Memorial of Indictment Against Liu Cheng
Jen Fang (460–508)
As Palace Aide to the Censor-in Chief, your subject, Jen Fang, bows his head to the ground and declares:
Your subject has heard that
Ma Yüan1 honored his widowed sister-in-law;
Unless he were wearing official garb, he would never approach her.
Fan Yü2 was kind to the orphans of his clan;
He treated them no differently from his own children.
Thus,
The righteous sire and the man of mettle,
Hearing these examples, strive to emulate them.
As felicitous accounts of the last millennium,
These two must be placed at the forefront.
Your subject, Jen Fang, kowtows repeatedly and begs your mercy over and over. Respectfully do I submit that the widow Fan of the last Chamberlain Administrator of Hsi-yang under the Ch’i dynasty, Liu Yin, came before the censorate to make a complaint. Her testimony was as follows:
“I was married to Liu Yin for twenty some years. After his death, the care and upbringing of his orphaned children fell to me. Liu Yin’s younger brother, Cheng, was constantly trying to do me harm. Before the division of the family property, he snatched away the slaves Docile Lad and Nunky, making them part of the clan’s common holdings. Then he proceeded to compensate his sisters and younger brother Wen with cash, but kept the two slaves for his personal use. He then appropriated the maid, Green Grass, who belonged to Yin’s son, Chün, and surreptitiously sold her for cash without even sharing any of it with Chün. Last year in the tenth month, Śrī (Good Fortune), Yin’s second son by a concubine, betook himself to Cheng’s fields where he stayed for twelve days, whereupon Cheng charged me six pecks of rice for feeding him. Before I had sent him the rice, he suddenly appeared at my door, shaking his fist at me through the curtain and cursing mightily. Abruptly, he barged into the room and seized the canopy for our cart that was hanging on the movable door-screen, taking it away as surety for the rice.
“On the night of the ninth day of the second month, his maid Pretty Voice stole the railings, shafts, and harness for our cart. When I asked about the missing objects, Cheng gave my son Chün a beating. Cheng, his mother, and four servants came into my room and began cursing mightily with loud voices. The maid Pretty Voice raised her hand and grabbed me by the arm. I request that you apprehend them and investigate the matter in accordance with the complaint I have made.”
I forthwith had the old slave, Ocean Frog, who had been owned by Liu Cheng’s deceased father, apprehended and brought before the bench for interrogation. His testimony was as follows:
“Cheng’s deceased father Hsing-tao, who was the former general of Ling-ling commandery, had acquired four male and female slaves. When his property was divided up, the slave Docile Lad was given to his eldest son, Yin. After Yin died, his second son, Cheng, appropriated Docile Lad, saying: ‘He should become part of the clan’s common holdings.’ Yet he kept him for his personal use, compensating his sisters and younger brother to the amount of five thousand cash,3 without sharing any of it with Chün. As for Yin’s slave, Nunky, he had formerly been part of the clan’s common holdings. Before Cheng and his brothers divided up the family property,4 Cheng’s older brother Yin mortgaged him for seven thousand cash so that he could work in the clan’s fields.5 When Yin gave up his position in Hsi-yang and returned, although the brothers had not yet broken up their households into separate eating units, he redeemed Nunky for seven thousand cash from his private funds and took him along to serve him in his new post at Canton. Later, when Yin died, Cheng divided up the male and female slaves with his brother and sisters, leaving only the maid Green Grass to become part of the clan’s common holdings. Moreover, Cheng said that Yin had never paid for the redemption of Nunky, so he should revert to the clan’s common holdings. Cheng’s greedy intention was to get Nunky for himself and push Green Grass off on Chün. Cheng reckoned that when Nunky returned from Canton he would take him for his own purposes. Seven years passed, however, and Nunky did not come back, so Cheng thought he had already died and would never be back again. Consequently, he appropriated the maid Green Grass and sold her for seven thousand cash. Cheng divided up this money with his brother and sisters, once more not sharing any of it with Chün. Yin’s wife Fan said, ‘Nunky was privately redeemed by my late husband, so he should belong to our son Chün.’ In the sixth month of the second year of the Heavenly Supervision reign period [503], Nunky returned from Canton. When he arrived, Cheng appropriated the slave for himself, saying, ‘He should become part of the clan’s common holdings as recompense for four years of wages6 when he was employed by Yin in Canton.’ Nunky is now working at Cheng’s place.”
I then had Cheng’s maid Pretty Voice brought in for questioning. Her testimony was as follows.
“Last year on the twelfth day of the tenth month, Liu Cheng’s older brother Yin’s second son, Śrī, suddenly went off to the cottage of Cheng’s where he stayed for twelve days. Cheng requested six pecks of rice from his brother’s wife, Fan, for feeding him. Before Fan was able to return the rice, Cheng got angry and barged into Fan’s dwelling place, taking away a cart canopy that was hanging on her movable door-screen as security. Fan then sent Cheng the six pecks of rice, which he accepted at once.7 This year on the night of the ninth of the second month, Fan lost the railings, shafts, harness, and so forth for her cart. She and her son Chün thought that they must have been stolen by me. When Cheng heard about their suspicions, he gave Chün a beating. Fan called out to him, asking, ‘What do you mean by beating my son?’ At that moment, Cheng and his mother came out from the central courtyard and argued with Fan through the curtain. I and the slaves Docile Boy, Ch’u Jade, and Dharmacārin, four of us all together, were standing to the left and right of Cheng and his mother at the time. Cheng told me, ‘She said that you stole her cart furnishings. Why don’t you go inside and bawl her out?’, upon which I went in and wrangled with Fan. As I was raising my hand, I grabbed Fan by mistake. The cart railings, shafts, and harness were not stolen by me.”
I then had Slovenly Slave, the slave of Yin’s wife Fan, brought in for questioning. His testimony was as follows:
“The mistress said that on the night of the ninth of the second month, she lost the railings, shafts, and harness for her cart. She suspected that they were stolen by Cheng’s maid Pretty Voice. The young master Chün and I went to the Chin-yang gate to sell rice and happened to see Pretty Voice there selling the railings and shafts for a cart. I wanted to catch her right away and take back the cart furnishings, but Chün said to me, ‘Let it be! Don’t try to take them back!’ I lingered there stealthily for a little while and observed someone buy the harness for a price of five thousand cash. As I had to follow Chün home, I didn’t see the money being handed over.”
The testimonies of Pretty Voice, Slovenly Slave, and the others roughly corresponded with Fan’s complaint. I then reexamined Nunky and Docile Lad, who testified: “We were appropriated from the mistress and are now working at Cheng’s place.” Since this was completely in agreement with the testimony of Ocean Frog, I turned the case over to the law. The director of the court, P’an Seng-shang (Saṃgha-Respecter), deliberated as follows:
“For summarily snatching away the maid of his brother’s son Chün and selling her off before the division of the family property, and for using the slave Docile Lad and others for his own purposes, as if there were no official regulations, he should be forthwith detained in a nearby prison while his punishment is being determined. All those who have been implicated should be handed over to the penal officials while they are being cleared of the responsibility for what happened. Everything should be carried out in accordance with the institutions of the law. It is the opinion of the court that Cheng is the chief culprit.”
Your servant respectfully states:
The recently appointed Adjutant of the Middle Army, Liu Cheng,
Is nothing but a vulgar villain,
Who flouts the doctrine of the sages.
Simply because
He married the descendant of an erstwhile empress,
He associated in office with the silk-stocking crowd.
His evil deeds and violent offenses have long accumulated,
So that even his family and friends look at him askance.
In defiance of principle he directly confronted his sister-in-law,
And
Recklessly gave vent to the most vile expressions.
For his own child he would stay awake the whole night,
But
He wantonly gave his nephew a sound thrashing.
When Hsüeh Pao8 divided up his property,
He kept the old and weak slaves for himself;
Kao Feng9 besmirched himself to keep out of office,
Fraudulently brought suit against his widowed sister-in-law.
Cheng did not observe
The profound generosity of Hsüeh Pao;
He only emulated
The mendacious precedent of Kao Feng.
The ancient paragons regarded their relatives so magnanimously
That not even clothing was considered a constant possession;
While Cheng’s niggardly treatment of his nephew
Was like Kung-sun Hung’s10 feeding an old friend brown rice.11
Why could he not
Tear up the debts for the bushels his sister-in-law owed,
But instead
Seized her fringed cart canopy for security?
To think that human unkindness
Could reach such a degree as this!
Truly, this is
Something that cannot be tolerated by the doctrine of righteousness,
Something that all men of stature must unanimously reject!
After consultation and deliberation, we request that Cheng be removed from office for his role in the present affair and that instructions forthwith be used for him to be detained externally12 by the Chamberlain for Law Enforcement who will administer punishment according to legal and penal regulations. All those who have been involved should be handed over to the penal authorities while they are being cleared of responsibility for what happened. Everything should be carried out in accord with the institutions of the law. The maid Pretty Voice does not admit that she stole the cart railings, shafts, and harness, so we request that she be detained by the penal authorities while the truth is being determined. As for the clan elders and local authorities who did not intercede at the beginning and all others who are involved, we request that further investigation be suspended on the grounds of insufficient evidence. In sincere fear and trembling, your subject kowtows repeatedly and begs your mercy over and over. I bow my head to the ground as I inform you.
Translated by Victor H. Mair
This text is a literary curiosity. The basic structure is that of highly mannered parallel prose. However, the euphuistic, allusive quality of this genre contrasts sharply with the quoted depositions of the witnesses, which contain a number of vernacular elements. These extremely rare passages constitute one of the earliest examples of written vernacular in China outside a Buddhist context. It is interesting to observe that Hsiao T’ung (501–531), the compiler of the Literary Selections (Wen hsüan), in which this text was first anthologized, removed the vernacular passages, probably because of his belief that, while “content should derive from deep thought, form should be expressed in an elegant style.” We must be grateful to Li Shan, the early T’ang commentator of the Literary Selections, who restored the vernacular passages to their rightful place.
The author was an official who served ably under three of the southern dynasties—Sung, Ch’i, and Liang—during the division between the north and south. Toward the end of his career, he was viewed as the chief arbiter in matters of prose writing.
For another example of parallel prose, see selection 12.
1. A general of the early Eastern Han period.
2. A man from the early Western Chin period who refused office and was content to live in poverty.
3. A “cash” (< Portuguese caixa < Tamil kācu < Sanskrit karṣa) is a coin of small denomination, especially one with a perforated center through which a string may be passed for ease of carrying.
4. After their father’s death.
5. It would have been Cheng’s right to take Nunky with him when he assumed his position in Hsi-yang.
6. Since he was a slave, the value of Nunky’s labor belonged to the clan as a whole, not to himself. Cheng refused to admit that Yin had ever paid the clan for the right to use Nunky for his own purposes in Canton.
7. The implication being that Cheng never thought of returning the cart canopy.
8. A man of the Eastern Han period who, when faced with the demands of the younger members of his family to live separately, kept the worst of slaves, maids, fields, utensils, clothes, and so forth, for himself.
9. Another man of the Eastern Han period who, desperately desirous of keeping out of officialdom, defamed himself by claiming that he was originally a wizard and by pretending that he was engaged in a suit brought against the widow of his older brother.
10. A typical tightwad.
11. To serve someone imperfectly hulled rice was regarded as an insult in old China.
12. That is to say, Liu Cheng is now to be tried and sentenced in the criminal courts, outside the special disciplinary proceedings reserved for officials.