Bèiwàng jí 備忘集
Memorandum Collection by 海瑞 (撰), 海廷芳 (編)
About the work
The literary collection of Hǎi Ruì 海瑞 (1514–1587), zì Rǔxián 汝賢, hào Gāngfēng 剛峯, of Qióngshān 瓊山 (Hǎinán). The collection was compiled by Hǎi’s sixth-generation descendant Hǎi Tíngfāng 海廷芳 during the Kāngxī period. Míngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Hǎi Ruì wénjí 7 juǎn; the Qīng-dynasty edition by Guǎngdōng Yányùnshǐ Jiǎ Táng 賈棠 in Gùchéng, combined with the Qiū Jùn collection, has 6 juǎn. The present 10-juǎn edition is the most complete known: it includes Hǎi’s tiáoshì shēncān 條式申參 documents from his official career. Tíngfāng’s original colophon claims 12 juǎn in 10 cè — the surviving běn has 10 cè / 10 juǎn — apparently 2 juǎn are missing. The collection’s literary character was famously not Hǎi’s primary concern: he was a jīngshì (statecraft) administrator, not a wénjiā. His learning takes gāng (rigid uprightness) as its main thrust — hence his hào Gāngfēng (“Rigid Peak”). Major works inside: the PíngLí shū (submitted on his first arrival in the capital for the jǔrén examination), the Zhìān shū (Memorial on Public Order, submitted as Hùbù zhǔshì — for which he was xià zhàoyù — the famous 1566 memorial that touched the Jiājìng emperor’s anger, in which the emperor however fù yuè qí shū, yì gǎndòng tàixī, zhì nǐ zhī yú Bǐgàn (“re-read it, also moved-to-sigh, even compared him to Bǐ Gàn”)). His Bì Zhàn wèn jǐngdì lùn — arguing the jǐngtián ancient land system could be revived — is the Sìkù tíyào’s principal example of Hǎi’s jiǎowǎng guòzhí (over-correcting to the point of distortion).
Tiyao
Bèiwàng jí in 10 juǎn — by Hǎi Ruì of the Míng. Ruì has the Yuányòu dǎngrénbēi kǎo — already recorded. Míngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Hǎi Ruì wénjí 7 juǎn. The current dynasty’s Guǎngdōng yányùnshǐ Jiǎ Táng of Gùchéng combined with the Qiū Jùn collection — only 6 juǎn. This edition contains Ruì’s suǒ xíng tiáoshì shēncān zhī wén (the file-and-document materials he handled), comparatively quánbèi (complete-and-prepared). It is the Kāng-xī-period 6th-generation descendant Tíngfāng’s re-edited běn. The original colophon says: “gòng yīshíèr juǎn, fēn wéi shí cè” (“totally 12 juǎn, divided into 10 cè”). Today examining this běn — the cè numbers match the colophon; but each cè only one juǎn — actually only 10 juǎn — compared to the original colophon still missing 2 juǎn — not understanding the reason. Ruì’s lifetime learning takes gāng (rigid) as principal — hence self-named Gāngfēng. When he came to the capital for the metropolitan examination, he submitted the PíngLí shū (Pacifying the Lí); when he was Hùbù zhǔshì, he submitted the Zhìān shū (Public-Order memorial) — gàngzhí wúyǐn (frank-direct, no concealment) — touched Shìzōng’s anger — sent to imperial prison. Yet Shìzōng fù yuè qí shū, yì gǎndòng tàixī, zhì nǐ zhī yú Bǐgàn (“re-read his memorial, also moved-to-sigh, even compared him to Bǐ Gàn”). Later as xúnfǔ Yìngtiān, ruìyì xīnggé (sharpened-intent for revival-and-reform), cáiyì háoqiáng (cut-and-suppressed the powerful), only yǐ lìmín chúhài wéi shì (took benefiting-people and removing-harm as principle); but jiǎowǎng guòzhí (over-correcting to the point of distortion), sometimes not avoiding yī piān (one-sided extremism). Such as in the collection — the Bì Zhàn wèn jǐngdì lùn (Bì Zhàn-asks-about-jǐng-land theory) — strongly advocating that the jǐngtián (ancient jǐng-field land system) is kě xíng (practicable); saying that the empire’s zhìān (public order) must come from this. He just observed the Míng dynasty’s yǐnnì jiānbìng zhī bì (hidden-concealment, merger-and-annexation affliction), jī wéi cǐ shuō (passion-fired this argument), not knowing it is impractical. Yet his gūzhōng jièjié (solitary-loyalty, alone-integrity) — shí rén suǒ nánnéng (what people find hard to achieve) — hence píngrì suī bù yǐ wén míng (although in ordinary days not famous for prose), what he writes is jìnqì zhídá (vigorous-energy, direct-conveyance), kǎnkǎn ér tán (forthright-and-talking) — having lǐnrán bùkě fàn zhī gài (awe-inspiring-and-not-to-be-violated air). At the late-Míng shìfēng tuímié (decadent-and-collapsed era), his qiēmò yǐnshéng zhènfán xǐngkuì (“hewing-to-ink, pulling-the-cord, rousing-the-tumult, awakening-the-blind”) was also jiùshí zhī yàoshí (remedying-the-time medicine-and-stone); díhuì jiějié (washing-filth, untying-knots) — fēi dàhuáng mángxiāo bù néng qǔxiào (without rhubarb-and-Glauber’s-salt — strong purgatives — cannot work) — should-not because of its jùnlì (severe-strength) doubt it.
In the collection, after shū (memorial) is preface, after preface is shēnwén, then lùn, after lùn re-preface, after preface again letter, after letter again preface — other miscellaneous-and-emerged — cannot be enumerated. Surely Tíngfāng while editing — suí qí suǒ dé chuòjí wéi juǎn (“according to what he obtained, joined-fragmentarily into juǎn”) — hence not by ménlèi (category-class) ordered. Today, since there is no relation to kǎohé (verification), provisionally keep its order as recorded. Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Hǎi Ruì of Qióngshān is the canonical qīngguān (clean-official) of the Míng — his upright magistracy and statecraft confrontations are the textbook subject of Míng moral-administrative literature. The Bèiwàng jí is the principal documentary record of his career, organized somewhat chaotically (because Tíngfāng compiled from fragmentary surviving materials rather than by genre). The Sìkù tíyào’s most substantive analytical observations are: (i) Hǎi’s jiǎowǎng guòzhí (over-correction) example — the Bì Zhàn wèn jǐngdì lùn — which advocates the impracticable revival of the jǐngtián ancient land-system as a response to Míng-era yǐnnì jiānbìng (concealment-and-annexation) affliction; (ii) the prose’s character as jīnqì zhídá, suitable as a jiùshí zhī yàoshí (medicine-and-stone of remedying-the-time) at the late-Míng moral collapse — fēi dàhuáng mángxiāo bù néng qǔxiào (“without rhubarb-and-Glauber’s-salt purgatives, cannot work”). The textual problem (12 juǎn claimed but only 10 found) remains unresolved.
Date bracket: 1553 (Hǎi’s PíngLí shū preceding the jǔrén examination — earliest dated piece) — 1587 (death).
CBDB 34719 confirms 1514–1587; catalog meta agrees.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: full entry on Hǎi Ruì.
- Míng shǐ j. 226 — Hǎi Ruì main biography.
- Wu Han 吳晗, Hǎi Ruì zhuàn 海瑞傳 (Beijing: various editions) — the canonical modern study. (Wu Han’s 1959 play Hǎi Ruì bà-guān — and the 1965 Yáo Wén-yuán criticism of it — initiated the Cultural Revolution.)
- Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (New Haven: Yale UP, 1981) — chapter on Hǎi Ruì.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The 1566 Zhìān shū (Treatise on Public Order) submitted to the Shìzōng (Jiājìng) emperor and the emperor’s subsequent comparison of Hǎi to Bǐ Gàn (the Yīn dynasty’s loyal-remonstrant) are foundational documents of Míng zhèngzhí (upright-direct) memorial-literature.