I.10 Wei Yuan, funerary essay on Shi Changzhi
I.10 Wei Yuan, Funerary essay on Shi Changzhi
Wei Yuan, Funerary essay on Shi Changzhi, in Guweitang waiji 古微堂外集 1878, 4: 33-36. This essay, originally composed as a eulogy for the slain magistrate, Shi Changzhi, was written by the noted Qing scholar Wei Yuan 魏源 (1794-1857). As you will see, it was essentially a tract on a major contemporary political question and stands as a good example of the uses of unofficial writings and biographical sources for historical research.
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Glossary
墓誌銘 - muzhiming - a standard form of funerary essay, consisting of a biographical section (zhi 志) in prose and a final epitaph (ming 銘) in prose or verse
生員 - shengyuan - licentiates, holders of the lowest examination degree. As "students", they were under the supervision of the county academy
偪 - bi - advance on
刼 - jie - coerce; seize, rob, plunder
死事 - sishi - died in the line of duty
遂 - sui - then, subsequently
陷 - xian - captured
遇害 - yuhai - to be murdered; come to harm
始末 - shimo - beginning and end; i.e., the whole story
詔 - zhao - proclaim; imperial decree (can be used both as a verb and a noun)
賜卹如例 - cixu ruli - bestow posthumous rewards in accordance with the (appropriate) substatute
部議 - buyi - the board has recommended
雲騎尉 - yunqiwei - a hereditary honorary title, "commandant of the fleet-as-clouds cavalry"
君 - jun - the gentleman (a polite reference to Shi Chang-zhi)
故 - gu - formerly
源 - Yuan - Wei Yuan, the author
同鄉試 - tongxiangshi - same provincial examination
官內閣 - guan neige - hold office in the Grand Secretariat
獲交 - huojiao - have the honor to be acquainted with
前海州知州 - qian Haizhou zhizhou - former Department Magistrate of Haizhou
亮采 - Liangcai - personal name. This man is also surnamed Shi
其歸葬也 - qiguizangye - "when his remains had been brought home for burial"
海州 - Haizhou - refers to Shi Liangcai
志 - zhi - relate, record
銘 -ming - to record; inscribe, engrave
幽 - you - grave, gravesite, tomb (abbreviation of 幽石, 幽矌, 幽宮)
僅為君歎悼哉 - jin wei jun tandao zai - "Is it only over Shi that we grieve?"
圜 - huan - encircled
胥役 - xuyi - county clerks and yamen runners
故...亦... - gu...yi... - certainly..., (but) also... (故=固)
虎而冠 - hu'erguan - "wear caps (of office) but behave like tigers"
催徵 - cuizheng - collect ("urge" payment of) taxes
錢糧 - qianliang - tax revenue; land tax
漕米 - caomi - tribute grain tax
魚肉 - yurou - feed off the people (lit. "(treat as) fish and meat")
生員 - shengyuan - licentiates, holders of the lowest examination degree. As "students", they were under the supervision of the county academy
起而 - qi'er - appeared on the scene, emerged to ...
包攬 - baolan - proxy remittance of taxes (or engrossment of any unauthorized local function, such as writing legal briefs)
輸納 - shu'na - payment of taxes
驟富 - zoufu - became wealthy rapidly
角立 - jiaoli - stand opposed to
折錦元 - She Jinyuan - personal name
憒 - kui - muddle-headed
一惟 - yiwei - entirely go along with, approve of
致 - zhi - eventuate in
鬨漕 - hongcao - (civilians) riot (over) tribute grain taxes
伍長華 - Wu Changhua - personal name
批 - pi - endorsement, comment; a written instruction in response to a subordinate's communication
造戶冊(扁) - zao huce - compile registers (The characters hu and ce are combined here into a single character, evidently a conventional abbreviation)
毀 - hui - destroy
差房 - chaifang - the clerks' office
明竣 - Mingjun - personal name
調停 - tiaoting - mediate
姑息 - guxi - temporize, handle indulgently (i.e., inappropriate to the case)
姦民 - jianmin - evildoers, or evil people (in the general sense)
日 - ri - increasingly (day by day)
肆 - si - act outrageously
劾罷 - heba - to impeach to cashier/to impeach and (the emperor) cashiered/to impeach and resulted in the cashiering of
金雲門 - Jin Yunmen - personal name
往署 - wangshu - go (there) and assume acting duties
禽 - qin - arrest (禽=擒)
獄 - yu - jail; a case (as in, civil disturbance, court case, or scandal)
勢 - shi - the general situation
戢 - ji - abated
上游 - shangyou - superior officials
檄捕 - xibu - warrants for arrest
仇 - chou - nemesis, longstanding enemy
蔡紹勳 - Cai Shaoxun - personal name
主使 - zhushi - incite, instigate, or mastermind
篡 - cuan - illegally
至則 - zhize - "when he got there, then..."
遁 - dun - escape
焚 - fen - burn
廬 - lu - house
率 - shuai - to lead
躡逐 - niezhu - to follow in pursuit
鼎沸 - dingfei - in an uproar
諭之,不退 - yuzhi, butui - "ordered them (to disperse but) they did not withdraw"
役 - yi - labor, service, military service; yamen underlings or runners
相持 - xiangchi - held each other at bay/to confront
竟夜 - jingye - for the whole night
質明 - zhiming - at dawn
踰缺 - yuque - crossing over an opening in the city wall
大索 dasuo search for . . . all around
執 - zhi - seize
迫令申狀 - poling shenzhuang - (tried to) force him to submit a petition (to superior officials)
倡義 - changyi - volunteered (as a public service), aid in the name of righteousness
上司 - shangsi - superior officials
釋 - shi - release
以事 - yishi - for some reason (on public business)
懷印 - huaiyin - carrying the official seal
潛 - qian - secretly
彈壓 - tanya - suppress (the mob)
益 - yi - increasingly
張 - zhang - bold
罵賊死 - mazeisi - died, cursing the rebels (a stock phrase in accounts of this sort)
殉之 - xunzhi - died (in a noble or sacrificial manner, as a martyr)
莅任 - liren - assume office, succeed to a post
甫 - fu - just (in the recent past), only just
耗羨 - haoxian - "meltage" surcharge
無可歸罪 - wuke guizhi - could not put blame (I.10 - on Shi Changzhi)
乃 - nai - therefore
槥 - hui - a kind of coffin
斂 - lian - dress a corpse for burial and then place within coffin (斂=殮)
哭祭之 - ku jizhi - mourning, sacrificed to him
報仇 - baochou - getting revenge (as in a feud)
倉卒 - cangcu - in the excitement; or, too hastily
事不獲已 - shi buhuoyi - the matter could not be helped (=不得已)
刦庫獄 - jie ku yu - broke open the treasury and the jail
散倉粟 - san cangsu - distributed grain from the granary
幟械 - zhixie - flags and weapons
境內 - jingnei - within the borders
堡 - bu - village (also postal station, where it is pronounced pu)
若干 - ruogan - a certain number
不從者 - bucongzhe - any who fails to obey
烏合 - wuhe - like a flock of crows (i.e. disorganized)
使...而... - shi...er... - if (only)...but...(counterfactual)
散黨禽渠 - sandang qinqu - scatter the followers and seize the leaders
夷寇 - yikou - the barbarian marauders
調 - diao - transferred
江浙 - Jiang-Zhe - Jiangsu and Zhejiang
無幾 - wuji - not many
俟 - si… - wait until.. .
脅 - xie - coerce, force
幸 - xing - fortunately
挫之蒲圻城外 - cuozhi Puqi chengwai - defeated (held) them outside the walls of Puqi
張 -zhāng - literally, set up traps to capture animals
疑兵 - yibing - a diversionary force, a feint
進剿 - jinjiao - advance to annihilate
瓦解 - wajie - scattered (like tiles in a wind)
窮蹙 - qiongcu - hard-pressed, at the end of his rope
就縛 - jiufu - to accept arrest
請帑 - qingtang - request (funds from government) treasuries. The unit is not given, but presumed to be taels of silver.
文武生員 - wenwu shengyuan - civil and military licentiates (i.e., the lower-gentry leaders)
國家 - guojia - the reigning dynasty (not "nation" as in modern usage)
轉漕 - zhuancao - levy (lit. "transport") grain tribute
載 - zai - year
幫費 - bangfei - grain-transport surtax. (Originally levied to defray expenses of the labor-gangs (bang) that hauled grain up the Grand Canal. See Reference Notes 6.1)
銀價 - yinjia - the value of silver (relative to copper)
昂 - ang - to rise
本色折色 - bense zhese - tax in kind and tax commuted to money payment
浮 - fu - excessive
以困于是 - yikun yushi - (and the state) is trapped in this situation
把持 - bachi - dominate, control (unauthorized); to lay hold of illegally, take over (public functions)
生監 - shengjian - shengyuan and jiansheng (holders of lower degrees; the latter is purchased.)
侵漁 - qinyu - to fleece (our metaphor involves a different animal)
書役 - shuyi - clerks and runners
交相為難 - jiaoxiang weinan - plague one another
各執一詞 - gezhi yici - "each maintains his own position"
弱肉強食 - ruorou qiangshi - the strong prey upon the weak
如圜無端 - ruhuan wuduan - a vicious circle
及其癰潰 - jiqi yongkui - till the boil bursts
俱傷兩敗 - jushang liangbai - everybody is injured
善者 - shanzhe - good persons, i.e. innocent of wrongdoing
末如何 - moruhe - cannot do anything about it
或 - huo - may
代受其禍 - daishou qihuo - may even bear the brunt of the disaster
若 - ruo - like, for instance
歸安 - Gui'an - place names
大獄 - dayu - a major incident (involving illegality and punishment)
不寧惟是 - buning weishi - not only this; and that is not all
耒陽 - Leiyang - place name
錢漕浮勒 - qiancao fule - "land and grain taxes were excessive and extortionate"
激 - ji - incite
大吏 - dali - high officials
至 - zhi - even had to; as for (refers to a passage in Yu-tai's memorial of DG 21.12.4)
瓦子山曾波州 - Wazishan, Zengbozhou - place names
彌月 - miyue - a whole month
俘 - fu - capture
歐陽大鵬 - Ouyang Dapeng - (an error for Yang Dapeng; He went to the capital to present a petition)
京師 - Jingshi - the capital, Beijing
論功行賞 - lungong xingshang - determine merit and distribute rewards
一轍 - yizhe - just the same (in the same track)
己卯科 - jimao ke - the examination quota for the year jimao
順天鄉試 - Shuntian xiangshi - the provincial examination held in Shun-tian prefecture (i.e., Beijing)
妻...氏 - qi...shi - his wife (whose surname the author evidently does not know)
以奉母 - yi fengmu - because she was taking care of their (can be Shi's or Shi's wife's) mother, in other words, Shi's mother or mother-in-law
不與其難 - buyu qinan - did not share his fate
某原 - mouyuan - a certain cemetery (原 = 塬,a plateau form that is unique to Northwestern China)
銘曰 - mingyue - the epitaph reads
食與戎 - shi yu rong - economic and military affairs
窮 - qiong - exhausted
肇兵 - zhaobing - outbreak of war, commence hostilities
激舂 - jichong - set off an incident
豪 - hao - powerful (implies illegitimate power)
蠧同 - dutong - both resemble vermin
蚌鷸 - bangyu - mussel and snipe
吁 - xu - bewail, bemoan
恫 - tong - grief
維 - wei - even
三代公 - sandai gong - duke of the three ages
大刑 - daxing - great punishments (military suppression)
屢修 - lüxiu - repeatedly applied/practiced/(initiated to) correct
劑窮 - jiqiong - help the poor
易爻 - yiyao - the yao elements in an Yijing hexagram
訟 - song - hexagram meaning "fighting"
師 - shi - hexagram meaning "war"
繼 - ji - follow (referring to the succession of hexagrams)
需 - xu - hexagram meaning "food supply"
蒙 - meng - hexagram meaning "education"
膠庠 - jiaoxiang - school in Zhou dynasty; schools in general; here, refers to the county school system and the sheng-yuan under it
獄 - yu - jail; a case (as in, civil disturbance, court case, or scandal)
功 - gong - merit, fruit (as in good result; in I.10 used ironically)
法 - fa - law; also, methods (of governance, as in bianfa)
匪變 - feibian - 'When bandits revolt', but also 'without revolt'.
胡通 - hutong - how can it be satisfactorily solved?
漕賦 - caofu - the grain tribute system
安所終 - an suozhong - How can it be ended?