Lǐbù zhìgǎo 禮部志稿
Draft Gazetteer of the Ministry of Rites by 林堯俞 (Lín Yáoyú, 纂修) and 俞汝楫 (Yú Rǔjí, 編撰)
About the work
The Lǐbù zhìgǎo in 100 juǎn is the standing institutional history of the late-Míng Ministry of Rites (禮部, the second of the Six Ministries), compiled in Tàichāng 1 (1620) under the direction of Lín Yáoyú 林堯俞 (Minister of Rites) and edited primarily by Yú Rǔjí 俞汝楫 — the latter at the time a shēngyuán recommended by the Prefect of Sōngjiāng 松江. The work opens with imperial instruction (Shèng xùn 聖訓, 6 juǎn) covering decrees from Hóngwǔ to Lóngqìng, then proceeds through institutional sections: founding and offices (Jiànguān jiànshǔ), general duties, and the duties of each of the four bureaux of the Ministry — Yísī 儀司 (Bureau of Ceremonies, 16 juǎn), Cìsī 祠司 (Sacrifices, 10 juǎn), Kèsī 客司 (Receptions, 4 juǎn), and Shànsī 膳司 (Cuisine, jointly with the Office of Affairs, 2 juǎn). It then has 4 juǎn of officeholder lists, 5 juǎn of memorials, 8 juǎn of biographies, and four substantial sections of regulations and precedents. The Sìkq editors, examining the Míng shǐ yìwén zhì, identify it as the same work as Yú Rǔjí’s Lǐ yí zhì 禮儀志 in 100 juǎn; the present title “Draft Gazetteer” reflects an early state in which the work had not yet been given a final name. Forty principal compilers and six review editors are listed at the head, with Lín Yáoyú at the top of the principal list and the Grand Secretary Sūn Rúyóu 孫如游 at the head of the reviewers.
Tiyao
The editors respectfully submit that the Lǐbù zhìgǎo in 100 juǎn was an officially-sponsored Míng compilation completed in Tàichāng 1 (1620). It opens with a list of compilers — from the Minister of Rites Lín Yáoyú 林堯俞 down to the Department Director Gù Shìyàn 顧氏碞 et al., 40 in all; followed by a list of review-editors — from the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and former Minister of Rites Sūn Rúyóu 孫如游 down to Vice Director of the Bureau of Ceremonies Zhāng Guāngfáng 張光房 et al., six in all. Then follows a list, citing the recommendation of the regional inspectors of Sūsōng and other regions, of the Prefect of Sōngjiāng’s recommendation of the shēngyuán Yú Rǔjí 俞汝楫 to compile the gazetteer; the Ministry’s correspondence and engagement of him into the editorial bureau accompany the recommendation. The book thus came directly out of Yú Rǔjí’s hand. The Míng shǐ yìwén zhì records Yú Rǔjí’s Lǐ yí zhì in 100 juǎn, which is undoubtedly this same work. The present title Lǐbù zhìgǎo — “Draft Gazetteer of the Ministry of Rites” — is its early state, when the title had not yet been finalized. After Yú Rǔjí’s name in the front matter is appended that of the Shànghǎi shēngyuán Yú Tíngjiào 俞廷教, who is not listed in the original commendation; he must have been brought in later as an associate compiler, and was therefore not in the initial roster.
The book opens with imperial instruction (聖訓) in 6 juǎn — decrees from Hóngwǔ to Lóngqìng; next, foundation of offices and bureaus (建官建署) in 1 juǎn; next, general office duties (總職掌) in 1 juǎn; next the duties of the Bureau of Ceremonies (儀司職掌) in 16 juǎn; next the Bureau of Sacrifices (祠司職掌) in 10 juǎn; next the Bureau of Receptions (客司職掌) in 4 juǎn; next the Bureau of Cuisine and the Office of Affairs together in 2 juǎn; next a tabular list of office-holders in 4 juǎn; next memorials in 5 juǎn; next biographies in 8 juǎn; next Bureau of Ceremonies precedents in 21 juǎn; next Bureau of Sacrifices precedents in 9 juǎn; next Bureau of Receptions precedents in 3 juǎn; next Bureau of Cuisine precedents in 1 juǎn; next general precedents in 7 juǎn. The three opening principles of compilation are: “trace to the original system” (with the editorial principle that “the study of precedents lies essentially in tracing the source”); “logical articulation” (with the principle “compiling precedents is not urgent in massing materials, but in articulating connections”); and “careful examination” (with the principle “to net up the old reports is not the only worry — the rectification of errors is also a primary editorial obligation”). Such language is well-versed in editorial principle; thus this work narrates broadly and is conjoined throughout. Items such as the Decrees on shìcài 釋菜 and recommendation, lacking in the Míng shílù; the prayer for snow and the building of palaces, lacking in the Jiājìng Sìdiǎn 祀典; the empress’s hat-and-robe and the hundred-officials’ standard dress and the music of grand banquets, more detailed than the “Treatise on Rites and Music” of Míng shǐ; the quotas for examination tributes and the formats for imperial commands, more thoroughly than the Míng huìdiǎn; the seating numbers at the imperial lectures (jīngyán) — supplementing what is missing from the Míng jí lǐ 明集禮; the matters of audience and bestowals, supplementing what is missing from the Xīngchá shènglǎn 星槎勝覽 and the Xīyù xíngchéng — though the documentary character of the work makes its prose somewhat verbose, this is appropriate to a precedent-based reference and the work cannot be faulted for it. Respectfully collated, eleventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780).
Abstract
The Lǐbù zhìgǎo is the principal late-Míng compilation on the duties, offices, and precedents of the Ministry of Rites, the bureau responsible for state ritual, examinations, foreign envoys, and palace ceremonial. Compiled in 1620 — the year of the Wànlì emperor’s death and the brief Tàichāng reign — it preserves a great deal of mid- and late-Míng documentation that was either dropped from or only summarily treated in the Míng huìdiǎn (the standard Míng administrative compendium). The Sìkù editors regarded it as more thorough than the Huìdiǎn in several specific areas: court entertainment music, the dress of empress and officials, examination quotas, edict and memorial formats, and audience protocol for foreign envoys. As such, it is one of the major sources for late-Míng ceremonial and ritual history. The official compiler-of-record was Lín Yáoyú (Minister of Rites), but the actual editorial work was done by Yú Rǔjí, recommended by the Prefect of Sōngjiāng (Yáng Tínghuái 楊廷槐) and brought to the Ministry on a temporary commission. The “Draft” character of the title reflects the fact that the manuscript was completed only in the closing year of Wànlì and never went through the final imperial revision and titling process before the dynasty’s reorganization.
Translations and research
- Yáo Yǔméi 姚玉梅. 2014. Lǐbù zhìgǎo yánjiū 《禮部志稿》研究. PhD diss., Sūzhōu daxue. (The principal modern monographic study.)
- Various entries in Míng shǐ qí biǎo 明史氣表 and standard institutional histories of the Míng draw on the Lǐbù zhìgǎo extensively.
- Hucker, Charles O. 1985. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. SUP. (Reference for the offices treated.)
Other points of interest
The work’s place in late-Míng historiography is as the institutional self-portrait of one of the most powerful Míng ministries at the very moment of dynastic crisis. Its preservation in 100 juǎn in the Sìkù quánshū — the second-longest entry in the zhíguān division — testifies to the Sìkù editors’ high estimation of its documentary value despite the “draft” character of the original.