Zhèng Zhōngsù zòuyì yíjí 鄭忠肅奏議遺集
Zhèng the Loyal-and-Solemn’s Surviving Collection of Memorials by 鄭興裔 (撰)
About the work
Zhèng Zhōngsù zòuyì yíjí 鄭忠肅奏議遺集 in 2 juǎn (the title pre-pending the posthumous shì “Zhōngsù”, “Loyal-and-Solemn”) is the surviving recension of Zhèng Xīngyì 鄭興裔 (1126–1199, zì Guāngxī 光錫, original given name Xīngzōng 興宗; great-grandson in the third generation of the Empress Xiǎnsù 顯肅 [Empress Wáng], wife of Huīzōng — i.e., a member of the imperial wàijiā or maternal-clan lineage). Held office through Chéngzhōngláng, Jiāngdōnglù qiánxiá, Jūnzhōu fángyùshǐ, Bǎojìngjūn jiédùshǐ, ending as Wǔtàijūn jiédùshǐ with charge of an Inner-Sacrificial post; posthumously promoted Tàiwèi, shì Zhōngsù 忠肅. The volume is dominated by memorials and zhuàng (status-reports), with a smaller xiàjuǎn of jì, xù, biàn (discussion-pieces), and bá (colophons).
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Zhèng Zhōngsù zòuyì yíjí in 2 juǎn was composed by Zhèng Xīngyì of the Sòng. Xīngyì’s zì was Guāngxī, original given name Xīngzōng, third-generation [great-grandson] of the Xiǎnsù Empress’s outer family. From Chéngzhōngláng he rose through office to Jiāngdōnglù qiánxiá, transferred to Jūnzhōu fángyùshǐ, Bǎojìngjūn jiédùshǐ; recalled to manage an Inner-Sacrificial post and Wǔtàijūn jiédùshǐ; posthumously honored Tàiwèi, shì Zhōngsù.
The collection mostly contains memorials, zòushū, biǎo, and zhuàng; the jì, xù, biàn, and bá miscellanies are appended at a few pieces. Among them: the memorials Qǐng qǐjū Chónghuágōng (Requesting [the Emperor’s] Audience-Visits to the Chónghuá Palace) and the Lùn Huáixī huāngzhèng (Discoursing on Huáixī Famine Administration) are particularly cogent; others — such as Juān mínqián, Jìn gǎichāo, Lùn zhébóqián — record the various Southern-Sòng Shàoxīng abuses, materials that may be cross-checked against the Sòng shǐ Shíhuòzhì and the Wénxiàn tōngkǎo.
Abstract
Zhèng Xīngyì was a Sòng imperial-affine official: great-grandson, in the male line, of Empress Xiǎnsù 顯肅 (Empress Wáng, wife of Huīzōng). The collection’s principal interest is administrative-historical: the memorials in shàngjuǎn document the Southern-Sòng administrative malaise of the late Xiàozōng / Guāngzōng / early Níngzōng decades — particularly his memorials on famine administration in Huáixī, the abuses of the zhébóqián (cloth-equivalent currency) system, the gǎichāo (currency-replacement) issue, the bāngbùjǔzǐ (couples not raising their children), and his recommendations of Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵, Gōng Míngzhī 龔明之, Yán Dù 顔度, and Chén Zào 陳造. The famous memorial Qǐng qǐjū Chónghuágōng — requesting the reigning emperor (Guāngzōng) to visit his retired father (Xiàozōng) at the Chónghuá Palace — is one of the principal documents of the great Guāngzōng / Xiàozōng filial-piety crisis of the early 1190s that culminated in Guāngzōng’s de facto abdication.
A small xiàjuǎn preserves miscellaneous prose: letters to Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 and Zhū Xī 朱熹 (with whom Zhèng was a court correspondent); the Píngshān táng jì; the Héféi zhì xù, Guǎnglíng zhì xù, Wénjiàn lù xù; and biàn (discussion-pieces) on the Qiónghuā (the famous Yángzhōu qiónghuā tree) and the Guǎnglíngsǎn (the lost zither tune of Jī Kāng).
The dating bracket: notBefore 1170 (Zhèng’s known office-holding career begins in the late 1160s; Xiàozōng’s accession had reopened the xíngjiā offices) through notAfter 1199 (his death year).
Translations and research
- Tao Jing-shen. 1988. Two Sons of Heaven. University of Arizona. Treats the late-12th-century Sòng court politics in which Zhèng’s memorials are documents.
- Levine, Ari. 2008. Divided by a Common Language. Hawai’i. Treats the Yuán-yòu / Yuán-fēng factional rhetoric carrying through into the late-12th-century court.
Other points of interest
The Qǐng qǐjū Chónghuágōng memorial is one of the principal documentary sources for the 1191–1194 Guāngzōng filial-piety crisis (when Guāngzōng refused to visit his retired father Xiàozōng), which precipitated Guāngzōng’s effective abdication and Hán Tuōzhòu 韓侂胄’s rise to power. The Sìkù editors single out this memorial alongside the Huáixī famine administration memorial as the volume’s strongest pieces.
Links
- Zheng Xingyi (Wikipedia, zh)
- Sòngshǐ j. 465 (biography of Zhèng Xīngyì).