Ming dynasty edict found in northern China offers valuable insight into imperial government

The edict was made in 1606 to bestow honour on the parents of Ji Shu, an imperial official

Families often used edicts to legitimise their role in a community and help them contend for local power

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An edict that is far older than the one found in July was on display in Beijing. Photo: SCMP

Published: 5:00pm, 7 Aug 2022

Archaeologists in northern China announced at the end of July that they had found a 17th-century imperial edict from the Ming dynasty in Hebei province.

The edict was issued to the parents of a Ji Shu, a government official, in 1606, according to Wang Wei, director of the Wuan cultural relics protection and management department in an article on Xinhua, the state-run newswire.

Edicts were often presented as an honour for people or families of those who had made important contributions to the Ming empire, and often could help a family legitimise its ambitions for local power, according to Bian He, an associate professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University.

Bian told the South China Morning Post that edicts were top-down proclamations from the emperor – although the process was more complicated and usually involved a Grand Secretariat drafting the documents in collaboration with various offices.

“In this case, it is likely that the emperor in question was not personally involved in issuing the edict. The family being honoured locally must have put in some advocacy or had their allies advocate for their eligibility of honour,” she said.

Imperial edicts are precious pieces of archaeological evidence as they are official government communications that offer a window into political and social realities at that moment in time.

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