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治世龜鑑

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Text ID
KR3a0074
Date
1352–1352
Dynasty
元

Zhìshì guī jiàn 治世龜鑑

Tortoise-Mirror for Governing the World by 蘇天爵 (Sū Tiānjué, 1294–1352, 元)

About the work

A one-juan compendium of pre-Sòng exemplary deeds of governance, composed by Sū Tiānjué during his second tenure as Cānzhī zhèngshì of JiāngZhè in Zhìzhèng 12 (1352) — the year of his death. The work was undertaken at a moment of acute crisis: the Hóngjīn 紅巾 (Red Turban) rebellion of late 1351 had spread from Huáiyòu through Jiāngdōng; Sū was at this time commanding troops at Ráozhōu and Xìnzhōu. The work draws exemplary words and deeds (shàn zhèng jiā yán) from pre-Sòng sources, with the main purpose of péi yǎng yuánqì (cultivating the yuánqì, “primal energy”, of the polity). Six categories: zhì tǐ 治體, yòng rén 用人, shǒu lìng 守令, ài mín 愛民, wèi zhèng 為政, zhǐ dào 止盜 (the last category clearly addressing the immediate Red Turban crisis). The work has prefaces by Lín Xīngzǔ 林興祖 and Zhào Fāng 趙方, both dated Zhìzhèng 12 / rénchén / 1st month (1352). The Yuán-end Chénghuà bǐngwǔ (1486) reprint by Chén Yáobì 陳堯弼 (Wújiāng Magistrate) is the SKQS-base. The work is conspicuously not listed in Sū’s Yuán shǐ biography, presumably because the work was composed in his last year — the SKQS tíyào takes this as evidence of Yuán shǐ’s general carelessness.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that the Zhìshì guī jiàn in 1 juan was composed by Sū Tiānjué of the Yuán. Tiānjué’s Míngchén shì lüè has been catalogued elsewhere. This book’s head heading-title gives the position: Zhōngfèng dàfū JiāngZhè děngchù xíng zhōngshūshěng cānzhī zhèngshì. Examining: the Yuán shǐ biography records he twice held this office — once in Zhìzhèng 7 (1347), once in Zhìzhèng 12 (1352). This book’s two prefaces, by Lín Xīngzǔ and Zhào Fāng, are both dated Zhìzhèng 12 rénchén / 1st month, so the work was composed during his second tenure. At this time bandit-rebels from Huáiyòu had spread through to Jiāngdōng; the imperial edict had Tiānjué command troops at Ráozhōu / Xìnzhōu, restoring one circuit of six counties — at the height of gàngē shùrǎo (warfare and rebellion).

What this book draws on is all pre-Sòng good government and laudable speech, with the main bearing returning to péi yǎng yuánqì (cultivating the polity’s primal vigour). The mù are 6: zhì tǐ, yòng rén, shǒu lìng, ài mín, wèi zhèng — and closing with zhǐ dào — apparently with deep meaning.

Tiānjué’s compositions recorded in his biography are: Míngchén shìlüè in 15 juan, Wénlèi 70 juan, Sōngtīng zhāngshū 5 juan, Chūnfēngtíng bǐjì 2 juan, Shī 7 juan, Wén 30 juan; further mentions a Liáo Jīn jìyuán and Huánghé yuánwěi not yet completed in draft — but does not record this book. The present text is the Chénghuà bǐngwǔ (1486) printing by Chén Yáobì, then Magistrate of Wújiāng. At that time, the gap from Zhìzhèng rénchén was just over a hundred years; the old recension’s transmission must have a basis. The Yuán shǐ biography simply happened to leave it out — also enough to attest to the Yuán shǐ’s general inattention.

[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]

Respectfully revised and submitted, sixth month of the forty-third year of Qiánlóng [1778].

General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.

Abstract

The Zhìshì guī jiàn is Sū Tiānjué’s most pointedly contemporary work — an explicit response to the Yuán-end Hóngjīn (Red Turban) rebellion crisis. The composition window is precisely datable to Zhìzhèng 12 / 1st month (1352), the same year as Sū’s death. The frontmatter brackets to 1352–1352.

The substantive content — pre-Sòng exemplary materials in 6 thematic categories — is broadly conventional for the imperial-instructional genre, but the particular emphasis on zhǐ dào (suppressing banditry) and péi yǎng yuánqì (the cultivation of polity-vigour) reflects the immediate Red Turban crisis. Sū’s contemporaneous troop-command service at RáoXìn provides concrete administrative-experience grounding.

The work’s omission from Sū’s Yuán shǐ biography is itself an interesting case in pre-modern Chinese bibliographic recovery: the Chénghuà 1486 reprint by Chén Yáobì preserved a work the Yuán-Ming court historiographers had let drop.

The bibliographic record: not in Yuán shǐ yìwén zhì; Wényuāngé shūmù; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.

Translations and research

  • No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
  • For Sū Tiānjué generally: studies of late-Yuán Hàn-Confucian officials at the Mongol court; F. W. Mote, “Yuan and Ming”, in Rebellion and Revolution: A Reconsideration; J. Dardess, Confucianism and Autocracy.

Other points of interest

The 1352 composition date — same year as the work’s prefacing, the author’s last year of office, and a moment of acute civil war — gives the Zhìshì guī jiàn exceptional documentary value as a Yuán-end Lǐxué-aligned official’s situational reflection. The closing zhǐ dào category is among the most pointed Yuán-period responses to the Red Turban rebellion.

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