Official Communications of the Chinese Empire
The Chinese Empire, which lasted from the 221 BCE until 1911, required predictable forms and means of communication. Documents flowed down from the Emperor to officials, from officials to the Emperor, from one part of the bureaucracy to others, and from the Emperor or his officials to the people. These documents, especially memorials to the throne, were preserved in collections which became more voluminous with each passing dynasty and make the Chinese historical record extraordinarily rich.
This article briefly describes the major forms and types of communication going up to and down from the emperor.
Under Chinese law, the emperor's edicts had the force of law. By the time the Han dynasty (206 BCE- 2nd Century CE) established the basic patterns of bureaucracy, edicts or commands could be issued either by the emperor or in the emperor's name by the proper official or unit of the government. Important edicts were carved on stone tablets for public inspection. One modern scholar counted more than 175 different terms for top down commands, orders, edicts, and such.
Edicts formed a recognized category of prose writing. The Qing dynasty scholar Yao Nai ranked "Edicts and orders" (Zhao-ling) as one of the thirteen categories of prose writing, citing prototypes which went back to the Zhou dynasty and the Book of History. Han dynasty edicts, sometimes actually written by high officials in the name of the emperor, were known for their literary quality. In later dynasties, both emperors and officials who wrote in the emperor's name published collections of edicts.
The history of China features a range of famous edicts and instructions. Here are examples in chronological order:
He instructed his people:
Treat your parents with piety; respect your elders and superiors; live at peace in your villages; instruct your children and grandchildren; make your living peacefully; commit no wrong.
A Memorial, most commonly zouyi, was the most important form of document sent by an official to the Emperor. In the early dynasties, the terms and formats of the memorial were fluid, but by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), codes and statutes specified what terminology could be used by what level of official in what particular type of document dealing with what particular type of problem. Criminal codes specified punishments for mistranscriptions or using a character that was forbidden because it was used in one of the emperor's names. The Emperor might reply at length, perhaps dictating a rescript in response. More often he made a notation in the margin in vermilion ink (which only the emperor could use) stating his wishes. Or he might simply write "forward to the proper ministry," "noted," or use his brush to make a circle, the equivalent of a checkmark, to indicate that he had read the document.
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