Imperially Commissioned Records of the Eight Banners

Author: Li Xun, Zhao Degui, Zhou Yufang, et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: The Eight Banner system was the fundamental social system of the Qing Dynasty, unprecedented in previous dynasties and absent in later ones. The Qing Dynasty highly valued the Eight Banner system and compiled two editions of The Compendium of the Eight Banners, referred to as The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners and The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners, respectively, to distinguish them. These two works are detailed, systematic, comprehensive, and complete, serving as indispensable and precious materials for studying the Qing Dynasty's banners, politics, economy, military, culture, society, folklore, clans, institutions, education, and religion. They are also classic works for researchers. The preliminary edition was published by Northeast Normal University Press in 1985. The later edition, a Qing Dynasty edition, has a limited print run, numerous volumes, lacks punctuation, and lacks an index, making it inconvenient for readers to borrow and difficult to search, causing significant frustration. The newly published annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners by Jilin Literature and History Press has garnered attention from academia and praise from scholars.
The Eight Banner system was established by Nurhaci, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, on the basis of the Jurchen hunting organizations in the 29th year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1601). Initially, there were four banners; by the 43rd year of the Wanli era, they were divided into eight, establishing the military and political unified Eight Banner Manchu system. Later, the Eight Banner Mongol and Eight Banner Han Army systems were developed, forming a complete and important social system of the Qing Dynasty. The rise of the Eight Banners corresponded to the rise of the Qing Dynasty, and their decline corresponded to its fall. The Eight Banner system played an extremely important role in the history of the Qing Dynasty and the development of the Manchu nation. Without understanding the Eight Banner system, one cannot fully understand the history of the Qing Dynasty or Manchu studies. In-depth research on the Eight Banner system is a major topic in the study of the Qing Dynasty and Manchu studies.
The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners was commissioned in the fifth year of the Yongzheng era (1727) and compiled by Ertai and others, with publication in the fourth year of the Qianlong era (1739), comprising 254 volumes. It covers events from the rise of the Manchu to the 13th year of the Yongzheng era. The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners organizes its content along the axis of the Eight Banner military system and weaves in banners' laws, officials, and figures, divided into four sections: prefaces, chronicles, tables, and biographies. The chronicles are divided into eight sections: banners, land, construction, military system, officials, schools, rituals, and literature. The tables are divided into eight sections: titles, hereditary positions, Eight Banner officials, the Imperial Clan Court, the Grand Council, ministerial and departmental officials, provincial officials, and elections. The biographies are divided into eight sections: imperial clan princes and nobles, famous officials, meritorious officials, loyal and righteous officials, honest officials, scholars, filial and righteous officials, and women of virtue. The chronicles, tables, and biographies are interrelated yet distinct in style. The chronicles connect events to history, the tables connect years to people, and the biographies connect people to events, each with its own focus, complementing one another. However, there are shortcomings: some entries contradict each other despite being the same, and some follow the same format but do not align with historical facts. The chronicle of literature and arts includes imperial decrees and ministerial memorials but omits the works of Eight Banner people, deviating from traditional conventions and misrepresenting the content. The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners was used to write the preface for The Compendium of the Four Treasuries, but the book itself was included in The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners. This is because when Ji Yun and others compiled The Compendium of the Four Treasuries, the preliminary edition was already complete, while the later edition was not yet compiled. When the Four Treasuries were copied, the later edition was already finished and included, arranged according to the library system, leading to the phenomenon where The Compendium of the Four Treasuries listed the preliminary edition before the later one.
The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners was commissioned in the 51st year of the Qianlong era and compiled by Ji Yun and others, completed during the Jiaqing era. This work is actually divided into 12 volumes of imperial poems and prose, 120 volumes of chronicles, 149 volumes of biographies, 69 volumes of tables, 4 volumes of other materials, and 2 volumes of indexes, totaling 356 volumes, "establishing the constitution of one era and passing down the laws for generations." Previously, in the 37th year of the Qianlong era, the compilation of The Four Treasuries was commissioned, and the Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners was revised. In the 51st year of the Qianlong era, the Qianlong Emperor reviewed the revised Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners submitted by the Four Treasuries Office and found it had serious omissions: the Manchu names of people, places, and officials were recorded in Manchu but not in Chinese, making it difficult for later readers to understand at a glance; the office staff made careless errors, and the revision was insufficient—"this is copying history, not compiling history." The Qianlong Emperor rejected the draft and instructed, "Let it be handed over to the Military Affairs Commission and the chief compilers of the office to revise it again." Thus, the Eight Banner Compendium began to be revised, and by the end of the Qianlong era, it was largely completed. During this period, the Qianlong Emperor repeatedly inspected it, the office staff repeatedly checked and revised, continuously editing, replacing, supplementing, and copying until it was completed in the Jiaqing era, bound, and included in the Four Treasuries. The chronicles cover events from the rise of the Manchu and the establishment of the Eight Banner system to the 60th year of the Qianlong era. The relationship between the two works is that The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners was compiled based on The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners, sharing similarities yet differing in some aspects. The similarities include the same upper time limit and similar compilation methods. The differences lie in the lower time limit, content structure, data selection, and scope. The later edition adds 102 volumes compared to the earlier one, with an additional 2 million words, totaling over 6 million words. It particularly supplements and continues the history of the Eight Banners for the 60th year of the Qianlong era. However, the earlier edition was compiled first and laid the foundation, while the later edition continued the revision, compiling the largest collection of materials. Therefore, the later edition is not a continuation of the earlier one.
The sources of historical materials, as observed by the annotators, include the Six Dynasties Annals, the Kangxi Imperial Examination Regulations, the Six Censors' Histories, imperial literary collections, the Compendium of Shengjing, the Imperial Rescripts to the Eight Banners, banner registers, and the Imperial Examination Regulations, as well as a large amount of Eight Banner archives and local documents. The main sources for the chronicles include original documents from the Imperial Clan Court, the Six Ministries, the Imperial Academy, and incoming documents from Eight Banner generals, commanders, and local government offices, as well as edicts, imperial rescripts, memorials, and literary works. The main sources for the tables include genealogical records, title registers, imperial decrees, edicts for hereditary positions and titles, and registers of local famous officials. The main sources for the biographies include the Imperial Historical Biographies, the Annals, historical records, and registers from various banners and merit certificates. Most of these archives and documents are now scattered, and their preservation is thanks to The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners, making their historical value even more precious.
It is evident that The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners is not only a history of the Eight Banners compiled by the Qing people but also a collection of historical materials about the Eight Banners. This makes it extremely valuable for studying the history of the Qing Dynasty and Manchu studies, especially for studying the history of the Eight Banner system. The literary and academic value of the annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners can be summarized in four points, with brief comments.
In 1986, the Taiwan Student Book Company published photocopied editions of The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners and The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners. Northeast Normal University Press published the annotated edition of The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners in 1985. However, the annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners is rare, with incomplete manuscript copies, precious palace edition copies, and difficult-to-find Four Treasuries copies, making readers eager for an annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners. The scarcity of research on the Eight Banners is closely related to the difficulty of accessing The Eight Banner Compendium. Recently, the country has begun compiling a large-scale History of the Qing Dynasty, and Manchu studies have become an international discipline, with Eight Banner research heating up once again. Therefore, the publication of the annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners after two hundred years is timely and meets the needs of the time. This academic work holds even greater significance.
The main work of annotating The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners includes segmenting, punctuating, annotating, and indexing. Segmentation facilitates reading. Punctuation, while seemingly easy, is actually difficult. Punctuating ancient texts can be challenging to interpret. The Qing scholar Yao Nai once said, "Books are 'circled and pointed to inspire thought, more than explanations.'" Annotating ancient texts requires deep expertise and careful attitude; if not, one may misinterpret the text and mislead readers. As Lu Xun said, "Punctuating ancient texts often makes famous scholars look foolish." This book's punctuation is even more challenging due to the translation of Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese names, places, titles, offices, and honorary titles. Therefore, the punctuation is done with great caution, striving to avoid breaking sentences incorrectly and demonstrating the annotators' and editors' rigorous attitude.
Second, meticulous annotation and printing, with extreme care and attention to detail. The annotations demonstrate the annotators' expertise. This book uses the Jiaqing Imperial Bureau Wuying Palace edition as the base and the Wenyuan Pavilion Four Treasuries edition as the reference, cross-referencing the Qing Annals, Qing Imperial Examination Regulations, The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners, and other documents and archives, while also incorporating previous research. As the ancients said, "Without reading all the books in the world, do not hastily add or subtract." Therefore, the annotators of this book established the principle of "three diligence—diligent thinking, diligent checking, and diligent asking" and "cautious revision—correcting errors, omissions, repetitions, and gaps must be verified, and annotations must be provided." This annotation work ensures that missing lines, sections, reversed word orders, and errors, omissions, repetitions, and gaps are supplemented, corrected, and verified based on the reference edition, with annotations provided below the supplemented sections, lines, and words, numbered, and notes placed at the end of each volume. For variant characters, such as competing characters like FDA2, variant characters like FDA3, ancient and modern characters like B050 and , and homophonic characters like and B15F, "they remain unchanged without alteration." As for characters with multiple meanings in the simplified character list, such as CACA (meaning 'suitable' when pronounced as 'dí'), (meaning 'suitable' when pronounced as 'dí'), (meaning 'surgery' when pronounced as 'zhū'), and (meaning 'leaf' when pronounced as 'xié'), "the reference edition separates and restores them." According to my statistics, The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners has only 164 annotations. The annotations of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners are more extensive, finer, broader, and more precise. My statistics show that the book includes 401 annotations in total, with 25 annotations in volume 285, 24 in volume 283, and 22 in volume 284. Examples of corrections include: "Kulja Camp" mistakenly written as "Kulja Labor," "injustice" mistakenly written as "injustice," "Manda" mistakenly written as "Hada," "Guard" mistakenly written as "Guard," "Imperial decree" mistakenly written as "E222 said," and "Qianlong" mistakenly written as "Qianqian," as well as "Ming General Zuda Shou surrendered Jinzhou" with "Jinzhou" mistakenly written as "Jiangzhou," all of which have been corrected and annotated.
The annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners is beautifully printed and bound, thick and elegant.
Third, chronicles and biographies with indexes, benefiting scholars. In The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners, there are 122 volumes of biographies, including 3,977 Manchu, Mongol, and Han Banner people and 3,308 women of virtue, totaling 7,285 people. In The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners, there are 149 volumes of biographies, including 3,409 Manchu, Mongol, and Han Banner people and 15,997 women of virtue, totaling 19,406 people. The two books together include 7,386 Manchu, Mongol, and Han Banner people and 19,305 women of virtue, totaling 26,691 people. The scope and number of people covered in these books surpass those of The Qing Historical Biographies, The Qing Historical Draft, The Qing National Historical Records, The Collection of Biographies, and The Compilation of Famous Scholars of the Current Dynasty. In a sense, The Eight Banner Compendium is also a biographical work of the Eight Banners. However, the people in the chronicles or biographies are scattered across various volumes, making it very difficult to trace and search. Even The Combined Index of Thirty-Three Qing Historical Biographies does not include the biographies from The Eight Banner Compendium. This book indexes the 7,386 people (excluding women of virtue) from the main and supplementary biographies of The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners and The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners, divided into two parts: the first part is The Index of Biographies in The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners, and the second part is The Index of Biographies in The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners. Each part includes a character stroke index and a Pinyin index. Below each entry, the name, surname, banner affiliation, and the volume and leaf number of the annotated edition are listed, with notes added for ambiguities. This makes it very convenient to use. This alone is a great achievement.
Fourth, selecting editions and repeatedly checking. To rescue national classics and meet the needs of academia, the Institute of Ancient Texts at Northeast Normal University organized efforts to annotate and edit The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners. When editing ancient texts, the edition is crucial. The photocopied edition of The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners published by the Taiwan Student Book Company is based on a microfilm at the University of Washington in the United States, but due to missing film fragments, blank pages appear. The annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners uses the Jiaqing era Wuying Palace edition as the base and the Four Treasuries edition as the reference, making the selection of editions more appropriate. If The Preliminary Compendium of the Eight Banners is a compendium of materials on the Eight Banner system, then The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners is a specialized history and chronicle of the Eight Banner system, as well as a more reliable collection of Eight Banner materials, with high literary and academic value. The annotation work of this book was led by Li Xun, Zhao Degui, and others, with over 50 people participating over time. They maintained a rigorous attitude and serious academic standards: "not to shame the ancients and not to harm the future." The annotation work began in 1986 and was divided into two phases: the first phase lasted five years to complete the annotation; the second phase was five years of traditional vertical printing; then came six years of twists and turns; and finally, post-revision, finalization, and publication. During this period, the research team members and publishing house editors checked the proofs separately, with a total of 12 rounds (including red checks). Only the two main annotators compared the base and reference editions for three volumes. The annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners has gone through many hardships and finally came to fruition. The annotated edition of The Imperially Prescribed Compendium of the Eight Banners has taken 17 years to organize and publish, with a sincere spirit that is truly moving. Meticulously annotated, printed, bound, and published, it stands out in the world of books and benefits scholars.