Jīngjì lèibiān 經濟類編
Categorized Compilation on Statecraft
by 馮琦 (Féng Qí, Míng, 編); compiled posthumously by his younger brother 馮瑗 (Féng Yuàn) with disciples 周家棟 Zhōu Jiādòng and 吳光義 Wú Guāngyì.
About the work
A 100-juan late-Míng statecraft compendium covering 23 categories: Sovereigns; Government; Heir Apparent; Inner Court; Ministers; Remonstrators; Personnel; Finance; Ritual; Music; Literature; Military; Frontier; Criminal Law; Public Works; Heaven; Earth; the Five Relationships; Character; Personal Affairs; Daoist and Buddhist Arts; Things; Miscellaneous Sayings. Compiled by Féng Qí 馮琦 (1558–1603), zì Zhuóān 琢菴, of Línqú 臨朐 in Shāndōng — Wànlì dīngchǒu (1577) jìnshì who rose to Lǐbù shàngshū (Minister of Rites), posthumously titled Wénmǐn 文敏. The manuscript was a working notebook of Féng’s, with rough category-assignments; after his death his younger brother Féng Yuàn 馮瑗 and disciples Zhōu Jiādòng and Wú Guāngyì edited and arranged it for printing.
The work resembles the Cèfǔ yuánguī (KR3k0013) in scope and political-historical orientation, but with two distinctive features (noted by the Sìkù editors): (a) the Cèfǔ yuánguī draws only on zhèngshǐ, while the Jīngjì lèibiān draws on the zhūzǐ bǎijiā (philosophers and the hundred schools); (b) the Cèfǔ yuánguī records only shìjī (factual events), while the Jīngjì lèibiān also includes wénzhāng (literary writings). This makes the Jīngjì lèibiān a hybrid of statecraft-precedent and literary-anthology, intended as a working tool for the late-Míng jīngshì (statecraft) tradition that produced the HuángMíng jīngshì wénbiān 皇明經世文編 of Chén Zǐlóng 陳子龍 (1638).
Tiyao (abridged)
The Jīngjì lèibiān in 100 juan by Féng Qí of the Míng. Qí, zì Zhuóān, native of Línqú, Wànlì dīngchǒu [1577] jìnshì; rose to Lǐbù shàngshū; posthumous title Wénmǐn. This work is Qí’s hand-recorded draft — roughly category-divided. After Qí died, his younger brother Yuàn and disciples Zhōu Jiādòng and Wú Guāngyì arranged it, removed duplicates, fixed it as 23 lèi — Dìwáng, Zhèngzhì, Chǔgōng, Gōngyè, Chén, Jiànzhèng, Quánhéng, Cáifù, Lǐyí, Yuè, Wénxué, Wǔgōng, Biānsāi, Xíngfǎ, Gōngyú, Tiān, Dì, Rénlún, Rénpǐn, Rénshì, Dàoshù, Wù, Záyán.
The general purport mostly overlaps with the Cèfǔ yuánguī. But the Cèfǔ yuánguī extracts only shìjī (events); this also gathers wénzhāng (literary works). The Cèfǔ yuánguī relies only on shǐzhuàn (histories and biographies); this draws on zhūzǐ bǎijiā without restriction. The tǐlì differs a little.
This book was not personally collated by Qí; the entries Yuàn and the others could only reduce, not augment, so detail varies — not uniform. The separating and combining did not fully follow Qí’s intent, so category-assignments occasionally cross. But the gathering is rich; the citations are mostly from primary works — not the zhǎnzhuǎn pàifàn (passed-around peddling) of Míng lèishū. However: the Dàoshù category contains guǐshén yāoguài zhū suǒshuō (rambling stories of ghosts, spirits and anomalies); the Wù category includes minor matters like the Bǎo dǐng, qín, jiǔ — by tǐlì standards somewhat wúzá (untidy). A great work is not without minor flaws; great timber not without a worm-hole; distinguish and use.
Respectfully revised and submitted, fifth month of the forty-fifth year of Qiánlóng [1780].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Jīngjì lèibiān is one of the principal late-Míng statecraft compendia and an important predecessor of the great HuángMíng jīngshì wénbiān (1638) tradition. Féng Qí (1558–1603) was a Wànlì-era political figure of considerable importance: as Lǐbù shàngshū in the final years before his death he was a leading court advocate of administrative reform and a sharp critic of the imperial favoritism that dominated late-Wàn-lì politics. The work is his working political-philosophical notebook, assembled over a quarter-century of court service (1577–1603), with editorial finishing by his brother and disciples after his death.
The work’s hybrid character — zhèngshǐ precedents plus zhūzǐ bǎijiā texts; shìjī events plus wénzhāng literary texts — makes it more philosophically rich than the Cèfǔ yuánguī but somewhat looser in its empirical discipline. For modern study of late-Míng political thought and of the social and intellectual milieu of the jīngshì tradition that emerged in the wake of the Wànlì crisis, the Jīngjì lèibiān is a key primary source.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Míng.
- John Dardess, A Ming Society (Berkeley, 1996), references Féng Qí among late-Míng officials.
- Yú Yīng-shí 余英時, Zhū Xī de lì-shǐ shì-jiè (Tái-běi: Yǔn-chén, 2003), §X, contextualises late-Míng jīng-shì compilation.
No European-language complete translation.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s formal comparison of the Jīngjì lèibiān and Cèfǔ yuánguī — one drawing on the zhūzǐ bǎijiā and including literary writings, the other restricted to zhèngshǐ and shìjī — provides a useful methodological framework for the typology of statecraft compendia in the lèishū tradition.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Jīngjì lèibiān entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074694.