Shìzōng xiàn huángdì yùzhì wénjí 世宗憲皇帝御製文集
Imperial Compositions of the Yōngzhèng Emperor (Posthumous Title Shìzōng Xiàn) by 世宗胤禛 (御製)
About the work
The collected prose and poetry of the Yōngzhèng emperor 世宗胤禛 (1678–1735, r. 1722–1735), in 30 juan — twenty juan of prose arranged in thirteen genre-classes (edicts, decrees, cè-investitures, treatises, records, prefaces, zázhù, inscriptions, colophons, stele-texts, sacrificial zhù, eulogies, miscellaneous prose) and ten juan of poetry. The poetry is in two parts: the first seven juan, titled Yōngdī jí 雍邸集, are pre-accession compositions (before Kāngxī rényín, 1722); the last three, titled Sìyítáng jí 四宜堂集, are imperial-period compositions. The corpus was compiled and printed under 高宗弘曆 (Qiánlóng); the Sìkù recension was respectfully collated in Qiánlóng 39 (1774).
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Shìzōng Xiàn Huángdì yùzhì wénjí comprises 20 juan of prose and 10 juan of poetry. The prose is divided under thirteen genre-headings. The poetry’s first seven juan, titled Yōngdī jí 雍邸集, are all compositions before Kāngxī rényín (1722); the last three juan, titled Sìyítáng jí 四宜堂集, are compositions after his accession. We reverently recall that the Shìzōng Xiàn Huángdì was endowed by Heaven with divine talents and that his sage-filial nature was inborn. During the Shèngzǔ Rén Huángdì’s reign, the imperial mandate had returned to him early, and from the age of nine he was particularly singled out for paternal regard. Thus his attendance upon the inner palace was virtually daily; yet in the leisure moments of morning and evening he plumbed the classics and savored literary composition, his diligence in studying antiquity surpassing that of any rúshēng. After he took the tally and ascended the throne, his diligent governance and his planning for the realm — what was deliberated in the purple halls and consulted from the imperial seat — could not be wholly known to his subjects below; yet the Zhūpī yùzhǐ 硃批諭旨 grew to 360 juan, the Shàngyù nèigé 上諭內閣 to 159 juan, the Shàngyù bāqí 上諭八旗 and Shàngyù qíwù yìfù 上諭旗務議覆 together with the Yùxíng qíwù yìzòu 諭行旗務議奏 to 48 juan, all of which were carved on the pear-and-jujube boards and made widely known. Counting back over thirteen years there was never a day when His Majesty did not personally wield the cinnabar brush to ponder all affairs of state; and even his lodgings in letters and brushwork still shine forth, paired with the diǎngào and the yǎsòng before and behind. His vital energy was strong and his heart was without idleness; his fierce intelligence ran rich and to spare in all undertakings, and thus when he turned aside to literary composition he was still adequate to refound the hundred masters — like the primal alembic turning, while the seasons advance and creatures are born, and the two luminaries, the Five Planets, the Three Enclosures, and the Mansions naturally compose the patterns of heaven. Is this not, since the Shètí alignment, transcending the Three and Five and reaching the most sagely? Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 39 (1774), second month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Yōngzhèng’s wénjí is markedly leaner than his father’s — 30 juan against 176 — but the Sìkù tíyào observes that this should be read against the parallel imperial corpora of edicts and rescripts which together occupy more than 600 juan: the Zhūpī yùzhǐ 硃批諭旨 (KR2k0035 / KR2k canon), the Shàngyù nèigé 上諭內閣, the Shàngyù bāqí 上諭八旗, and the various qíwù 旗務 supplements. The wénjí is therefore a selection of the literary and ceremonial face of the corpus, with the imperial administrative output diverted to its own large series.
The bipartite poetry structure (Yōngdī jí + Sìyítáng jí) is unusual in Qīng imperial wénjí practice: it preserves the pre-accession identity of the Yōngqīn prince (the Yōngdī) alongside the post-accession imperial voice. Important prefaces include the prefaces to the Shùlǐ jīngyùn 數理精蘊 (KR3f0048), Pèiwén yùnfǔ 佩文韻府, Yīnyùn chǎnwēi 音韻闡微, Gǔjīn túshū jíchéng 古今圖書集成, Zǐshǐ jīnghuá 子史精華, DàQīng huìdiǎn 大清會典, and the Shèngzǔ shílù — making this collection an essential source for the editorial history of the great KāngxīYōngzhèng imperial compilations. The book was almost certainly fully printed by Qiánlóng 3 (1738) at the latest, drawing on materials assembled in the immediate aftermath of Yōngzhèng’s death.
Translations and research
Pei Huang, Autocracy at Work: A Study of the Yung-cheng Period, 1723–1735 (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1974) — references the imperial corpus extensively.
Madeleine Zelin, The Magistrate’s Tael: Rationalizing Fiscal Reform in Eighteenth-Century Ch’ing China (Berkeley: UC Press, 1984) — relies on the parallel imperial-edict series.
Links
- Wikidata Q9595 (Yongzheng Emperor)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào