Nalan Changan
Nalan Changan, courtesy name Lutan, Nalan clan, was born in Manchuria with a red flag. Born in the 20th year of Kangxi (AD 1681). Nalan Chang'an had many official posts throughout his life. He served as the inspector-general of Guangxi, chief secretary of Yunnan, governor of Jiangxi, minister of war in Shengjing, minister of punishment, governor of water transportation, governor of Zhejiang, etc. He was also an accomplished scholar and scholar with many writings. Includes: collections of poems and essays "Zuihongting Collection", "Hanhai Before and After Collection", "Sheshui Three Spring Collection", "Zhuhuai Collection", "Ban Yu Jianzhu Collection", these collections were later compiled into "Shouyi Tang Collection" ; Historical theory work "Commentary on the History of the Ming Dynasty"; collection of biographies "Biography of Famous Officials from Congsi"; notes "Notes on Official Travels in Shogyitang". In addition, he also has more than ten selected copies of historical books, such as "Historical Records Jinghualu", "Jin Shu Wenchao", "Southern History Wenchao", "Later Han Shu Wenchao", etc. Among the Manchus in the Qing Dynasty, there were not many literati who could achieve such achievements.
Chinese name: Nalan Changan, courtesy name Lutan, Nalan clan
Ethnicity: Manchu
Date of birth: 1681
Date of death: 1748
Occupation: Governor of Zhejiang during the Qianlong period
Representative works: collection of poems and essays "Shou Yi Tang Collection"; historical work "Comments on the History of the Ming Dynasty"; collection of biographies "Cong Yi Tang" "Biography of the Officials"; Notes "Notes on the Official Travels of Shogyitang"
Basic information about Nalan Chang'an:
Nalan Chang'an, courtesy name Lutan, Nalan clan, Manchuria with a red flag people. Born in the 20th year of Kangxi (AD 1681). When he was young, he studied under the famous Confucian Han Xun. He became an official immediately after obtaining the qualification of a scholar (scholar), but did not get a higher imperial examination title. He entered officialdom in about the 45th year of Kangxi's reign, and initially served as a pen postist in the Ministry of Justice. "Bi Tie Shi" is the Chinese translation of the Manchu "Bakshi". This is a kind of civil official who is mainly engaged in translation between Manchu and Chinese. The official rank is generally eighth or ninth grade, with the highest being seventh grade. In the 49th year of Kangxi's reign, he was transferred to Shanxi Governor's Yamen, where he still held the post of writing. He has been in this position for more than ten years. It should be said that the first stage after he became an official was very unsatisfactory.
Nalan Changan’s glorious career started during the Yongzheng period. In the first year of Yongzheng (AD 1723), he was appointed as the general magistrate of Taiyuan Prefecture. The general magistrate was the deputy of the magistrate. His official rank was not high, but he had some power. He was promoted quickly. From the second to the third year of Yongzheng's reign, he served as the deputy commander of Manchuria's red flag, that is, the deputy chief of one of the eight banners of Manchuria. His rank was higher than that of the general commander. However, this position is not very lucrative. Two years later, he was promoted to Taoist priest. A Taoist priest is an official between the governor and the prefect. Wherever he is appointed as a Taoist priest, his official official position is called a certain Taoist priest. Nalan Chang'an served in Jining Road and Shanxi Liangyi Road.
In the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, Nalan Chang'an took office as the inspector of Guangxi. An inspector is a third-rank official, in charge of the judicial, criminal and prison affairs of a province. In three years, he served as the inspector of Guangxi and Yunnan provinces. In the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign, he moved from the position of inspector-general of Yunnan to chief envoy of the province. Although the chief envoy was also the governor's deputy, his power and status were higher than those of the governor's envoy. He was the deputy governor of a province, slightly the same as today's standing deputy governor. He has served as chief envoy of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.
In December of the eleventh year of Yongzheng's reign, Nalan Chang'an was appointed governor of Jiangxi. The governor is the highest official of a province. He officially entered the ranks of feudal officials and officials. This year, he was fifty-three years old. However, he only served as governor of Jiangxi for less than two years. In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign, he resigned due to the death of his mother. According to feudal ethics, when a parent dies, a son must mourn for three years. During this period, there were many taboos. One of them is that those who hold official positions must resign.
In the fourth year of Qianlong's reign (1739 AD), Nalan Chang'an was appointed as the Minister of War in Shengjing. This was actually an idle official with little power. Fortunately, he was transferred to the post of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice the next year, and in October of the fifth year of Qianlong's reign, he was appointed Governor of Water Transport.
In December of the sixth year of Qianlong's reign (AD 1741), Nalan Chang'an was transferred to the post of governor of Zhejiang. This was the last and longest-serving official in the border region that he served in his life. During this period, he also served as the salt transportation envoy to Zhejiang and Zhejiang, and was in charge of Zhejiang's salt administration (salt administration was originally directly managed by the imperial court).
In the twelfth year of Qianlong (AD 1747), Nalan Changan fell into an official battle: the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Kaljishan, first reported to the court to impeach Nalan Changan on many charges, mainly: Two: one is to ask for bribes from the salt administration department under his jurisdiction; the other is to allow his servants to openly plunder merchants' property in the market. Without finding out the truth, Emperor Qianlong dismissed Nalan Changan from his post and ordered Gao Bin, a bachelor, to come and deal with it. Nalan Chang'an knew that his colleague Tang Suizu, the chief envoy of Zhejiang Province, collaborated with Kaljishan to frame him, so he also impeached Tang Suizu for corruption and bending the law. Gao Bin originally wanted to minimize the major issue and make peace with it. He reported to the emperor that most of the charges against Luo Zhi on both sides were non-existent. Only the fact that Nalan Changan's servant had taken property from merchants and people was true. He could just remove Nalan Changan from his post. However, Emperor Qianlong immediately sent another Manchu university scholar Neqin to deal with the matter. As a result, Nalan Changan was arrested and detained in the Penal Department Prison of Beijing. He died in prison soon after. The cause of death is unknown. He died at the age of 67. His death was obviously the result of official strife.
Nalan Changan has three sons: Nalan_, Nalanmin and Nalanqi, all of whom are unknown. He himself ended in tragedy, and his family was inevitably implicated.
Although Nalan Changan had many ups and downs throughout his life, he was also an accomplished scholar and scholar with many writings.
Includes: collections of poems and essays "Zuihongting Collection", "Hanhai Before and After Collection", "Sheshui Three Spring Collection", "Zhuhuai Collection", "Ban Yu Jianzhu Collection", these collections were later compiled into "Shouyi Tang Collection" ; Historical theory work "Commentary on the History of the Ming Dynasty"; collection of biographies "Biographies of Congsi Famous Officials"; notes "Notes on Official Travels in Shogyitang". In addition, he has more than ten selected copies of historical books, such as "Historical Records Jinghualu", "Jin Shu Wenchao", "Southern History Wenchao", "Later Han Shu Wenchao", etc. Among the Manchus in the Qing Dynasty, there were not many literati who could achieve such achievements.
Nalan Changan’s political achievements in Zhejiang
During his stay in Zhejiang, Nalan Changan was generally regarded as a good official who was diligent and caring for the people. And he also has a close relationship with Ningbo.
Ningbo was the capital of the Qing Dynasty, and it was also the seat of the Zhejiang Admiral (the Admiral was the highest military officer of a province) and the Ningshaotai Taoist priests, which was very important. It has jurisdiction over six counties: Zhenhai, Cixi, Fenghua, Yin, Xiangshan, and Nantian (established between Xuantong). Among them, Zhenhai County was originally Dinghai County. In the 26th year of Kangxi's reign, Dinghai County was renamed Zhenhai County. The original Dinghai County was renamed Dinghai Hall and moved to Zhoushan (renamed Dinghai County in the first year of the Republic of China).
Historical books say that "Chang'an has been in Zhejiang for a long time and has favorable policies." For example, Wenzhou and Chuzhou were relatively poor and the food supply was tight. He tried to attract investment to purchase a large amount of grain from the neighboring province of Jiangsu and transport it by sea to Wenzhou and Chuzhou to solve this livelihood problem. This also triggered a protest and complaint from Jiangsu Governor Chen Damou.
In the area where the Qiantang River enters the sea in Hangzhou, due to tidal erosion and sedimentation, the river is blocked from entering the sea, and the water level rises year by year, approaching Haining County. Nalan Chang'an personally visited the site for investigation and management, organized manpower, dug several large trenches according to the law and trend of the tide, and used the tide to wash away the sediment, finally solving this problem.
Many places along the coast of Zhejiang are troubled by ocean tides. Nalan Changan urged various places to build seawalls and dams to greatly reduce the damage caused by tides.
He also implemented the Baojia Law among the fishermen in Taihu Lake to control the phenomenon of many thieves.
The offshore Ningbo Prefecture was one of the main maritime transportation routes and a famous port between China and foreign countries at that time, so Nalan Changan paid special attention to it. He visited Ningbo several times and visited Zhenhai and Dinghai by sea. At the same time, he reported to the court the surveyed islands and the situation in the internal and external oceans. Regarding the Qing government's policy of imposing sea bans on some coastal areas at that time, he put forward his own views. He believed that simply banning the sea was not a good idea and that people should be recruited to reclaim these places. After receiving his memorial, Emperor Qianlong praised him for "braving the storm and being diligent in royal affairs".
The inscription on Zhaobao Mountain should have been written by him during one of his inspections in Zhenhai.
About the "Envoy from Zhejiang and Zhejiang" and the inscription
As mentioned above, Nalan Changan has been serving as governor in Zhejiang for six years, but when he inscribed the Baoshan stele, he signed His official title is "Envoy of the Two Zhejiang Provinces". How to understand this?
The ancient "messenger" generally refers to a person who is sent to a certain place to do something. It does not refer to diplomatic envoys as much as it does today. But it is not possible to simply use "envoy" as the title of an official position. Some officials in the Han Dynasty were called "Embroidered Clothes Envoys" and "Zhizhi Envoys". These were just metaphorical titles and not official official titles. Today, too, there is no official title just "messenger."
Nalan Changan calls himself an "envoy", which can be understood from two aspects: First, "envoy" means that he is just an official sent by the imperial court and the emperor to handle affairs here. This title seems self-effacing, simple, implicit, elegant and literati, which is suitable for high-ranking officials with high cultural quality like Nalan Changan. If we do not use this but list the names of official official positions, there will be a long list of titles, which is not only cumbersome but also seems vulgar.
Secondly, Nalan Changan liked the self-title "Messenger" very much. He did not only use it when inscribing the Baoshan Monument, but also used it in other places. For example, he wrote the preface to the collection "Lotus Niche Collection" written by Li Laitai of the Qing Dynasty:
Mr. Li Shitai of Linchuan, who was awarded the title of Jinshi for his erudite poetry, was awarded the post of librarian, and was respected throughout the country. He returned from the Dian Chu Examination and died in the capital. The year of death is the year of remaining life. Jiayin, I want to care for this country. As soon as I get off the car, I will look for the complete works of Mr. The governor said that the collection was named Lian Ni, with forty volumes. My great-grandson Tianshen searched and compiled it all over the place, and only got half of forty volumes. Carve it into a piece of paper and ask for it as the order. I accept it happily. Guiyue, Yuzhang envoy Chang Anxu.
(Two seals are used after the preface, one is "Chang'an" and the other is "Zhang of Dazhong Cheng", both are in seal script)
When this preface was written, Nalan Changan was in charge of Jiangxi Province Governor, so he called himself "Yuzhang Messenger". "Yuzhang" is the ancient name of Nanchang, which was also the capital of Jiangxi Province at that time and the governor's office was located here. He refers to Jiangxi by "Yuzhang".
As for the term "Two Zhejiang", it refers to Zhejiang. This is because previous generations mostly set up two administrative divisions in Zhejiang: eastern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang. Sometimes there were even administrative divisions named "Two Zhejiang". For example, Zhejiang East Road and Zhejiang West Road were established in the Tang Dynasty, two Zhejiang Roads were established here in the Song Dynasty, and Zhejiang East Haiyou Road and Jiangnan Zhejiang West Road were established here in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, this kind of administrative division name was still partially retained in some aspects. For example, the official name of the official in charge of salt administration in Zhejiang was "Salt Transport Envoy of the Two Zhejiang Capitals". Nalan Chang'an served as the governor concurrently. position. Therefore, it is not surprising that Nalan Changan signed himself as the "Emissary of the Two Zhejiang Provinces".
So, how to understand the inscription? As far as the inscription itself is concerned, it should be the second couplet of a pair of couplets, and the sentence is: "I bow to the six countries to serve as a pass, and let people come and go. There are clouds of treasures, and there are many yaqiang. Hai'ao's *** Ball. "Without the first line, the understanding of the second line will be affected. This is common sense.
"Looking down at the six countries to guard the pass" means that Zhaobao Mountain has a high terrain and a majestic pass, overlooking the foreign fleets on the sea.
"Six Kingdoms", firstly, borrows allusions, meaning that all the treasures of the Six Kingdoms will be returned to Qin, which means that China is the most powerful, foreign countries come to pay tribute and trade, and all the treasures and treasures are lost here. According to "The Imperial Code of the Qing Dynasty" and "The Examples of the Imperial Code of the Qing Dynasty", the six countries refer to the six countries outside the Qing Dynasty at that time, namely Myanmar, Nanzhang (today's Laos), Sulu (today's Sulu Islands in the Philippines) ), North Korea, and Siam (today's Thailand), generally speaking, it refers to many countries.
“Anyone can come and go, there are treasures in the clouds, and there are many ivory and cannons”, which means that although this place is a powerful place, it does not prohibit foreign ships from sailing, but allows them to come and go; and the passing foreign fleets The scale is huge, the masts are high, like a forest; the treasures loaded on the ship are piled up like mountains, reaching into the clouds.
The last sentence "joins Hai'ao's *** ball", Ao, originally refers to the flat land between the four mountains, and here should be a metaphor for the port, which is consistent with the topography of Zhaobaoshan. This sentence means that those huge foreign fleets came here and gathered at the seaside to berth in the port of the world.
Xie Taiding, a famous scholar in Zhenhai in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, wrote in "Jiaochuan Xingsheng Fu": "If you prepare things for the four people, you will present the eight-nation ball to you." Therefore, it can be seen that "the *** ball" "It refers to the rare treasures and other tributes presented by various countries.
In general, the content of the couplet is to praise Zhenhai, where Zhaobaoshan is located, as China's maritime transportation artery and important port connecting overseas countries. Thousands of sails dance, thousands of ships gather together, materials are precious, and there are countless exchanges.