The Ming shilu records this proposal made by Qian Yue (b. 1438), a high-ranking minister in charge of the Censorate, in a memorial to the Hongzhi emperor (r. 1487-1505) in 1499. Qian had been tasked with touring and inspecting the province of Guizhou to identify problems with local government and propose changes. Following his inspection tour, he advocated increased promotion of Sinitic classical education as a strategy for stabilizing the region by acculturating the native elite to Confucian values. In the second part of his memorial (not translated here), he noted that Guizhou had suffered from famine and drought for successive years and proposed to improve famine relief by levying a tax in rice on local military units. The Ministry of War accepted this proposal but asked for the additional levy to be applied for one year only.

~~~~~

On the renzi day [of the sixth month] (July 31, 1499), Qian Yue, Censor-in-chief and Grand Coordinator of Guizhou, submitted a memorial with these proposals: “The native officials (tuguan) of Guizhou have gradually received the emperors’ sagely transformative influence for more than a hundred and thirty years.¹ They have changed their abhorrent customs, but their children and grandchildren who will inherit their positions still do not know how to pursue education. I request that all heirs to Pacification Commissioners aged sixteen sui (fifteen years) and above should be sent to state schools in the Pacification Offices as Added Students (zengguang shengyuan).² There, they should learn to read and practice the rites. Those who wish to prepare for the civil service examinations should be considered equivalent to Stipend Students who are descendants of military households.³ When they are due to succeed to their fathers’ positions [as Pacification Commissioners], they should be exempted from the requirement of being evaluated and endorsed by a regular official. Instead, only testimonials from their supervisors and teachers will be considered. Those who have not studied Ru learning, acquired literacy, and learned the rites should not be allowed to inherit a position. By such means, we can change the benightedness of barbarian (Yi) customs and cut off the source of conflict and contention….”

The proposal was referred to the Ministry of War, which responded, “… Regarding children and grandchildren who will inherit the positions [of native officials], we should follow recent precedent [in other regions] and send those aged ten sui (nine years) and above to county schools in the Pacification Offices or prefectures. As for the procedure for succeeding [their fathers], we should follow Qian Yue’s proposal. As for being considered equivalent to Stipend Students, we request that this be referred to the Ministry of Personnel for further discussion.” The emperor followed this proposal [from the Ministry of War].

---

1. Native officials (tuguan or tusi) were typically granted hereditary titles like Pacification Commissioner (anfushi or xuanweishi), and each Pacification Commissioner was in charge of a Pacification Office (anfusi or xuanweisi). ↩︎
2. Added Students were students added to local state schools above the normally authorized quota. ↩︎
3. Stipend Students (linsheng) were students in state schools who were certified as best qualified to take the provincial examinations. They had a higher status than Added Students and received larger stipends. ↩︎