Download Document II.7a and Document II.7b

II.7 Court Letter (廷寄, 字寄 or 寄信), QL 31.2.10

Two versions: (II.7a) Grand Council draft with imperial emendations, and (II.7b) Grand Council record book copy

You may wish to read document II.7b first, then compare with document II.7a.

In its mature form, the court letter dates from the Yongzheng reign (for the institutional origins of the system, see Bartlett 1991, 103-112). It involved a small corps of imperial advisers (in Document II.7, the grand councilors whose titles and names appear in line 1), who drafted the emperor's confidential communications after they had received his oral instructions. Thus they are said to have "received an imperial edict" (奉上諭, lines 2 and 3), even though they drafted the actual document themselves. The court letter is a message from these grand councilors to field administrators; it quotes an imperial edict that they have "received," which makes sense if we consider that any utterance of the emperor, verbal or written, counted as an "edict."

The archives contain many court letters edited personally by the emperor in vermilion. The imperial editing (guozhu 過硃" going over it in vermilion") was not merely stylistic. It is often possible to distinguish issues of particular interest to the monarch; and to distinguish his personal views from those of his advisers. Like vermilion-rescripted memorials (see Documents II.8 and II.9), court letters had to be returned to the palace by their recipients. When using archives, every effort should be made to locate the original vermilion-emended version of a court letter, if it has survived. In the First Historical Archives, it would be found in the category 宮中廷寄.

Note: In the Veritable Records (Shilu), the "receiving" (drafting) process is masked by the expression, "the emperor issued an edict to the grand councilors" 諭軍機大臣. See Introduction to Qing Documents for more details on the relation between the Shilu and the court letter system.

The drafters disappear from view after the words shang-yu, then reappear with the words 欽此, "respect this," which simply functions as a close-quote and does not need translation.

The addressee of the court letter is the official named after the characters 字寄, that is, the Zhejiang governor. The court letter is, then, a communication from the Grand Council to a field official, quoting an imperial edict that the grand councilors received (again, very likely orally) for transmission downward. If a court letter bore vermilion emendations, the emended version would go to the recipient (thereby adding weight to the instructions by letting him know that the monarch was truly their author). If more than one addressee was specified (as was often the case), all but one of them would receive copies in black ink.

Document 7a is a copy of the vermilion-emended court letter. Document 7b is the same court letter as copied into the Grand Council record book of imperial edicts, the 上諭檔 (which is available now on microfilm and in published form). Sometimes the record book indicates the vermilion portions by a marginal note 硃 or 硃改, but not in the present case.

Glossary

大學士公傅 - daxueshi gong Fu - Grand Secretary, Duke Fu[-heng). Fuheng and the next two names (Yin and Liu) are listed as the senders of the court letter (ting-ji 廷寄, or zi-ji 字寄 as expressed here.) Note that in the vermilion-emended version (7a), one sender is left out for reasons unknown. To identify the senders and the recipient, consult Qian, Qingdai zhiguan nianbiao (1980). Note also that "Fu" is merely an abbreviation for Fuheng's personal name; it is not his surname (he belonged to the Fuca Hala).

查拏 - chana - found and arrested (na 拏 is an alternate form of na 拿)

逆犯 - nifan - rebel

已於摺內批示 - yi yu zhenei pishi - "We [i.e., the emperor] have already expressed Our view on the memorial" (by having written a vermilion rescript [zhu-pi 硃批] on the original memorial, which was then sent back to the memorialist)

胆敢 - dangan - dared to [胆=膽]

聚匪 - jufei - assemble bandits or rebels

製旗 - zhiqi - manufacture banners

悖逆字句 - beini ziju - rebellious language

兵役 - bingyi - troops

往拏 - wangna - go there to arrest [them)

復 - fu - furthermore

持械 - chixie - take up arms

拒捕 - jubu - resist arrest

傷差 - shangchai - wound persons on official duties

實屬 - shishu - really is ...

法所難貸 - fa suo nandai - that which the law cannot forgive

窮究 - qiongjiu - exhaustively investigate, get to the bottom of

以示懲儆 - yishi chengjing - in order to serve as a warning [to others]

演拳 - yanquan - practice boxing, martial arts

徒 - tu - fellows, ruffians, louts (note the difference between the drafters' more neutral ren 人 and the emperor's contemptuous emendation.)

觀 - guan - looking at, observing

符書 - fushu - written charms, (presumably part of the invincibility magic of these "boxers")

裒積成帙 - pouji chengzhi - gathered together and turned into a booklet

若輩所能為 - ruobei suo nengwei - “what the likes of them could do”

略識文字 - lueshi wenzi - somewhat literate

蓄謀為匪 - xumou weifei - hatching plots for rebellion

其黨與傳播 - qi dangyu chuanbo - the spread of their organization

不止此數人 - buzhi ci shuren - not limited to these few people

盡絕根株 - jinjue genzhu - completely root out

干累無辜 - ganlei wugu - implicate innocent persons

漏網 - louwang - slip through the net

閱 - yue - [We] inspected

何以 - heyi - how come... [Qianlong is ever watchful for omissions from bureaucrats' reports]

並未言及 - bingwei yanji - did not speak of it at all

托名捏造 - tuoming niezao - a made-up name

*Qianlong chides Governor Xiong for failing to investigate every clue. Furthermore, his memorial is unclear as to who is the chief rebel.

現獲各犯 - xianhuo gefan - criminals presently in custody

首從 - shoucong - leader and followers

分別臚列 - fenbie lulie - list separately

明晰 - mingxi - clear, clarified

傳諭 - chuanyu - transmit this edict [Qianlong is still giving orders to the Grand Council.]

速行 - suxing - speedily carry out…

審擬 - shenni - trial and sentencing

正法 - zhengfa - put to death [the suspects' guilt is presumed and authority to excute on the spot is granted]

根究 - genjiu - thorough investigation

毋得 - wude - must not

草率了事 - caoshuai liaoshi - bungle; carelessly handle/conclude a case

逐一 - zhuyi - one by one (always be careful to distinguish zhu 逐 from sui 遂)

遵旨寄信前來 - zunzhi jixin qianlai - "In respectful obedience to the edict, we send this court letter forward" (to the addresses in line two)