Bāxún Wànshòu Shèngdiǎn 八旬萬壽盛典
Grand Records of the Eightieth-Birthday Festival by 阿桂 (纂修)
About the work
The companion volume to KR2m0034 Wànshòu Shèngdiǎn Chūjí, recording Qiánlóng’s eightieth-birthday festival of Qiánlóng 55 (1790). 120 juǎn organized in eight gates: chénzhāng (imperial compositions, including the famous Gǔxī shuō and post-1780 imperial poetry); shèngdé (sage-virtue, in eight sub-sections—reverent, filial, diligent, vigorous, benevolent, literary, frugal, modest); shènggōng (sage-merit, with the Annám submission, Burma submission, Gurkha submission, Táiwān pacification, Sùzhōu pacification); shèngshì (sage-affairs, with eleven sub-sections including the celebrated Wǔshì tóngtáng “five generations under one roof,” the imperial qiānsǒu yán “thousand-elder banquet,” the Panchen Lama’s audience, and population statistics); diǎnlǐ (rituals); ēnlài (imperial favors); túhuì (illustrations); gēsòng (eulogies). Compilation began in Qiánlóng 54 (1789) and was completed in Qiánlóng 57, tenth month (1792). Editorial direction by Águì 阿桂 (1717–1797).
Tiyao
In Qiánlóng 54 (1789), first month, Grand Secretary Águì and others memorialized for compilation; in Qiánlóng 57 (1792), tenth month, the work was completed. Reverently, our August Emperor, modeling himself on Heaven’s vigorous course, with no idleness through long years, established a Way of governance equal to that of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors—an achievement unrecorded in writings or signs. To enjoy “five generations under one roof” and an eightieth-year longevity—the Hóngfàn’s “personal vigor and posterity’s good fortune”—is unmatched by any past emperor. Hence harmony pervades, joy spreads, and the four-seas subjects rise in dance and song.
The work’s coverage is the period from the seventieth-birthday onward. Eight gates:
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Chénzhāng (imperial compositions): the imperial jìnián compositions are recorded reverently. Prose from the Gǔxī shuō (1780) onward; poetry from the gēngzǐ (1780) New Year onward—all arranged chronologically. Compositions on particular events go in their respective subject-gates.
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Shèngdé: eight sub-categories—reverent virtue, filial virtue, diligent virtue, vigorous virtue, benevolent virtue, literary virtue, frugal virtue, modest virtue.
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Shènggōng: five sub-categories—Annám submission, Burma submission, Gurkha submission, fùzǎi Táiwān pacification, fùzǎi Sùzhōu pacification.
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Shèngshì: eleven sub-categories—celebration of the imperial great-grandson, five generations under one roof, multi-generational qiānsǒu yán, conferral of kēdì and offices, longevity-elders longevity-women, Bìyōng, the Panchen Lama’s audience, population and grain statistics, twin- and triplet-births, harvest grades. (etc.)
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Diǎnlǐ: five sub-categories—celebration, court audience, sacrifice-and-announcement, parade-equipage, music-rituals.
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Ēnlài: six sub-categories—the year’s edicts, tax-remission, examination, eastern progress, banquets, and gifts.
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Túhuì (illustrations) with diagrams and explanations.
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Gēsòng: officials’ celebratory compositions.
In ancient Zhōu’s flourishing, Shī and Sòng were composed singing of great blessing—plenty of titles, but mostly conventional, not always grounded in fact. This work is grounded in actual events. For “with virtue rich, transformation is godly; with grace soaked, hymns rise; with merit complete and rule settled, ritual and music flourish; in fine seasons, auspice gathers.” So the Shī says: “Suiting the people, suiting the men—blessing received from Heaven, protection commanded, from Heaven extended.” And the Shū says: “When the sovereign establishes the supreme, gathering the five blessings, distributing them to the people, then the people give him their support.” Both meanings are here. This work, with that of the Shèngzǔ Wànshòu Shèngdiǎn, the ancestral foundation and the descendant’s plan, is a brilliant model for ten thousand ages.
Abstract
Compiled to commemorate Qiánlóng’s eightieth birthday (1790)—the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history’s grand demonstration of imperial longevity. The work was begun in 1789 and completed in 1792. Águì, by then nearly 75 himself, served as nominal director with a large team of Cabinet officers. The dating bracket reflects this. Águì’s life-dates 1717–1797 (consistent with conventional Manchu prosopography; CBDB doesn’t confirm a death-year for Águì specifically) bracket compilation.
The work pairs deliberately with KR2m0034 Wànshòu Shèngdiǎn Chūjí (Kāngxī’s sixtieth-birthday): the imperial-cult ideological dyad of Shèngzǔ and Gāozōng is articulated in the Sìkù tíyào’s closing line. Particular features include: the shènggōng gate’s record of the Shí Quán Wǔ Gōng “Ten Complete Military Achievements” (the imperial summary of late-Qiánlóng frontier campaigns); the shèngshì gate’s documentation of the population reaching 300 million; the túhuì gate’s continuation of the southern-progress pictorial tradition.
Translations and research
Standard editions: Wényuāngé Sìkù. Modern reference: Bā-xún Wàn-shòu shèng-diǎn (Shàng-hǎi gǔjí 1995 reprint). Western: Ho-fung Hung, “Specter of Qianlong: The Ten Great Campaigns and the Decline of the Qing,” Late Imperial China 25 (2004); James Millward, Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759–1864 (Stanford, 1998), draws on the Shèng-gōng gate. Chinese: Ní Yù-píng 倪玉平, Bāxún Wàn-shòu shèng-diǎn yán-jiū 八旬萬壽盛典研究 (Wǔ-hàn dà-xué chū-bǎn-shè, 2015).
Other points of interest
The Bāxún Wànshòu shèngdiǎn’s compilation overlapped with the rapid decline of the Héshēn 和珅 Cabinet’s grip on imperial favor; Águì’s nominal directorship was a deliberate counter-weight to Héshēn, and the work’s emphasis on “frugal virtue” (jiǎndé)—one of the eight shèngdé sub-sections—reads as a quiet rebuke to the contemporary culture of imperial extravagance. Modern scholarship treats the work both as documentary record and as factional document.