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NB. It is recommended that the reader begin with the summary on pages 6-7, proceed then to the memorial itself on pp. 2-5, and end with the edict on p. 1.

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II.1 Routine-system memorial (題本), QL 34.5.25

Although the tiben 題本 is conventionally referred to (in English) as "routine," (to distinguish it from the "secret" or "palace" memorial), the events or conditions reported in routine memorials are anything but trivial. Particularly in the areas of socioeconomic, institutional, and legal history, where extraordinary events are not necessarily the historian's main interest, the routine system provides an important foundation for historical study.

A routine-system memorial (tiben), as we find it in the archives, contains several significant parts (for details, see Wu 1967):

1. The text of the memorial itself, prefaced by the name and titles of its sender and ended by the sender's name once again with his seal of office. Every tiben was submitted by the memorialist in two copies, which were eventually archived separately by the Grand Secretariat. A third copy was made by the relevant board in Peking.
2. A memorial from the provinces had an appended summary (tiehuang 帖黃), written by the memorialist and attached to the end of the document. The researcher will find it efficient, when scanning provincial tiben, to turn straight to the end and read the summary first, to see whether the full memorial needs to be read.
3. An imperial rescript (a command, written in response to the memorial) written in red ink (pihong 批紅) on the first fold of the memorial, sometimes running over onto the memorialist's text. This will be the authorized version of a draft rescript, which was prepared by the Grand Secretariat (see Document 3). Although this rescript is the first item the researcher sees, it usually makes better sense if read after the memorial (that is, in its original stage in the documentary process).

Document 1 is an example of a tongben 通本, a routine memorial from the provinces, so called because it was handled by the palace Transmissions Office (Tongzheng si 通政司). Routine memorials sent from within the capital were called buben 部本, since they originated from one of the Six Boards 六部.

Text of the memorial

The first line of the memorial (and of the summary) lists the full official title of the memorialist, in this case, Gao Jin 高晉 (1707-1778). The first three terms, taizi taifu 太子太傅, neidachen 內大臣, bingbu shangshu 兵部尚書, (for which consult Brunnert and Hagelstrom or Hucker) are all honorary titles, the first of which was automatically accorded a governor-general. The next group (zongdu 總督, here a verb) ... di-fang 地方) indicates Gao Jin's substantive appointment. Next comes a concurrent, usually temporary appointment (jianguan 兼官).
Beginning with gezhi 革職 are listed the administrative punishments (chufen 處分) that are still current on Gao's dossier: gezhi 革職 (stripped of his title), liuren 留任 (kept on duty), you mian geren 又免革任 (again on another occasion excused from being dismissed from duty). These slaps on the wrist, all duly recorded in a personnel dossier at the Board of Civil Appointments, were a normal feature of official life.

Note that the glossary begins with terms from p. 2 of the document.

Omitted text on p.2: The memorialist relates that a boat belonging to a merchant, Wang Tianxiang, was robbed while docked at a market. Wang was injured in the robbery and sent Zhou Baojun to report the affair at the county yamen. However, the magistrate, Xie Zhenfan, insisted that Zhou (the plaintiff) use the phrase "petty theft" (qie) instead of "robbery" (dao) in his deposition. When Zhou refused, the magistrate had him and two kinsmen arrested and tortured. Eventually the case was reported to higher authorities, more than two months later, with the "petty theft" phrase intact. This is the story related in the memorial summary found in pp. 6-7 of this document, and glossed below.

Glossary

MAIN TEXT

題 - ti - term signifying a report in the routine system

特參 - tecan - special impeachment proceedings

以肅功令 - yisu gongling - in order to engender reverence for the imperial appointment of officials

竊照 - qiezhao - I humbly observe that...

職司民牧 - zhisi minmu - is charged with the duty of caring for the people

盜劫 - daojie - robbery

通詳 - tongxiang -communicate the details

上緊 - shangjin - promptly, speedily

 嚴緝 - yanji -rigorously arrest

以期 - yiqi - in the expectation that …

詎有 - juyou - and yet, here we have...

規避 - guibi -evade

處分 - chufen -chufen -處分 - being sanctioned for administrative offenses

刑逼 - xingbi - force by means of torture

事主 - shizhu - victim of a crime, plaintiff

擬結 - nijie - render judgment

Omitted text: The memorialist relates that a boat belonging to a merchant, Wang Tian-xiang, was robbed while docked at a market. Wang was injured in the robbery and sent Zhou Bao-jun to report the affair at the county yamen. However, the magistrate, Xie Zhen-fan, insisted that Zhou (the plaintiff) use the phrase "petty theft" (qie) instead of "robbery" (dao) in his deposition. When Zhou refused, the magistrate had him and two kinsmen arrested and tortured. Eventually the case was reported to higher authorities, more than two months later, with the "petty theft" phrase intact. This is the story related in the memorial summary found in pp. 6-7 of this document, and glossed below.

臣查核 - chen chahe - your official has investigated

抑諱 - yihui - coerce and conceal (the fact of robbery). The full phrase, yi-le hui-dao, appears in the rescript)

情弊 - qingbi - circumstances of a crime, irregularities

駁飭 - bochi - denial or rebuttal; overturn; a reversal of the judgment

詳揭 - xiangjie - reveal in detail

據 - ju - according to
* refers to tishen two lines later

署 - shu - acting (provisional or temporary appointment)

松江府知府 - Songjiangfu zhifu - Prefect of Song-jiang Prefecture

委員 - weiyuan - appoint deputies

提審 - tishen - judicial review

究有 - jiuyou - discovered that there were

情事 - qingshi - circumstances of the case, the facts

 通稟 - tongbing - submit a report; a full report

院司 - yuansi - the governor's office

批審 - pishen - for an endorsement of the judgment

旋值 - xuanzhi - just at that time ...

該府 - gaifu - said prefect

*Here, the aforementioned Song-jiang prefect (the actual holder of the prefect's post, now returned to duty)

回任 - huiren - return to his post

提集 - tiji - assemble (the parties to a case in court)

經捕事主人等 - jingbu shizhu rendeng - the detained plaintiff

訊晰 - xunxi - clarify by investigation

前情 - qianqing - the aforementioned circumstances/facts

驗明 - yanming - reveal through a physical examination

蘇州布政使 - Suzhou buzhengshi - the (Jiangsu) provincial treasurer stationed at Suzhou (the other was at Nanjing)

江蘇按察使 - Jiangsu anchashi - the Jiangsu provincial judge

分巡松太道 - fenxun Song-Tai dao - the circuit intendant (dao-tai) assigned to the Song(-jiang) Tai(-cang) circuit

各揭報前來 - ge jiebao qianlai - each made out his report and sent it forward

臣查 - chencha - (1) your official observes that...(2) your official has learned (from the reports just described) …

並 - bing - (negative intensifier)

虛心 - xuxin - objective, disinterested

驗訊 - yanxun - investigate by questioning and physical inspection

據實 - jushi - in accordance with the facts

捕役 - buyi - yamen runners empowered to make arrests

有心 - youxin - intentionally; with an ulterior motive; prejudiced

輒 - zhe - brazenly, recklessly; without authorization

認竊 - renqie - to acknowledge/report (really "concede" here) as "theft" (i.e., not the more serious robbery, dao 盜)

疊 - die - repeatedly

夾 - jia - torture by pressing (usually the ankles)

乖張不職 - guaizhang buzhi - grossly unfit for the post

斷 - duan - (negative intensifier)

姑容 - gurong - show indulgence

相應 - xiangying - hereby (as is appropriate)

疏 - shu - to memorialize the throne through the routine system, used alone or with ti 題 or zou 奏)

題參 - tican - impeach through a routine memorial

請旨 - qingzhi - request a decree (In Document II.1, the main action called for by the memorial, to which the rescript is a response.)

以便 - yibian - in order to make possible ... (In Document II.1, the magistrate had to be stripped of rank in order to be tried on a criminal charge, hence the impeachment proceeding.)

一併 - yibing - all together (note that this phraseology is brought right into the rescript.)

查 - cha - I have found (from the written record) that...

除 - chu - besides...

解 - jie - remit, forward (funds)

滇 - Dian - short designation for Yunnan

餉 - xiang - funds (probably for military use, jun-xiang)

移咨 - yizi - to send a lateral communication (i.e., to another official)

俟 - si - wait

交收清楚 - jiaoshou qingchu - turn over (the funds) and make sure (they are correct)

押解 - yajie - send under arrest

具題 - juti - submit a routine memorial

伏乞皇上睿鑒 - fuqi huangshang ruijian - humbly begging Your Majesty's sage consideration

敕 - chi - an imperial command

部 - bu - the board 

施行 - shixing - to carry out

再 - zai - on another matter – (introduces a separate but related subject)

會題 - huiti - submit a (tiben) jointly 

*with the governor of Jiangsu

jian 見 = 現 xian

兼管撫篆 - jianguan fuzhuan - concurrently hold the governor's seal

會銜 - huixian - two officials acting jointly

合並 - hebing - together, jointly

謹題請旨 - jinti qingzhi - respectfully submit a routine memorial and ask for an imperial decree

SUMMARY

NOTE: A tiben coming from the provinces was required to have a summary (tie-huang 帖黃) of the main document appended to it. Such summaries, which are limited in length, are frequently an efficient way of exploring in the archives when you are reading tiben, since they give you a good idea of the main details of a case and can help you determine whether you want to spend the time to read the main text.

追攏 - zhuilong - chase

毆戳 - ou'chuo - beat up

跌倒 - diedao -

攐住 - qinzhu - detain, hold down

喊稟 - hanbing - voice a complaint

弔詞勘訊 - diaoci kanxun - demand an investigation

囑 - zhu -

臟 - zang - loot

求寬 - qiukuan - beg for leniency

搬搶 - banqiang - remove and steal

虛心 - xuxin - objective, disinterested

有心 - youxin - intentionally; with an ulterior motive; prejudiced

IMPERIAL RESCRIPT

NOTE: The imperially authorized rescript originated in a draft (piao-qian 票籤 or piao-zhi 票旨), prepared in the Grand Secretariat (for details, see Document II.3). A memorial with a red rescript was known as a "red inscribed memorial" (hong-ben 紅本). The red rescript was written onto the front of the memorial by a clerk, rather than by the monarch himself, as in the case of the palace memorial, where the rescript (in vermilion, zhu 硃) follows at the end (see Document II.4).

謝鎮藩 - Xie Zhenfan - (personal name)

著 - zhuo - let (an imperial command)

抑勒 - yile - coerce

諱盜 - huidao - conceal (the fact of) robbery 

情由 - qingyou - facts, circumstances (of a case)

該督 - gaidu - the governor-general 

*i.e., Gao Jin

一併嚴審 - yibing yanshen - rigorously try (the cases) together

定擬 - dingni - render a verdict 

*in a criminal case

具奏 - juzou - memorialize 

*zou refers to a memorial in either the routine or the palace system. Compare zou-zhe, which refers only to "palace [i.e., secret] memorials"

該部知道 - gaibu zhidao - "Let the relevant board be informed." 

*a standard instruction