書摘題. a Few Notes on a Synopsis of the Military Classics
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MING QING YANJIU XIX (2015) ISSN 1724-8574 : 9-43 © Università degli studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” QI JIGUANG’S 戚繼光 WUJING QISHU ZHAITI 武經七 書摘題. A FEW NOTES ON A SYNOPSIS OF THE MILITARY CLASSICS Felix Siegmund* ABSTRACT The famous Ming general Qi Jiguang (1522-1582) is best known for his military treatises, namely the Jixiao xinshu and the Lianbing shiji, while his other writings are much neglected by researchers. This article is an annotated translation and discussion of Qi Jiguang’s Wujing qishu zhaiti (16th cent.) The Wujing qishu zhaiti is a collage of excerpts from the Seven Military Classics (Wujing qishu), which are then re-arranged to form a new text. This new text, which is constructed like a word- game, can be read as a commentary on the meaning of the military classics and their relative importance to the canon of military texts. In this re-arranged text, new meaning is constructed and new interpretations are suggested. While the history of the reception of the Wujing qishu zhaiti is unknown due to a lack of sources, the text seems to bear traces of discursive confrontations of the time and of a struggle for legitimacy. Qi Jiguang even seems to challenge the established order of the elites by re-enforcing the position of military studies as a serious subject, comparable to civil (Confucian) studies. Keywords: Qi Jiguang, military theory, Military Classics, Wujing qishu, civil-military relations, late Ming Introduction The Ming general Qi Jiguang (1522-1582) is one of the better known figures in Chinese military history and probably the most famous in Ming military history. Perhaps this is because he is not only a military * Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. [email protected] Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 04:03:33AM via free access 10 Felix Siegmund figure, but was also connected to literary circles and could thus be styled a scholar-general.1 Qi Jiguang is famous for his success in fighting pirates in the Chinese Southeast in the 1560s and for his participation in securing the Northwestern border against the Mongols, being a proponent of the Great Wall building project. Even more importantly, he is famed for his military writings: He is the author of the Jixiao xinshu, which he himself edited in two different versions, and of the Lianbing shiji. He has been lauded a lot for his military achievements, for his military writing and – how could it not be so? – for his patriotic stance. In China, Qi Jiguang is celebrated as a national hero. Academic works, popular novels, comic books, even children’s books on his life are so plentiful that it is impossible to give due recognition to them here – they could fill an entire bibliographical monograph and some of them go into rather arcane details.2 While his two main works are well known (at least in China), very little attention has been paid to his other texts. In this article, I try to contribute to a change in that situation by presenting an annotated translation of his Wujing qishu zhaiti, the title of which could be translated as Selected Themes from the Seven Military Classics. The text is interesting for both its military and literary qualities, but has not been translated so far. The lack of interest in the text is astounding, as that synopsis is surely an important source for the study of Qi Jiguang’s 1 Zhu Ze (1984) claims that the influence of the literatus and statesman Wang Daokun was an important factor in Qi Jiguang’s literary work. 2 A good example is perhaps an article in a recent issue of the leading academic journal of military history, Junshi lishi. In his article “Did Qi Jiguang Never Kill a Japanese in the Anti-Japanese War?” military historian and Qi Jiguang specialist Fan Zhongyi painstakingly refutes an essayistic statement claiming that Qi Jiguang did not actually kill Japanese, but killed Chinese. Cf. Fan Zhongyi 2015. Qi Jiguang is not only a figure of interest in military history, but he is also an important figure in nationalist narratives, which are heavily defended. A recent examples of Qi Jiguang fiction would be the novel “The famous general resisting the Japanese, Qi Jiguang” by Zhao Xiangru (2010). Apart from the already mentioned excellent Zhonghua shuju editions of Qi Jiguang’s writings, there is also a comprehensive bibliographical table on Qi Jiguang that deserves notion. Cf. Ling Lihua and Liu Yuxin 1999. Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 04:03:33AM via free access Qi Jiguang’s 戚繼光 Wujing qishu zhaiti 武經七書摘題 11 military thinking, giving a unique insight into his understanding of the military canon. On the one hand, Qi Jiguang presents his view on the military classics. By offering a selection of the most important parts of the classics, he gives insight into his interpretation of them and into what the essence of their meaning is. On the other hand, the form of the text and the style he chose suggest that Qi Jiguang also makes a discursive statement. By presenting military texts as a legitimate subject of scholarly and literary interest, he elevates them to a level near the established canon of the (civil) classics. In Western language literature, Qi Jiguang features prominently in Ray Huang’s account of the first phase of the Late Ming collapse3 and his role as a military official in an era dominated by civilian officials is the subject of an article by James Millinger.4 It should be mentioned that there is an ongoing debate on the relationship between military and civil officials under the Ming, resulting in a revision of the idea of civil dominance. Military culture was strong at the Ming court and military officials played an important role in the shaping of the Ming until the end, even though the influence of the military arguably became weaker in the second half of the Ming.5 There is a translation of parts of his magnum opus, the military manual Jixiao xinshu, into German6, and a translation by Ng Pak Shun of a passage from the Lianbing shji into English.7 Kang Hyeok Hweon has written an article on the development of Korean firearms, which also deals with the reception of Qi Jiguang in Korea.8 I have also written on Qi Jiguang in Korea.9 This might seem little, but it is much more than what we have for most other pre-modern Chinese military figures in Western languages. More importantly, there seems to be a revived interest in Qi Jiguang and his role in the development Chinese military thought and practise. 3 Huang 1981: 156-188. 4 Millinger 1973. 5 Robinson 2013: 358-368; 119-121. 6 Werhahn-Mees 1980. 7 Ng Pak Shun 2014. 8 Kang Hyeok Hweon 2014. 9 Siegmund 2014, Siegmund 2015. Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 04:03:33AM via free access 12 Felix Siegmund Qi Jiguang’s literary work Qi Jiguang’s literary work consists of two collections, namely the Hengshuogao (consisting of three parts) and the Yuyugao (two parts). The Hengshuogao contains mostly lyrics and prefaces, while the Yuyugao contains mostly prose writings. Among the prose of the Yuyugao section, there are a few short pieces on military matters. One of them is the Wujing qishu zhaiti. The two collections have been published in an edition under the common name of Zhizhitangji as early as 1574.10 This 1574 edition is not identical with later collections of Qi Jiguang’s work, which have recently been collated and published under the title of Zhizhitangji by the prestigious Zhonghua shuju publishing house. Even though these materials have now been widely available for more than a decade in a very accessible edition, little has been done with them. Apart from the excellent glosses by the editors of the Zhonghua shuju edition, there are only a few short articles in Chinese, dealing with Qi Jiguang’s poetry.11 Qi Jiguang considered the military canon of the Seven Military Classics (Wujing qishu) to be of the highest importance for the study of military matters. He did of course know these texts well and quoted the classics in his military writing. It is sometimes hard to say whether this is really done out of a feeling that the classics could truly be useful for contemporary military theory and practice. In his military writings – which do not follow the classics closely at all, even though he quotes them – one could even suspect Qi Jiguang was using the classics solely for the purpose of borrowing their authority. His military writing is not bound to any orthodoxy at all. On the contrary, 10 See the 1574 preface in Zhizhitangji: 7f. 11 Zhou Xiao (2011) has written on Qi Jiguang’s literary achievements in general. Kong Fanxin (1989) offers a patriotic interpretation of Qi Jiguang’s Hengshuo collection. Sun Jianchang (2007) gives some general remarks on patriotism in his poetry. In addition, an edition of Qi Jiguang’s poetry by Qu Shucheng (Qi Jiguang shigao, 1991) must be mentioned. Also see the positive review of that book by Liang Zijie/Shi Kezhen (1994). There also is a highly informative article on poetry by Ming military officials by Liao Zhaoheng (2011), which includes materials on Qi Jiguang. Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 04:03:33AM via free access Qi Jiguang’s 戚繼光 Wujing qishu zhaiti 武經七書摘題 13 both of his military manuals, the Jixiao xinshu and the Lianbing shiji, are highly innovative works that concentrate on making the best possible use of state-of-the-art technology and tactics.