Dà Jīn Diàofá Lù 大金吊伐錄
Record of the Great Jin Consoling and Punishing
About the work
An anonymous four-juàn collection of official documents, diplomatic correspondence, and records of negotiations between the Jurchen Jin 金 dynasty and the Song 宋 dynasty, covering events from Tiānfǔ 天輔 1st year (1115 CE) through approximately the 1120s–1130s. The title employs the classic Chinese rhetorical formula diào fá 吊伐 (consoling the people by punishing the wicked ruler), claiming that the Jin conquest of the Liao was a legitimate act of deliverance. The text is a primary documentary source for Jin–Song diplomacy during the collapse of the Northern Song and is “a mine of information on the military and political situation during the collapse of the Northern Song state” (Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §52056). It was recovered from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 and included in the Sìkù quánshū.
Tiyao
No tiyao in this non-WYG edition. For the Siku tiyao, consult the Siku edition.
Abstract
The Dà Jīn Diàofá Lù opens with the Song envoy Mǎ Zhèng’s 馬政 proposal in Tiānfǔ 1st year (1115) for a joint Jin–Song operation against the Liao, which forms the diplomatic prologue to the alliance (Hǎishàng zhī méng 海上之盟, the “Maritime Alliance” of 1120). The text then proceeds through the successive stages of Jin–Song negotiations: the terms of the alliance, disputes over the Yan-Yun territories (the sixteen prefectures conquered from the Liao), and eventually the breakdown of the alliance and the Jin conquest of Kaifeng (1127).
The documents include imperial edicts, court memorials, and diplomatic communications, some of which contain material not preserved elsewhere. Among the historically notable passages is the description of Jurchen policies on hairstyle and clothing imposed on the conquered Han population: Wilkinson (§12453) quotes the text’s pithy summary, “Shaved hair, short head scarf, and left-fastening lapels” (削去頭髮短巾左衽), as evidence of the Jin hair-shaving edict of 1126–29.
The text’s reliability has been generally accepted by scholars, with Chan (1994) calling it an important source for the period. The Sìkù quánshū editors included it in the Collection (jícù 集部), unusual for a documentary source, reflecting its mixed genre (official documents compiled with a narrative-historical framing).
Translations and research
- Jīn Shàoyīng 金少英 (d. 1979), collated; Lǐ Qīngshàn 李庆善, ed. Dà Jīn diàofá lù 大金弔伐錄. Zhōnghuá, 2001. Standard modern edition.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §§12453, 52056.
- Franke, Herbert. “The Chin Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6. Cambridge UP, 1994.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry located