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II.3 Imperial Rescript Draft (piao-qian 票籤 (簽) or piao-zhi 票旨 ) (YZ 4.8.25)

Introduction to Document II.3

Familiarity with imperial rescript drafts (piao-qian) is useful in understanding the system for handling and processing routine memorials (ti-ben). Before a routine memorial could be forwarded to the throne, the staff of the Grand Secretariat was charged first with recommending a response (or responses) that the emperor might choose when the matter was brought before him for consideration. These responses would be written down on slips of paper (piao-qian), which would then be forwarded to the throne together with the routine memorial to which they referred. Once selected, a draft response would then constitute the imperial rescript - hence the name.

Draft responses, like the rescripts they would become, could be as short as two ideographs (e.g., the conventional imperial assent, yi-yi 依議 "(Let it be done) as recommended") or they could be quite lengthy, as in the example that follows here. In many, perhaps most, cases, drafters of piao-qian could rely on standard forms, which were listed in office manuals (some of which survive at the First Historical Archives). For a ti-ben coming from the Board of Punishments recommending a sentence in a criminal case, for instance, the manual might offer "Let (so-and-so) be remanded to the Board for execution." The emperor might be offered a choice of two rescripts: for example, either

"Let (so-and-so) be forthwith beheaded or (strangled)."

or

"Let the Nine Ministers (a special tribunal convened in capital cases) deliberate and make a recommendation. "

Standard forms also existed for piao-qian offering the emperor three or four options. Rescript drafts attached to ti-ben originating in the provinces (i.e., tong-ben) commonly recommended rescripts such as "Let the Board of Civil Office or other board deliberate and memorialize 吏部議奏." Reliance on standard forms in the drafting of piao-qian was absolutely necessary to speed the immense flow of paperwork through the executive process.

Rescript drafts were prepared by either the Manchu or Chinese Draft Rescripts Office (Man 滿 / Han 漢 piao-qian chu 票籤處), then translated into the other language, appended to the original memorial, and sent to the throne. After the draft rescript was approved (see the introduction to Documents 1 and 2), the piao-qian was returned to the drafting offices, where a brief summary of the subject matter of the original memorial was written on it (and then again translated into the other language). The piao-qian, along with the summary, was then listed in both Chinese and Manchu versions of the Si-lun-bu 絲綸簿, the registers of open-channel imperial edicts (the Manchu name is ba de pilehe hese be ejehe dangse, "records of rescripted edicts").

Piaoqian are found in two separate places in the FHA. One, the Manwen piaoqian dang contains 16,250 slips, beginning in the Shunzhi reign. Each slip is the size of one fold of a memorial; the recommendation is written in Manchu on the left and in Chinese on the right. On the back of some (not all) piaoqian slips are written the names of the recommending officials. Very occasionally a piaoqian is only in Manchu, and sometimes one comes across changes made by the emperor to the original recommendation (these are usually in Chinese). The greatest drawback to their use is that these slips, which are now separated from the memorials they accompanied, have only the month and day noted on them, and not the year. At present there is no easy means of cross-referencing them to other materials. The other collection of piaoqian has been bound into 102 ce dating from 1645-1652. These are more detailed than the slips in the preceding catalogue, being comparable in detail to the shishu (like them, there is at least one volume per month) and would serve as an excellent source for research on the first years of the Qing.

Although there are few surviving piao-qian from beyond the Shunzhi reign, the Si-lun-bu, mentioned above, show the authorized rescripts, along with the Grand Secretariat's summaries of the subject matter, in their original chronological order. These registers, then, are a very useful research source when the time frame is reasonably narrow. They are most complete for the early Qing period (after the Yongzheng reign, entries are excessively brief). Bound in yellow paper, one per month (later more frequently), and, like the shi-shu memorials registers, divided according to board office, generally the si-lun-bu are in good condition. Entries are very short, usually only one or two lines listing the memorialist, the decision, and the type of matter. For the early Qing, Manchu volumes decidedly outnumber those in Chinese (for Shunzhi, 5 volumes remain in each language; for Kangxi, 82 Manchu and 69 Chinese; for Yongzheng, 131 Manchu and 25 Chinese). For volumes of the same month, contents appear to be identical; there is not the same phenomenon of Manchu-only entries as in the shi-shu.

NOTE: This is a rescript draft of the Yongzheng reign. Yongzheng piao-qian are particularly valuable historical sources because their texts are comparatively long, and the proposed imperial actions are set forth clearly and concretely.

Glossary

潘尚智 - Pan Shang-zhi - personal name

虧空 - kuikong - a shortage; deficit (in the treasury)

國帑 - guotang - government treasury

完納 - wan'na - pay (pay off the shortfall)

藏匿 - cangni - conceal, hide

慶元 - Qingyuan - personal name

與通同作弊 - yu tongtong zuobi - with [him] conspired in this wrongdoing

將 - jiang - (goes with zhuo, eleven characters below; here begins the imperial command)

情由 - qingyou - facts, circumstances

本內 - ben'nei - in the memorial (text of the ti-ben)

有名人犯 - youming renfan - the criminals named (in the memorial)

著 - zhuo - let

侍郎黃炳 - shilang Huang Bing - the vice-president [of the Board of Punishments]

前往 - qianwang - go (to the scene)

總河 - zonghe - Director-General of the Grand Canal (Hucker)

齊蘇勒 - Qisule - personal name (in Manchu, Cisule)

嚴審 - yanshen - rigorously judge

定擬具奏 - dingni juzou - memorialize proposing a [criminal] sentence

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

這本貼黃內稱 - zheben tiehuangnei cheng... - "The summary at the end of this memorial reads ...."

潘道不合 - Pandao buhe - Daotai Pan, which is not in accord [with regulations]

飭行 - chixing - issue an order [for the memorialist's administrative discipline]

抬銀 - taiyin - had the silver carried out

關役 - guanyi - a runner (lowest class of office personnel) of a customs station

等情 - dengqing - close quote (indicates that this phraseology was drawn from the original memorial)

八月 - bayue... - the date and senders of the original memorial

題參事 - ticanshi - concerning an impeachment by routine memorial (This note, on the original draft, bound the piao-qian verbally to the memorial to which it was attached.)

Manchu text

Pan Šang Jy gurun-i ciyanliyang be funtuhuleme edelefi umai wacihiyarakū. cisui tutala menggun somime daldaha bime. King Yuwan geli uhei sirendufi jemden yabuhabi. ere turgun. jai ben-i dorgide gebu bisire weilengge niyalma be ashan-i amban Hūwang Bing genefi birai dzungdu Cisule-i emgi acafi ciralame beidefi weile toktobufi wesimbu. harangga jurgan sa. ere ben-i tiyei hūwang-ni dorgide Pan dooli seme arahangge acahakūbi. tacibufi yabubu.

jakūn biyai orin sunja de Cisule se wakalame wesimbure jalin.

English translation:

Pan Shengzhi, having allowed a shortage in state funds to occur, cannot make up the deficit. He is secretly concealing all that money. Qing Yuan has also colluded in carrying out this fraud. Let (Board of Punishments) President Huang Bing go and, having conferred with Cisule, the director-general of the Conservation of the Yellow River and Grand Canal, may the two of them carefully investigate these details, along with the names of those people invoved that are within the memorial, and memorialize with an indictment. The expression “Pan dao” written in the summary to this memorial by those in the board concerned (with this matter) does not conform. Send a reprimand.

eighth month, twenty-fifth day, Cisule et al. reporting with an impeachment

Extract from the Qing Veritable Records (Qing Shilu 清實錄)

Entry 1.

清世祖實錄卷４７

雍正四年八月

○ 乙 酉 。 河 道 總 督 齊 蘇 勒 參 奏 。 原 任 淮 徐 道 。 潘 尚 智 、 虧 空 庫 帑 八 千 兩 。 不 即 還 項 。 又 夤 夜 將 銀 十 一 包 、 私 自 搬 運 。 每 包 計 一 千 兩 。 被 淮 關 監 督 慶 元 家 人 搶 去 五 包 。 據 山 陽 縣 知 縣 詳 報 。 現 飭 淮 揚 淮 徐 二 道 、 嚴 拘 究 審 。 得 上 諭 曰 。 潘 尚 智 虧 空 國 帑 。 不 行 完 納 。 乃 私 自 藏 匿 多 金 。 慶 元 又 與 通 同 作 弊 。 將 此 情 由 、 並 本 內 有 名 人 犯 。 著 侍 郎 黃 炳 前 往 。 會 同 總 河 齊 蘇 勒 審 理。

Entry 2.

清世祖實錄卷４８

雍正四年九月

○ 己 亥 。 淮 關 監 督 年 希 堯 、 參 奏 原 任 監 督 慶 元 貪 婪 劣 蹟 。 得 上 旨 曰 、 慶 元 蒞 任 年 餘 。 朕 聞 其 聲 名 不 好 。 曾 屢 次 詢 問 張 大 有 。 令 其 據 實 陳 奏 。 張 大 有 堅 稱 慶 元 秉 公 奉 職 。 商 民 皆 便 。 朕 又 詢 問 張 楷 。 張 楷 亦 稱 慶 元 居 官 甚 善 。 朕 以 二 人 陳 奏 之 言 、 自 屬 可 信 。 故 將 慶 元 留 管 淮 關 稅 務 。 今 覽 年 希 堯 參 奏 慶 元 劣 蹟 多 端 。 商 民 含 怨 。 則 從 前 張 大 有 、 張 楷 、 徇 私 妄 奏 可 知 。 年 希 堯 所 奏 慶 元 款 蹟 。 及 伊 不 法 之 家 人 。 俱 交 與 黃 炳 、 齊 蘇 勒 審 理。