Imperial Edicts Research Articles

What Connects Mongol Rulers with the Chinese World: Imperial Edicts, a Literal Translation Style, and Spoken Chinese

This study examines the influence of Mongolian language on spoken Chinese, with a focus on the Sino-Mongolian, or Chinese language translated using the literal translation style (zhiyi-ti 直譯體) from Mongolian. Sino-Mongolian was a type of contact language, based on the Chinese vocabulary and Mongolian syntactic structure. Common linguistic elements are observed between Sino-Mongolian and the Chinese textbook No Gŏltae edited in the Koryŏ Kingdom under Mongol rule. The analysis confirms that No Gŏltae was not translated from Mongolian language but a type of spoken Chinese that was influenced and shaped by Sino-Mongolian through oral dissemination. Although Sino-Mongolian was an artificially translated language, the literal translation style may have been based on Altaic Pidgin Chinese. Hence, it was readily accepted in Northern China and naturally influenced and shaped the spoken Chinese there. It is concluded that the colloquial Chinese influenced by Sino-Mongolian, as observed in No Gŏltae, would be defined as Mongolo-Chinese, a type of Creole language.

Geographical and Strategic Considerations in the Establishment of Ming Dynasty Post Stations

The Ming Dynasty's postal station system was a vital network for state operations, underpinned by the dual forces of nature and governance. This paper explores how the strategic siting of postal stations was shaped by geographic imperatives and imperial edicts. Natural landscapes, particularly riverine environments and topography dictated placements that ensured resilience and functionality. Politically, stations were woven into the urban tapestry, striking a balance between accessibility and security, reflective of the era’s administrative exigencies. The analysis reveals a deliberate integration of postal stations with existing transport modalities to optimize the flow of goods and information. By dissecting these factors, the paper sheds light on the Ming Dynasty’s logistical sophistication, providing historical insights with modern implications for transport infrastructure planning.

홍무 3년(1370) ‘平定沙漠’ 詔書의 頒布와 詔書의 ‘언어’

In the sixth lunar month of 1370, Ming Taizu 太祖 (Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋) received General Li Wenzhong’s 李文忠 memorial which reported on the death of Toghon Temür, Great Khan of the Great Yuan, in the fourth month and the capture of the Great Khan’s grandson Maidaribala on the 16th day of the fifth month in Yingchang 應昌.
 According to the Ming Veritable Records 明實錄, it was on the 20th day of the sixth month that Ming Taizu mentioned these significant events in his imperial proclamation 詔書 to officialize the ending of the Great Yuan. By comparing different versions of the proclamation included in historical sources, this paper shows that the texts in the Ming Veritable Records were doctored by the compilers. They pushed the date of the proclamation from the original 15th day to the 20th day of the same month. In addition, they edited the original contents to reflect the circumstances of the 20th day.
 Following the proclamation in question, presumably on the 20th day, Ming Taizu issued another imperial proclamation bearing the same news. It was addressed to the people of the Great Yuan such as Mongol princes and nobles, and Jurchen chieftains who had not yet submitted to the Ming rule. In the received Ming Veritable Records, this proclamation was written in classical Chinese following the conventions of recording the Chinese imperial documents. This paper argues, however, that another significant problem of the Ming Veritable Records is hidden here: The compilers rewrote the proclamation to look like a usual Chinese imperial document. The original text of this proclamation was not written in classical Chinese, but in the colloquial language following the conventions of the Yuan imperial edicts which employed a unique style to translate word for word what the Mongolian Great Khans spoke. The colloquial style and words of the proclamation were a practical and effective method to persuade its audiences to submit to the new Ming ruler.

Gülhane contra Islahat: A Conceptual Approach to the Tanzimat

This article revisits the Tanzimat, without taking for granted its usual treatment as a self-contained story, part of the global march of progress and reform. It undertakes a comparative textual analysis of the two founding documents of the Tanzimat paradigm, the imperial edicts of 1839 and 1856. These texts, it is shown, bespeak different conceptual grammars: whereas the former is anchored in the Ottoman and Islamic tradition (the Quran, the Prophet, the shariʿa, the all-encompassing embrace of imperial justice and the personal ethics of the sultan), the latter is framed in terms of imperial dignity, civilized nations, and the rationality of international law and enacts the equality of subjects by the institutionalization of sectarian affiliation. The period of the Tanzimat is thus better understood as split by an epistemic break rather than the steady continuity of progress assumed by the very concept of reform.

Teaching good and doing good: Late-Qing Sichuan folk preaching and its effects

Since the mid-Qing era, public preaching in Sichuan has gradually become more about works of doing good than imperial edicts, which greatly influenced everyday ethics and beliefs in Sichuan grassroots society. In a way, this reflects how ideas affect society. Folk preaching in Sichuan, as a way of doing good itself, has been a common practice to advocate good deeds. Late-Qing folk preaching in Sichuan was closely linked to, and had promoted, the rise of local charities and better social aid services that ensued.

Ciddavilerin Yoldaşı Olmak: On Sekizinci Yüzyılda Kahire Hac Kervanının Güvenliği ve Bunun Ekonomik Yönleri

The Ottoman sultans, who bore the title “Servant of the Two Holy Sanctuaries”, assumed many responsibilities related to Mecca and Medina and their pilgrimage affairs, including the security of pilgrims, pilgrimage routes, and of the Holy Cities themselves. During the Ottoman period, these security services were mainly provided both by soldiers located in Mecca and Medina, and by troops who were sent from the provinces of Damascus and Egypt. This study evaluates the role of the Ciddavi (Ar. Jiddawi) soldiers recruited from the seven corps of Egypt to escort the pilgrimage caravans under the command of the serdar-ı kitar (commander of the military force escorting pilgrims) of Egypt, returning to Cairo at the end of the pilgrimage season. In this context, the military structure and remit of the Ciddavi Unit will be examined by focusing on the imperial edicts in the mühimme-i Mısır registers. This study reveals that the Janissaries were the most powerful and influential military corps within the Ciddavi Unit and they used this power to benefit their commercial interests. The soldiers who went to Mecca and Jeddah from Cairo for pilgrimage services created commercial opportunities for the Janissary Corps, which had a great interest in the Red Sea trade. Janissary commanders and soldiers of the Ciddavi Unit, together with the Egyptian merchants and artisans under their protection, became inconspicuous, yet important, parts of the international trade conducted between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean

Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean

The economic “micro-cosmos” of Canton as a global entrepôt: Overseas trade, consumption and the Canton System from the Kangxi to Qianlong eras (1683–1795)

ABSTRACT Due to China’s ongoing economic rise, recent studies in global (economic) history have moved away from the traditional Eurocentric view to a Sinocentric one. There is extensive literature focused on the introduction of Chinese goods to Europe, as well as on China’s economic development within the framework of the great divergence debate. However, less research has centred on the introduction of European goods to Chinese markets, specifically the markets in Guangdong or other coastal regions (such as Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu), before the First Opium War. This paper aims to side-step the Sinocentric approach, eschewing the current wave of national history in China, by analysing the international trade in Qing China from the Kangxi era until the Qianlong period. It provides new empirical evidence from the First Historical Archives of China (FHAC) by examining the impact on global trade of China’s imperial edicts and interventionist policies.

“A Style of Chinese Respect”: Lord Macartney’s Reply to the Imperial Edicts of Emperor Qianlong in 1793

Abstract In 1793, King George III of Great Britain sent an official embassy led by Lord George Macartney to China in the hope of getting more favourable trading terms. However, all the requests made by Lord Macartney were rejected flatly in two imperial edicts issued by the Chinese Emperor Qianlong when the embassy was about to leave China. The present paper focuses on Lord Macartney’s response to the two imperial edicts, in particular the official reply Macartney made to the Qing court in the form of a “note” to Heshen before the embassy left China. In the note, Macartney touched upon several important issues, including the sensitive one about the relative status of the two countries. To Macartney, these issues were so crucial that he felt obliged to make a response promptly. The tactful way adopted by Macartney to handle them deserves our special attention.

Wróżbiarstwo i praktyki magiczne w świetle dokumentów wczesnochrześcijańskich synodów oraz ustaw państwowych pierwszych cesarzy chrześcijańskich (IV-VI w.)

Chrześcijanie późnego antyku, mimo rosnącej roli chrześcijaństwa i uznania go za religię państwową, żyli w świecie, który nadal obfitował w różnorodne formy kultu po­gańskiego. Pogańskie wróżbiarstwo i liczne praktyki magiczne wciąż miały doskonałe warunki do rozwoju. Kulturowa i religijna działalność człowieka, mimo zakazów pań­stwowych i kościelnych, w naturalny sposób utrzymywała potrzebę podejmowania prób, za pomocą specjalnych środków i technik, poznania przyszłości lub wpłynięcia na los i przebieg wydarzeń. Takiej sytuacji sprzyjał fakt, że chrześcijanie nie żyli w izolacji, lecz współegzystowali z poganami na terenie Imperium Romanum. W niniejszej publi­kacji przedstawiono szczegółową analizę postanowień synodów obradujących od IV do VI w. w odniesieniu do wróżbiarstwa i praktyk magicznych. Analizie w tej kwestii pod­dano m.in. kanony ogłoszone w Elwirze (306), Arles (314), Laodycei we Frygii (koniec IV w.), Saliq w Seleucji-Ktezyfonie (410), Irlandii (456–465), Vannes w Bretanii (461–491), Galii (ok. 475–485), Agde (506), Orleanie (511), Eleuze (551) dwa razy ponow­nie w Seleucji-Ktezyfonie (544 i 554) oraz w Bradze (572) i Narbon (589). W celu pełniej­szego ukazania przywołanego w temacie zagadnienia omówiono również prawodawstwo cesarskie, ogłaszane w sprawach religijnych przez pierwszych chrześcijańskich cesarzy rzymskich, począwszy od Konstantyna aż do Arkadiusza. Analizie poddano przede wszystkim ustawy zawarte w 16 księdze Kodeksu Teodozjańskiego. W tym kontekście przywołano edykty cesarskie ogłoszone w latach 341, 381, 385, 392, 395 oraz 396.

The state policy against counterfeiting in the Russian Empire in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the main parts of the state protecting politics over the process of the coins and banknotes counterfeiting in Russian Empire. Research methods: analytical, synthetic, logical, retrospective, mathematical and illustrative. Main results. The article reveals the processes of coins and banknote counterfeiting in the Russian Empire referred to the material from state historical archives, official government laws and pre-Soviet periodicals (newspapers). The authors paid main attention to the question of state policy against money counterfeiting that includes legislative analyses of that time, in particular Conclusion of Criminal Punishment and Penitentiary, issues of 1845s and 1866s, Monetary Statute, issue of 1857 as well as nominal imperial edicts, regulations and manifestos of Senate as to forgery counteractions and coins protection, published in Complete Edition of Collected Laws in the Russian Empire. Practical significance. The material presented in the article will allow a thorough analysis of the aspect of counterfeiting money in Ukraine in the imperial period. Originality. The corpus of analyzed sources allowed us to form conclusions as to efficiency state in fighting politics against money forgery in Russian Empire in the 19th and the beginning of 20th century. The perspective of the further research we see in the widening of sources base that will help us to conduct deeper aspect analyses on money forgery in Ukraine as part of Russian Empire. Scientific novelty. The basic constituents of public policy are considered in relation to a fight against forgery counteractions, which is population informing of imitations appearance with the list of their signs; implementation of investigation features based upon population encouragement to the malefactors’ exposure; state expert assessment implementation of suspicious and forged money extracted during the investigation; legal procedure and punishment for committed crimes in money and banknotes counterfeiting; in investigation cases of State Archives Fund some unknown before facts within state fight against money counterfeiting have been found and a new stamp on physical evidence has been implemented into the scientific circulation, the absence reasons for money and loan-bills forgery in the Fund of State Museums have been estimated. The research is based upon unknown sources, most of which have been implemented into the scientific circulation for the first time. Analyses of legislative system of that time against money forgery, peculiarities of investigation, trial and sentence helped us to find out some misconceptions in factual decisions from those, fixed in laws and layouts. Article type: analytical.

Berats of the Serdarlik in the Düstûru’l-İnşâ of Sarı Abdullah

Bu makalede, üç serdarlık beratı incelenmektedir. Serdarlık beratı, padişah tarafından
 sadrazama ya da bir vezire Osmanlı ordusuna ya da donanmasına kumanda etme
 yetkisi tevcih eden bir belgedir. Bu belgelerin birkaç örneği, Osmanlı sultanlarının yaptığı
 atamaları ve yazışmaları bir araya getiren reisülküttap Sarı Abdullah (ö. 1660)’ın
 münşeâtında yer almaktadır. İlk belge, Hâfız Ahmed Paşa’nın kapudan-ı deryâ olarak
 atanmasıyla ilgilidir. İkinci belge ise Sadrazam Kuyucu Murad Paşa’nın Şark Cephesi’ne
 serdar olarak atanmasıyla ilgilidir. Bu belge, Sultan I. Ahmed’in yaşlı sadrazamına karşı
 olan büyük saygısının bir delili olarak görülebilir. Üçüncü belge ise Vezir İbşir Mustafa
 Paşa’nın Macaristan cephesine komutan olarak atanmasıyla ilgilidir. Bu belgeler, Osmanlılar’ın
 XVII. asrın ilk yarısında Safevîler’i ve Macarlar’ı nasıl algıladıklarını görmek
 açısından vazgeçilmezdir. Bu makale, ihmal edilen bir kaynak olan serdarlık beratlarını
 XVII. yüzyıl Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’na ilgi duyan tarihçilerin dikkatine sunmayı amaç
 edinmektedir. Bu vesikalarda Osmanlı sultanının çağdaş devletleri ve olayları tarihî bir
 kavrayışla nasıl algıladığını gördüğümüzü kolaylıkla iddia edebiliriz.

La gestione finanziaria dell’acqua in ambito urbano tra IV e V secolo

Regarding the administration of water and especially its financial management in Late Antiquity, the documentation is rather sporadic. Nonetheless, the analysis of the sources, especially the legal ones, allow us to perceive the existence of a well-organized administration system although some details escape us. This administration had its own headquarters (statio), where the registers for the distribution of water were kept. It furthermore managed, through a specific financial department (ratio), all accounts related to water and a “chest” (arca) concerning the expenses and incomes of different nature. Although, this was only one of many rationes of the fiscus and probably also administered quite similarly as the various accounts concerning the food supply system in Rome and Constantinople, accounts often interconnected to each other and, from the 4th century onwards, fell under the supervision of the urban prefects. Besides, the fact that it is mainly within the constitutions of emperors that the protection of water and its uses were addressed, one can assume that there was a persistently present central authority, which tried, by special laws and interdictions, to preserve and guarantee the water supply to citizens. The imperial edicts do therefore reflect that the guarantee of water supply was an act of benevolence on the part of Emperors, towards the citizens. However, it should be emphasized that this was also true with regards to other essential aspects of civic life: guaranteed food supply, urban splendour, public order, facilities and welfare.

Christian Apologists and the Antonine Emperors = Apologetas cristianos y los emperadores Antoninos

The Antonine period from Hadrian on­wards sees the beginning of a Christian lit­erature of “apology,” more precisely of de­fense and justification of the new religion. These defenses sometimes take the form of attacks on “pagan” cults or on Judaism. The Christians begin to represent their religion as a philosophy, worthy of consideration beside the traditional philosophies of the Graeco-Roman world. At the same time Christians are still persecuted, and impe­rial policy towards them, as expressed in the form of imperial edicts or implicitly by the practice of governors, continues, even if unevenly. There is a sharp upturn of per­secution in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, perhaps exacerbated by the internal and external setbacks of the reign.

The roots of bilingual education in China: the educational practices of Fujian Naval College in the late Qing period, 1866-1911

ABSTRACT The present article seeks to fill a scholarly gap in the early history of bilingual education (Chinese and foreign languages) in China by investigating the educational practices of Fujian Naval College, the premier naval college in late imperial China (1840–1911), with a focus on the curriculum design in the college. Based on a variety of primary sources such as memorials to the throne, imperial edicts and education reports, this article informs us of a crucial but surprisingly overlooked historical episode of bilingual education in China. It also enhances our understanding of the subtle entanglements of education, culture and politics in China during the second half of the 19th century. The findings show how bilingual education emerged in China’s government colleges, and how deep-rooted Confucianism could be compatible with modern science knowledge in the bilingual curriculum. The bilingual education in Fujian Naval College achieved a dual objective of transferring modern technical expertise to China and maintaining Chinese cultural identity, which exerted a considerable impact on the promotion of multilingualism in China.

From the Tombs into the City: Grave Robbing and the Reuse of Funerary Spolia in Late Antique Italy

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that funerary spoil (e.g. sarcophagus lids, funerary altars, epitaphs, reliefs, and statues) were frequently reused to decorate the interiors of public and private buildings from the third to the sixth century. Therefore, the marble revetments of high imperial tombs must have been spoliated. Imperial edicts, which tried to stamp part the overly common practice of tomb plundering, confirm that the social practice of tomb plundering must have been far more frequent in late antiquity than in previous periods. This paper discusses the reuse of funerary spoil in privet and public buildings from Latium and Campania and contextualizes them by examining legal sources addressing tomb violation. Furthermore, this study considers the extent to which the social practice of tomb plundering and the reuse of funerary material in late antiquity can be connected with larger urbanist, sociohistorical, and political transformations of Italian cityscapes from the third to the sixth century.

The Daoguang Response to the Āfāqī khoja Jahāngīr during the 1826–1828 Jahāngīr Uprising

This study examines Qing state attention to the Muslim challenger Jahāngīr, leader of Xinjiang’s 1826–1828 Jahāngīr Uprising. It considers how imperial agents, guided by Emperor Daoguang, defined and processed this contender, as well what this rendering implied for views of “Hui Frontier” Muslims. As will be seen, Jahāngīr was depicted as not just “treacherous” and duplicitous, but also an external “barbarian.” This image – crafted from military reports, imperial edicts, confessions, ritual, sentencing, and punishment – served to clarify a narrative with two salient characteristics. First, the khoja was set as the keystone of the conflict, the management of whom signaled a restoration of imperial integrity. Second, he was differentiated from local Turkic Muslims “Hui,” who (with ambiguity) were framed as Qing subjects. This rendering mirrored earlier Qing (esp. Jiaqing Reforms) depictions of borderland rebel leaders, suggestive of a solidification of the “idea” of Xinjiang as interior to the empire.

洪武帝의 명령이 고려에 전달되는 경로 : 聖旨의 문서화 과정을 중심으로

This study examined the process how the Hongwu Emperor’s orders were delivered to Koryŏ. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were no regulations stipulating how to document and convey the orders of the emperor. In this situation, the will of the emperor was sometimes conveyed in the form of documents, sometimes in the form of oral messages, to the neighboring country, Koryŏ court.BR The emperor’s orders were most commonly proclaimed in the form of an imperial edict, in the name of the Emperor. Most of the imperial edicts were drafted by the secretaries based on the orders of the emperor, but there was also a statement by Hongwu Emperor himself, called hand edict. In contrast to the former, the latter shows a much more direct expression of the emperor’s intentions. The words of the emperor were immediately transcribed by the imperial clerks. When the envoys of the Koryŏ heard the Emperor’s words, the transcript were conveyed by the envoys hands. When the Ming’s bureaucrats heard them, they were communicated to the Koryŏ government by sending an official document citing the emperor’s orders. The latter was one step further embellished than the former, so the emperor’s will was transmitted vividly. There was also a way of oral delivery of the emperor’s orders. It is a way for the envoys of Koryŏ or Ming to convey the Emperor’s words to Koryŏ court without being transferred by letter.BR The route through which the emperor’s command is delivered can be summarized in five ways: 1) Oral message, 2) Transcript, 3) Official document, 4) Hand edict, 5) Imperial edict. Among them, the emperor’s will can be expressed most directly by 1) oral message. As the latter goes, the emperor’s remarks became more and more refined through more procedures, sometimes decorated with diplomatic rhetorics, and the emperor’s intention was gradually hiding behind the writings. On the other hand, 1) oral message had the possibility that the memory of the messenger was inaccurate, and that the envoy would arbitrarily distort it. The emperor’s words could be expressed more clearly and logically as it went by going through the various procedures.

Water, Dike, and Temple: Water Deity Worship and Dike Management in the Jianghan Plain, 1788–2013

This article examines the relationship between water deity worship and dike management in the Jianghan plain of central China from 1788 to 2013. The Jianghan plain is a water-rich area that has frequently suffered from water calamities. Hence, the building and maintenance of the dike system there has been critical to the local society and economy. In late imperial times, the Jianghan people prayed to water deities, asking them to protect the integrity of the dikes. Many iron statues of oxen were also erected on the dikes to ensure their integrity, a tradition encouraged by imperial edicts for moral or psychological reasons. Nonetheless, if a dike ruptured, the emperors punished the responsible officials. Although China underwent dramatic political changes in the Republican era (1912–1949), the tradition of water deity worship continued. After 1949, however, the idea of “man can conquer nature” prevailed, and with a better-maintained dike system, the people of Jianghan no longer prayed to water deities. Instead, many water conservancy projects were turned into tourist destinations.

The study on the article of violating imperial edicts of the Great Ming Code in the Joseon dynasty

The study on the article of violating imperial edicts of the Great Ming Code in the Joseon dynasty