Wèi Zhènggōng jiàn xùlù 魏鄭公諫續錄
Continuation of the Record of the Remonstrances of Duke Zhèng of Wèi by 翟思忠 (撰)
About the work
A two-juàn continuation of the Táng-period Wèi Zhènggōng jiànlù 魏鄭公諫錄 (KR2g0004) by Wáng Fāngqìng 王方慶, prepared by Zhái Sīzhōng 翟思忠 of Xiàpī 下邳 during his tenure as prefect of Chángzhōu 常州 in the early Zhìshùn 至順 period of the Yuán (1330–1333). It gathers further remonstrances, dialogues, and anecdotes of Wèi Zhēng 魏徵 not included in Wáng Fāngqìng’s original five-juàn compilation, drawing on subsequent TángSòng historical sources. The book was first cut in Yuántǒng 元統 (1333–1335) and was nearly lost by the early Míng. The Míng Sūzhōu scholar Péng Nián 彭年 made a separate one-juàn supplement drawing on the Tōngjiàn and Tángshū; this Míng one-juàn is the supplement that circulated. The Sìkù editors retrieved Zhái’s Xùlù from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 and printed it. Some passages are not, strictly speaking, remonstrances, but the editors find the work sufficiently broad in coverage and edifying in its treatment of governance to be unlike ordinary xiǎoshuō zhuànjì.
Tiyao
Mǎ Duānlín’s 馬端臨 Jīngjí kǎo 經籍考 says: “Wèi Zhènggōng jiànlù in five juàn, compiled by Wáng Chēn 王綝 [Fāngqìng] of the Táng.” Yì Zǔdīng’s 亦祖丁 Jiànlù xù 諫錄序 of the Yuán says: “Wáng Chēn of the Táng compiled the Jiànlù in five juàn. At the beginning of Zhìshùn, Zhái Sīzhōng of Xiàpī, while serving as Prefect of Chángzhōu, gathered the residuum to make a Xùlù in two juàn.” The Xùlù was first cut in Yuántǒng; in the early Míng, what circulated was scarce. The Míng-period one-juàn Xùlù now in circulation must be by someone who did not see Zhái’s original and who put together a substitute on his own. The present copy bears no editor’s name, but the juàn count agrees with Yì’s account, so its identity with Zhái’s old version is not in doubt. The Tángshū biography says of Wèi Zhēng: “feeling himself favoured beyond his deserts, he laid out everything in his bosom without reservation; in all, his memorials numbered more than two hundred, and not one failed to cut to the heart of the emperor.” But what the official biographies preserve mostly transmits the substance and abbreviates the detail; what is transmitted is sometimes embellished and is no longer the original speech. This copy, though gathered from various sources and not always agreeing with the official biographies, sometimes contains material strictly speaking unrelated to remonstrance and so somewhat overflowing the scope; yet its core is clear and to the point, and it is genuinely useful for governance — far more than ordinary minor zhuànjì. Zhái Sīzhōng began his career as a Rúguān 儒官 and is the author of an Yì zhuàn yǎntàixuán 易傳衍太玄; he was indeed a man of learning fond of the antique. Reverently presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Chief Editors: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Wèi Zhènggōng jiàn xùlù is the standard Yuán-period continuation of the genre-defining Wáng Fāngqìng Jiànlù (KR2g0004) on Wèi Zhēng. It is the work of an obscure but learned Yuán Rúguān and Chángzhōu prefect, Zhái Sīzhōng, retrieved by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and printed. The composition date is fixed broadly to Zhìshùn (1330–1333) by the contemporary Yì Zǔdīng’s preface, with first printing in Yuántǒng (1333–1335) — date bracket given here as 1330–1335. Zhái also wrote an Yì zhuàn yǎntàixuán (an Yìjīng commentary that emulates Yáng Xióng’s Tàixuán); no other writings survive. The work supplements but does not displace Wáng Fāngqìng’s original.
Translations and research
- Howard J. Wechsler, Mirror to the Son of Heaven: Wei Cheng at the Court of T’ang T’ai-tsung (Yale UP, 1974) — uses both the Jiàn-lù and the Xù-lù.
- The Sì-kù tíyào notice is in 史部·傳記類二·名人之屬.
Other points of interest
A textbook example of Yǒnglè dàdiǎn retrieval-philology: the Sìkù editors specifically congratulated themselves on having recovered Zhái’s two-juàn original from the Dàdiǎn and identified the Míng one-juàn substitute as a counterfeit reconstruction.
Links
- Wilkinson 2018, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.