During the Xianfeng reign, when the Nian rebels disturbed Shandong, Vice Minister Wang Ciping was at home, living on Chenghuang Temple Street. One evening he came back drunk and walked past the temple, where a runner invited him inside, saying: "The City God knows you are a Hanlin scholar skilled in calligraphy and asks you to write out one register." He went in and saw the City God. After the ceremonies between host and guest were done, a yellow register and a name list were brought out, and he was asked to write them in regular script. The first name on the list was my late elder uncle, the Taipu, who was then commander-in-chief of the local militia and about to fight a decisive battle with the Nian rebels. On the twenty-second day of the second month, he fought fiercely outside the city and died in battle. Only then did I know that the register the City God had asked him to write was the list of officers and men destined to die in battle. Because they gave their lives for loyalty and righteousness, they were ordered to be written in careful regular script on a yellow register and reported to Heaven. Thus one may know that events are fixed beforehand and the gods know them in advance. It is said that a daughter of the Guo family, when she reached marriageable age, dreamed that the City God took her as his principal wife, and she then died without illness. So a statue of her was made and placed in the rear chamber, and the incense offerings grew ever more plentiful. Her clothes, quilt, and pillow were renewed by the townspeople every year. Street talk and alley gossip I did not dare wholly believe. A god of uprightness would not likely do such a thing.
Editor's review
This note is set against the Nian rebels' incursions into Shandong during the Xianfeng era. It begins with Wang Ciping's strange encounter while drunk and passing the City God Temple, then leads to the City God asking him to copy in regular script a yellow register whose first name is that of his late granduncle, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, who is about to die in battle, and finally settles into reflections on loyal martyrs and foreordained events. The narrative is spare and clean, advancing naturally through the several stages of being summoned in a dream, meeting the god, writing, and the fulfillment. The claim that the yellow register was respectfully copied in regular script and delivered to the heavenly court ties the loyalty of the fallen soldiers to the notion of divine retribution, making this a sample for understanding the psychology of literati in a time of chaos. The latter half relays the rumor that a daughter of the Guo family dreamed the City God took her as his principal wife, died without illness, and the townspeople made an image of her and burned incense to it. The author states plainly that he dares not fully believe street gossip and that a god of uprightness would not likely do such a thing, showing a sense of measure between record and judgment. Reading this piece reveals how the note genre blends personal experience, rumor, and commentary, and how people of the time regarded loyalty, life and death, and the uncanny.
Who it's for
A good fit for
Readers interested in late Qing notes, tales of the strange, and local legends
Students of literature and history studying popular City God worship and the mentality of chaotic times
General readers who enjoy short strange tales and conversational curiosities
Teachers needing folklore and historical vignettes for classroom discussion
Not a good fit for
Readers seeking systematic historical facts about the Nian rebels' military campaigns
Readers who reject supernatural narratives and read only documentary sources
Those who prefer long vernacular fiction and lack patience for classical Chinese short pieces
Reading tips
First sort out the two sections, the fulfillment of the yellow register and the rumor about the Guo daughter, then appreciate the measure in the author's commentary.
Read alongside background material on Shandong militia and the Nian rebels during the Xianfeng era to distinguish fact from fiction.
Note the author's attitude toward street gossip and compare the credibility of the two rumors.
Best read in one sitting, then revisit the passage about the first name on the yellow register to see how the idea of foreordination takes root.
Nanhai Publication Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its literature and arts titles, covering fields such as classical poetry, martial arts fiction, and folk literature. Judging from the more than 1,600 books in the database, the company has released classical poetic works including the Nineteen Old Poems and the Nine Songs, as well as multiple volumes of Huanzhulouzhu's series The Swordsmen of Mount Shu, along with related writings by authors such as Guan Hanqing, Qu Yuan, Zuo Si, and Wang Zhihuan. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of classic texts with the dissemination of popular literature, placing poetry anthologies alongside long martial arts novels and presenting a relatively diverse literary profile. Public information is limited, and further details about its editorial practices and series planning remain to be supplemented.
Contents
版权信息
潍城隍
FAQ
What is the story of the City God asking Wang Ciping to write the yellow register?
According to the text, one night Wang Ciping, drunk, was walking past the City God Temple when a subordinate clerk invited him in, saying the City God knew he was a Hanlin scholar skilled at calligraphy and asked him to write a register. He went in to see the City God, and after the rites between host and guest, the City God brought out a yellow register and a name list and asked him to copy them in regular script. The first name on the list was his late granduncle, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, who was then organizing militia and about to fight a decisive battle with the Nian rebels. Later his granduncle died in fierce fighting outside the city, and from this the author inferred that the register he had copied was the roster of soldiers destined to die in battle.
What is the author's attitude toward the rumor about the Guo daughter?
The author only relays it, saying tradition holds that when the Guo family daughter reached marriageable age she dreamed the City God took her as his principal wife and soon died without illness, whereupon the townspeople made an image of her in the rear chamber, incense burned more abundantly, and clothes and bedding were replaced year after year. But he states clearly that he dares not fully believe street gossip and concludes that a god of uprightness would not likely do such a thing, showing that even while recording rumors he keeps his own judgment and does not treat supernatural tales as established fact.
Where does the main point of this note lie?
On the surface it describes the City God's manifestation and the fulfillment of the yellow register, but in fact it rests on the four words 'loyal martyrs.' The author says the fallen soldiers were respectfully copied in regular script on the yellow register and delivered to the heavenly court, that events are foreordained and the gods know them in advance. This both commemorates his granduncle and other victims and uses divine notions to settle the perplexities of life and death in a time of chaos. The latter half, the rumor about the Guo daughter, closes with 'I dare not fully believe,' keeping the whole piece in tension between faith and reason rather than letting it lapse into mere tales of the strange.
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
Chen Hengqing (1844–1920), courtesy name Zijiu, was a native of Weixian in Shandong (present-day Weicheng District, Weifang). A late Qing official and scholar, he passed the provincial examination in 1873 and the metropolitan examination in 1886. He served successively as a secretary in the Ministry of Works, rising through the Waterways, Construction, and Colonization Departments, and later held posts as Supervising Censor of the Ministry of War, Investigating Censor of the Henan Circuit, and Chief Supervising Censor. In 1908 he was appointed prefect of Jinzhou. He retired at sixty and wrote works including Jianshu Xian Notes (also known as Jili Qingtan) and Unofficial Gleanings of the Late Qing. His extant writings are considerable, with 154 titles held in our collection, many drawing on folk literature and Eastern philosophy. They touch on modern upheavals such as the militia conflicts, the Boxer movement, and the Nian rebels, as well as rural tales and social types like foxes and swindlers, and social issues such as Manchu-Han differences, bearing the documentary flavor of note-style historiography. Public information is limited, and his literary standing and influence await further study.
