Shen Qiyuan (沈起元)

Overview

The translated histories identify Shen Qiyuan as an administrator, official, and scholar. This record brings together 17 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Shen Qiyuan	沈起元	Shen Qiyuan
Given name	Qiyuan	起元	Qiyuan
Surname	Shen	沈	Shen
Personal name	Shen Qiyuan	沈起元	Shen Qiyuan
Courtesy name	Zida	子大	Zida

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Value: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:300:s0003

Roles

Administrator
Official
Scholar

Life and dates

Death

Manner: natural · Note: deathbed speech recorded
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0046

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾隆七年 · Western Year: AD 1742
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0035
Source Date: Text: 乾隆九年 · Western Year: AD 1744
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0043
Source Date: Text: 乾隆二年 · Western Year: AD 1737
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0029
Source Date: Text: 乾隆十三年 · Western Year: AD 1748
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0044
Source Date: Text: 康熙六十年 · Western Year: AD 1721
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0004
Source Date: Text: 高宗即位 · Western Year: AD 1735
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0028

Career and standing

Label: Hanlin bachelor / 庶吉士 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙六十年 · Western Year: AD 1721
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0004
Label: vice commissioner of the Jiangxi courier-and-salt circuit / 江西驛鹽道副使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 高宗即位 · Western Year: AD 1735
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0028
Label: prefect / 知府 · Action: appointed · Place: Fujian / 福建
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0005
Label: principal clerk in the Ministry of Personnel / 吏部主事 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0004
Label: judicial commissioner of Henan / 河南按察使 · Action: promoted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乾隆二年 · Western Year: AD 1737
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0029
Label: vice department director / 員外郎 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0005
Label: administration commissioner of Zhili / 直隸布政使 · Action: transferred · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 七年 · Western Year: AD 1742
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0035
Label: minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments / 光祿寺卿 · Action: transferred · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 九年 · Western Year: AD 1744
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0043
Status: retired · Action: entered · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 十三年 · Western Year: AD 1748
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0044
Status: resigned · Action: entered
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0027
Status: demotion · Action: suffered · Details: demoted four ranks · Authority Person Id: Pan Tifeng (潘體豐)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0027

Places and affiliations

Place: Taicang, Jiangnan / 江南太倉
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0003
Place: Fuzhou / 福州 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0006
Place: Taiwan / 台灣 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0020
Place: Xinghua / 興化 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0006

Learning and skills

Credential: Presented Scholar / 進士 · Action: earned · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙六十年 · Western Year: AD 1721
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0004

Works and attributed material

Work: Zhangshan Record / 章善錄 · Relation: compiler
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0034
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Extent: s0016, s0017, s0018
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0016, qingshigao:300:s0017, qingshigao:300:s0018
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Extent: s0040, s0041
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0040, qingshigao:300:s0041
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Extent: s0046, s0047
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0046, qingshigao:300:s0047
Kind: report · Role: author · Statement: 罪在主者，餘不足問也。
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0009
Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0031, qingshigao:300:s0037

Events and relationships

Kind: administrative · Role: acting-customs-head · Action: abolished-irregular-levies
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0010
Kind: political · Role: opponent-of-impeachment · Action: blocked-impeachments · Other Person Id: Gao Bin (高斌)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0040, qingshigao:300:s0041, qingshigao:300:s0042
Kind: administrative · Role: investigator-response · Action: held-fair-course · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 世宗時 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1723 · End: AD 1735
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0007
Kind: educational · Role: director · Action: restored-academies · Other Person Id: Yartu (雅爾圖)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0033
Kind: administrative · Role: policy-maker · Action: set-land-tax-policy · Place: Taiwan / 台灣
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0025, qingshigao:300:s0026
Kind: disaster-relief · Role: administrator · Action: settled-refugees · Place: Henan / 河南
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0030, qingshigao:300:s0031, qingshigao:300:s0032
Kind: administrative · Role: enforcer · Action: stopped-extortion · Other Person Id: Chang An (常安)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0011, qingshigao:300:s0012
Kind: disaster-relief · Role: advocate · Action: urged-early-relief · Other Person Id: Gao Bin (高斌)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0036
Relation: subordinate-of · Person Id: Gao Qisuo (高其倬)
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0006

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: cultivated integrity from youth; later secluded with Confucian study · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0045
Assessment: deep in classical learning; maintained fairness under severe court governance · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:300:s0231

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 300Volume 300 Biographies 87: Chen Qi Yuan, He Shijian, Tang Jizu, Ma Weihan, Yu Dian, Wang Yezi, Liu Erwei · 17 passages

Open chapter

沈起元何師儉唐繼祖馬維翰餘甸王葉滋劉而位 Shen Qiyuan, He Shijian, Tang Jizu, Ma Weihan, Yu Dian, Wang Yezi, and Liu Erwei

沈起元，字子大，江南太倉人。 Shen Qiyuan, whose courtesy name was Zida, came from Taicang in Jiangnan.

時世宗聞福建倉穀虧空，遣廣東巡撫楊文乾等往按，被劾者半，受代者爭為煩苛，起元獨持平。 When the Yongzheng Emperor learned that Fujian's granary accounts showed large shortfalls, he sent Guangdong governor Yang Wenqian and others to investigate. Half of those investigated were impeached, and their successors competed to be harsh and troublesome—only Qiyuan remained fair and even-handed.

起元責兩人而釋其餘，報曰：「罪在主者，餘不足問也。」 Qiyuan punished the two ringleaders and released the others, reporting: "The offense rests with the leaders; the rest do not warrant inquiry."

起元聞，立督收稅如額，令商舶行，白常安斥奴。 On hearing this, Qiyuan at once enforced full tax collection, allowed the merchant fleet to sail, and reported to Chang An to have the servant expelled.

起元曰：「人之生死，貨之利鈍，皆無常，戚里豈能預料？ Qiyuan objected: "Whether a man lives or dies, whether goods prosper or fail—all is unforeseeable. How can relatives predict such outcomes?

起元令著籍者仍舊額，丈出者視內地下則。 Qiyuan ruled that land already on the registers should keep its old assessment, while newly measured holdings would be taxed at the interior lower grade.

起元在福州，以辨冤獄忤按察使潘體豐，體豐中以他事，鐫四級，遂告歸。 In Fuzhou he had offended judicial intendant Pan Tifeng by righting a wrongful conviction; Tifeng found another pretext to demote him four ranks, and Qiyuan then resigned and went home.

高宗即位，起江西驛鹽道副使。 When the Qianlong Emperor took the throne, Qiyuan was recalled as vice commissioner of the Jiangxi courier-and-salt circuit.

起元謂：「民飢且死，奈何止其他徙？」 Qiyuan protested: "The people are starving to death—how can you block them from seeking refuge elsewhere?"

巡撫雅爾圖檄府縣修書院，以起元總其事，乃教群士省身克己之學。 Governor Yartu directed local governments to restore academies and placed Qiyuan in overall charge; he instructed the scholars in the discipline of inward scrutiny and moral self-restraint.