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?