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were eventually completed in 1430, and it seems that a more In another entry, Yang offers one rare example of the
relaxed political environment prevailed from about this Yongle emperor defending Neo-Confucian teachings
time, after the historical narrative of the Yongle usurpation against critics. Aside from the formal compilations of the
and reign was resolved. ‘Great Compendia’ of the Four Books, Five Classics and the
As David Robinson has shown us (see Chapter 1 in this Neo-Confucian writings on human nature and moral
volume), Ming emperors actively cultivated their image, principle, the Wujing daquan 五經大全, Sishu daquan 四書大全
following the grammar and imagery of power that and Xingli daquan 性理大全, the Yongle emperor and his
predominated across much of Asia. Yang Shiqi and his peers courtiers personally expressed few opinions on the Neo-
played a role in this development of the martial imperial Confucian tradition. But in this story, the emperor is
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image. They were frequently commanded by their ruler to presented as its staunch defender. In the second year of his
compose commemorative poems on the various hunts and reign, 1404, an elderly minor scholar from Raozhou in
military manoeuvres, to celebrate the martial vigour of the Jiangxi, Zhu Jiyou 朱季友 (n.d.) presented books to the
sovereign. throne that criticised the major Song Neo-Confucian
In the Record of Imperial Pronouncements, however, Yang masters, Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–73), Zhang Zai 張載
sought to cast the court in a different light, with an emphasis (1020–77), the Cheng brothers, Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–85)
on the sovereigns’ civil virtues, moral composure and and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107), and Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200).
personal relationships with the members of the court. Yang According to Yang, ‘His Highness read it and reacted in
wrote in the staid formal language of the ‘Chancellor Style’ severe anger, saying “He is a scholar-thief (ruzhizei 儒之賊)!”’
(Taigeti 台閣體), one that he and his peers had cultivated over The emperor then showed the writings to the others in
the first decades of the 15th century. In poetry and in prose, attendance. The officials condemned the work and
this style was clear and bland, a register of language with a recommended that the author be punished and his works
confident vision of order, putting the world to right through destroyed. Hu Guang noted that since the author was in his
an idealised narrative where, as Yang says in his preface, the 70s, burning his writings might be sufficient. The emperor
Ming throne is passed down from one sage to the next – the then declared: ‘Slandering the former worthies and
world as it should be. destroying the correct way is uncommonly criminal. By
As one might expect, Yang himself plays a prominent role controlling him We can set an enduring example’. Then he
in these accounts and many of them are solitary exchanges ordered that Zhu be returned to Raozhou and that local
between him and the emperor. As the sole witness to these officials there give him a beating and investigate his house to
interactions and with so many of his colleagues from that era ensure that all his writings were destroyed. He then said to
dead, Yang had the liberty to reconstruct the character of the courtiers, ‘Eliminating evil must be done thoroughly.
the emperors and the court as he saw them. The short Destroying his writings is truly appropriate!’ 17
anecdotes found in the Record of Imperial Pronouncements thus This account had already appeared in much briefer form
offered his idealised and highly personal image of the ruler. in the Veritable Records of the Yongle reign. Here Yang added
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In Yang’s telling, the three emperors he served were greater emphasis to the emperor’s indignation, indicating a
sagacious and moral, but also intimate and highly more personal investment in the teachings of Neo-
deferential towards the civil officials at court. Confucianism. And further, Yang emphasised the emperor’s
In several of the anecdotes, Yang portrays the Yongle deference to the advice of his officials. As this story was
emperor and his son and grandson as deeply engaged in buried in the non-circulating Veritable Records, Yang here
various aspects of ‘literati’ culture. In several entries, the retold it to promulgate the image of an emperor fully
emperor exchanges comments on the classical heritage with committed to the teachings and counsel of his civil official.
Yang and others. These discussions are not particularly deep Throughout Yang’s collected records, the emperors are
or profound: in one, Yongle insists that these scholars verify depicted as showing careful deference and solicitude towards
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their claims on the dao 道 with passages from the classics. their officials. The relationships are shown to be personal
The point is not to show the emperor’s scholarly prowess, but and intimate. This is particularly clear in one entry in which
simply his familiarity with and deference to the Neo- a member of court died suddenly:
Confucian corpus and the literary traditions of his courtiers. In June of the sixth year of Yongle [1408], the Minister of Rites,
Elsewhere, Yang recorded another exchange with Yongle’s Zheng Ci 鄭賜, died. Before this, his duties in the Rites
son, Hongxi, focused on the literature of Ouyang Xiu, the Ministry had been many. Ci confided to his vice minister, Zhao
prominent Song litterateur who came from Luling 盧陵, in Gong 趙羾, that he was anxious and ill. Frequently while
Jiangxi province, also Yang Shiqi’s home. Ouyang was widely memorialising at court, he would lose track and the emperor
considered to be the paragon of fine literary writing and Yang disliked it.
was one of his chief proponents. Here, he records the Hongxi That morning, the death was urgently announced. The Hanlin
emperor praising both his literary style and his moral officials were summoned and [His Highness] asked, ‘We had
rectitude: ‘Writing that is not based on the correct way, this is not heard that Ci was ill, how could he have lost his life?’ Before
useless writing. An official who is unable to speak directly is a any of them answered, I approached and said, ‘I observed that
disloyal official. Ouyang is truly a credit to Luling as a Ci had been ill for several days. But he was afraid and did not
gentleman. Shiqi, you should so strive!’ Taught by Yang dare to retire, which would have been better so that he could
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seek medical care. Yesterday evening, I was standing with Ci
Shiqi in his minority, the Hongxi emperor here perfectly outside the Youshun Gate, and his physical strength was so
recites his teacher’s point of view, a clear articulation of the impaired that he fell to the ground. Those around were startled
principles behind the ‘Chancellery literary style’. that from his mouth and nose, the air was exhaled, but not

96 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450