paralleling the Yùxuǎn yǔlù of Yongzheng (the Chan Buddhist anthology) and the various imperial poetry anthologies. Its specific charter — to select Míng memorials with political relevance for the late-Qing court — gave it a distinct jiànjiè (admonitory-warning) function. The imperial shàngyù preface explicitly identifies the late-Míng (post-Shénzōng / Wànlì) period as the principal target: memorials by Yáng Lián 楊漣, Zuǒ Guāngdǒu 左光斗, Xióng Tíngbì 熊廷弼 et al. — figures whose loyal remonstrance was ignored by the late-Míng court, with catastrophic consequences for the dynasty.
Tiyao
The work opens not with a 提要 but with the imperial 上諭 of Qiánlóng 46/10/27 (1781), which serves as the work’s foundational document. The full text:
“All the memorial-anthologies of famous officials of successive ages have transmitted selected woodblock-printed editions; those now within the Sìkù quánshū the bureau-officials have edited and submitted. Of these, the bold and upright discourse pertaining to the gain-and-loss of previous dynasties may be drawn upon as bronze-mirrors. Now the recent-fallen-state [Míng], being closer to us than any earlier dynasty — within its three centuries the loyal ministers and outstanding scholars of preeminent moral standard are likewise not lacking. Tracing their orderings of governance and disorder, their bold memorials piercing dragon-scales, they are surely no less than the Hàn, Táng, Sòng, and Yuán ministers; yet their memorials have no dedicated edition. The reverence-of-loyalty and love-of-country of those who in their day rectified errors and corrected mistakes — later generations have no way to imagine. This is not the way to bequeath laws-and-warnings or to publish encouragement-and-correction. Even where the man’s character was not pure, if his words on a single matter or a single abuse cut through to the gain-and-loss and brought benefit to the politics of the time — one may not throw out the words because of the man.
“Among the memorials of the various officials from Shénzōng onwards, there are passages relating to LiáoShěn military matters which touch on our dynasty. At that time the sovereign was darkened, the government befuddled, the Tàiē (sword) inverted (i.e. authority transferred from sovereign to ministers); eunuchs stole power and favourites filled the court; the consequences were misrule, unclear rewards-and-punishments, the sovereign hanging like a tassel above with no thought of state affairs — leading to roving brigands rising on all sides, troops collapsing, supplies cut off, abuses beyond counting. Of officials such as Yáng Lián, Zuǒ Guāngdǒu, Xióng Tíngbì — some defended the field, some stood upright in court — all were able to memorialize earnestly and discuss matters cuttingly. Had Míng’s sovereigns indeed been able to take their advice and use them, the disaster would not have come to such an extreme. The events lie within the past hundred-and-fifty years; the warning is not far. — Therefore the memorials of these various men cannot but be hastily compiled. Apart from the Míng shǐ biographies, all collected works of these men entered into the Sìkù quánshū should be widely searched and gathered into a single edition. Even where there are wéiài (taboo / objectionable) phrases, only slightly polish them and still record the full text. — This matter touches on the reasons why the Míng season ended and our dynasty rose, on the division between reverence and indolence, and on the relations between tiān and rén. One cannot but think deeply and look far; let it strike the eye and shake the heart. We assign the imperial sons jointly with the Senior Tutor Cài Xīn et al. to be Chief Editors; the Tutors and Hànlín officials of the imperial grandsons and great-grandsons are to serve as compiler-collators and submit in stages, awaiting our personal review. When the work is completed, send it to the Wǔyīng diàn for printing and incorporate it into the Sìkù quánshū. The above edict shall be placed at the head of the volume. The post-Shénzōng memorials previously selected by Jì Yún et al. shall be incorporated into this work, edited together by their reigns. — Tè yù.”
Abstract
The Yùxuǎn Míngchén zòuyì is a foundational Qiánlóng-imperial canonical-editing project, completed in the mid-1780s under Cài Xīn’s chief-editorship. Its 40 juàn are organized by reign and concentrate on memorials judged politically and morally exemplary. The principal late-Míng figures whose memorials are preserved — Yáng Lián (1572–1625), Zuǒ Guāngdǒu (1575–1625), Xióng Tíngbì (1569–1625) — are the canonical late-Míng Dōnglín-faction loyalists who died at the hands of Wèi Zhōngxián’s eunuch persecution. Their memorials, originally subject to wéiài (taboo/objectionable) language about the rising Manchu power, were carefully polished by the editors but otherwise preserved in full. The work is thus a study in Qiánlóng-era cultural-political navigation: presenting late-Míng zhōngchén (loyal officials) as moral exemplars while managing the awkward fact that many of their loyalty was directed against the rising Qing.
The work is unusual in containing the imperial shàngyù of 1781 as its foundational document — a more politically explicit framing than the conventional Sìkù tíyào.
Translations and research
- Cài Xīn 蔡新 (1707–1799), Chief Editor — see Qīng shǐ gǎo j. 304 for his biography.
- Susan Naquin and Evelyn Rawski, Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century (Yale UP, 1987) — context for late-Qiánlóng canonical-editing programs.
- Pamela Crossley, A Translucent Mirror (1999) — for the imperial-ideological framing of late-Míng loyalist memory.
- R. Kent Guy, The Emperor’s Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Ch’ien-lung Era (Harvard, 1987) — for the Sì-kù / Wǔ-yīng diàn publishing context.
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.
Other points of interest
The 1781 shàngyù is one of the most explicit Qiánlóng-imperial statements of historical-warning ideology toward the Míng dynasty: the late-Míng eunuch domination is presented as a cautionary tale; the loyal Míng officials are presented as moral exemplars whose memorials should have been heeded; and the Qīng dynasty’s rise is implicitly contrasted with the Míng’s decline as a jìngdài zhī fēn (division between reverence and indolence). The framing is sophisticated political-cultural editing.
Links
- Wikidata: Yuxuan mingchen zouyi — (no Wikidata entry located).
- Wilkinson 2018 §65.3.7.