1
賈楨，字筠堂，山東黃縣人。 父允升，乾隆六十年進士，由檢討歷官兵部侍郎。
Jia Zhen, whose style was Yuntang, came from Huang County in Shandong. His father Yun Sheng had taken his jinshi degree in the sixtieth year of the Qianlong reign and advanced from Hanlin compiler to Vice Minister of War.
2
楨，一甲二名進士，授編修。 十三年，大考一等，擢侍講。 十六年，入直上書房，授皇六子讀。 累擢侍講學士。 十九年，大考翰詹，命免試。 歷少詹事、內閣學士。 二十一年，遷工部侍郎，調戶部。 二十七年，連擢左都御史、禮部尚書，調吏部。 咸豐二年，協辦大學士。 三年，疏請山東籌辦團練，從之。 題孝和睿皇后神主禮成，加太子太保。 充上書房總師傅，兼管順天府尹。 四年，兼翰林院掌院學士。 順天府書吏範鶴等與戶部井田科銀庫書吏交結營私，以鈔票抵庫銀。 楨察舉其弊，讞定，譴失察諸官有差。 楨以發覺察議，拜體仁閣大學士，管理戶部。 五年，兼管工部，晉武英殿大學士。
Zhen graduated second in the first class of the jinshi examination and was appointed a Hanlin compiler. In the thirteenth year of the reign he earned the highest grade in the palace examination and was promoted to Hanlin expositor. In the sixteenth year he entered the Upper Study and was made tutor to the sixth imperial son. He rose by successive steps to expositor of the Hanlin Academy. In the nineteenth year, when the Hanlin and Imperial Academy officials were examined, he was excused from sitting the examination. He held the posts of junior vice president of the Hanlin Academy and Grand Secretariat academician in turn. In the twenty-first year he was moved to Vice Minister of Works and then transferred to the Board of Revenue. In the twenty-seventh year he was promoted in quick succession to Left Censor-in-Chief and Minister of Rites, then transferred to the Board of Personnel. In the second year of Xianfeng he was made Associate Grand Secretary. In the third year he submitted a memorial asking that militia training be organized in Shandong, and the court agreed. After the ceremony for inscribing the spirit tablet of Empress Xiaohui Rui was completed, he was granted the additional title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was made chief tutor of the Upper Study and also placed in charge of the Shuntian prefect. In the fourth year he was also appointed chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. The Shuntian clerks Fan He and others had colluded with clerks in the Board of Revenue's Well-Field Section silver vault for private profit, using bank notes in place of treasury silver. Zhen investigated and exposed the abuse; once the case was settled, officials who had failed to detect it were punished according to their degree of negligence. For uncovering the affair, Zhen was appointed Grand Secretary of the Tiren Hall and put in charge of the Board of Revenue. In the fifth year he was also placed in charge of the Board of Works and promoted to Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall.
3
六年，丁母憂，命暫開缺，給假六月回籍治喪，假滿來京。 楨疏言：「臣兄弟五人，諸昆疊故，臣幸僅存。 今不能為母守制，是臣母有子而如無子，臣何以為子？」 力求終制。 時御史鄒焌傑亦疏請准其開缺守制，詔允之。 八年，服闋，以大學士銜補吏部尚書，仍充上書房總師傅。 尋复授體仁閣大學士，管理兵部，兼翰林院掌院學士。 十年，充京城團防大臣。 是年秋，英法聯軍犯京師，車駕幸熱河，命楨留守，日危坐天安門，阻外軍不令入。 及與會議，慷慨不屈。 十一年，复晉武英殿大學士，以病請開缺，不許。
In the sixth year, when his mother died, he was ordered to vacate his post temporarily, granted six months' leave to return home to observe mourning, and told to return to the capital when the leave ended. Zhen memorialized: "I had five brothers; my elder brothers died one after another, and I alone am left. If I cannot now observe mourning for my mother, she has a son in name only—how can I still call myself her son?" He pressed earnestly to be allowed to complete the full mourning period. The censor Zou Kunjie also memorialized asking that Zhen be allowed to vacate his post and observe mourning, and the throne approved. In the eighth year, when his mourning ended, he was appointed Minister of Personnel with grand secretary rank and again made chief tutor of the Upper Study. Soon afterward he was again appointed Grand Secretary of the Tiren Hall, put in charge of the Board of War, and also made chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. In the tenth year he was appointed a commissioner for the capital's militia defense. That autumn, when the Anglo-French allied forces attacked the capital and the court withdrew to Rehe, Zhen was ordered to remain behind. Each day he sat in formal posture at Tian'an Gate to keep the foreign troops from entering the city. In the negotiations that followed, he spoke with force and refused to yield. In the eleventh year he was again promoted to Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall. He asked to resign on account of illness, but the request was denied.
4
穆宗回鑾，偕大學士周祖培，尚書沈兆霖、趙光上疏曰：「我朝從無皇太后垂簾聽政之典。 前因御史董元醇條奏，特降諭旨甚明，臣等復有何異詞。 惟是權不可下移，移則日替； 禮不可稍渝，渝則弊生。 皇上沖齡踐阼，欽奉先帝遺命，派怡親王載垣等八人讚襄政務。 兩月以來，用人行政，皆經該王大臣擬定諭旨，每日明發，均用禦賞同道堂圖章，共見共聞，內外咸相欽奉。 惟臣等詳慎思之，似非久遠萬全之策，不能謂日後之決無流弊。 尋繹贊襄之義，乃佐助而非主持。 若事無鉅細，皆由該王大臣先行定議，是名為佐助而實則主持。 日久相沿，中外能無疑慮？ 為今日計，正宜皇太后親操出治威權，庶臣工有所禀承，命令有所諮決，不居垂簾之虛名，而收聽政之實效。 準法前朝，憲章近代，不難折衷至當。 伏查漢和熹鄧皇后、順烈梁皇后，晉康獻褚皇后，遼睿智蕭皇后皆以太后臨朝，史冊稱美。 至如宋之章獻劉皇后，有今世任姒之稱，宣仁高太后有女中堯舜之譽。 明穆宗皇后，神宗嫡母，上尊號曰仁聖皇太后； 穆宗貴妃，神宗生母，上尊號曰慈聖皇太后，惟時神宗十歲，政事皆由兩宮抉擇，命大臣施行，亦未嘗居垂簾之名也。 我皇上天亶聰明，不數年即可親政，而此數年間，外而寇難未平，內而洋人偪處，何以拯時艱？ 何以飭法紀？ 端以固結人心最為緊要。 倘大權無所專屬，以致人心惶惑，是則大可憂者。 請敕下廷臣會議皇太后召見臣工禮節，及一切辦事章程，或仍循向來軍機大臣承旨舊制； 量為變通，條列請旨酌定，以示遵守。」 疏入，命廷臣集議允行。
When the Muzong Emperor returned to the capital, Zhen joined Grand Secretary Zhou Zupei and Ministers Shen Zhaolin and Zhao Guang in a memorial stating: "Our dynasty has never had the institution of an empress dowager ruling from behind a screen. When the censor Dong Yuanchun submitted his memorial earlier, the throne issued a very clear edict on the matter; we have no further objection to raise on that score. But authority must not be shifted downward—once shifted, it erodes day by day; and ritual must not be bent even slightly—once bent, abuses follow. The Emperor ascended the throne while still very young and, in obedience to the late emperor's testament, appointed eight men including Prince Yi Zaiyuan to assist in government. For two months every appointment and administrative act has passed through edicts drafted by those princes and ministers, issued openly each day under the imperial seal of the Tongdao Hall. All have seen and heard this, and court and country alike have submitted to it. Yet on careful reflection we do not believe this is a policy that can remain secure over the long term, and we cannot say that abuses will never arise from it in time. The term "assist" means to help, not to preside. If matters great and small are all decided first by those princes and ministers, they are called assistants but in fact they preside. If this continues over time, how can court and country be free of doubt? For the present, the empress dowager should personally wield governing authority, so that officials know whom to report to and orders can be consulted and decided—not the empty title of ruling from behind a screen, but the real substance of governing. With earlier dynasties as precedent and recent practice as guide, a proper arrangement would not be difficult to devise. We find that Empress Deng Hexi of Han, Empress Liang Shunlie, Empress Chu Kangxian of Jin, and Empress Xiao Ruizhi of Liao all governed as empress dowagers, and the histories speak well of them. Empress Liu Zhangxian of Song was hailed as a Ren Ji for her age, and Empress Gao Xuanyi was praised as a Yao or Shun among women. The empress of the Ming Muzong Emperor, the Shenzong Emperor's legal mother, received the honorific title Ren Sheng Empress Dowager; while the Muzong Emperor's honored consort, the Shenzong Emperor's birth mother, received the title Ci Sheng Empress Dowager. The Shenzong Emperor was then only ten; the two palaces decided affairs of state and ordered ministers to carry them out, yet they too never took the name of ruling from behind a screen. Our Emperor is gifted with heaven's intelligence and will rule in person within a few years; yet in the interval abroad the rebels are not subdued and at home foreigners press upon us—how are we to meet the crisis of the age? How are law and discipline to be upheld? Above all, binding the hearts of the people together is what matters most. If supreme authority has no fixed seat and the people grow fearful and unsettled, that is what we must fear most. We ask that Your Majesty order the court to deliberate the ceremonies by which the empress dowager receives officials and all rules of conduct—or to continue the former practice whereby Grand Council ministers receive instructions— making such adjustments as needed, setting them forth in articles for the throne to decide, so that all may know what to follow." When the memorial was submitted, the court was ordered to deliberate collectively and adopt its recommendations.
5
周祖培，字芝台，河南商城人。 父鉞，嘉慶六年進士，歷官鴻臚寺少卿。
Zhou Zupei, whose style was Zhitai, came from Shangcheng in Henan. His father Yue took his jinshi degree in the sixth year of Jiaqing and rose to Vice Director of the Court of State Ceremonial.
6
祖培，進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 五遷至侍講學士。 ，督陝甘學政。 歷侍讀學士、詹事、內閣學士。 二十三年，擢禮部侍郎，調工部，又調刑部。 二十六年，偕尚書賽尚阿查勘江南江防善後事宜，校閱江蘇、安徽、江西營伍。 三十年，文宗即位，疏言：「我朝立政之要，用人之法，備載列聖實錄，請隨時披閱。 利害所關，今昔同轍，容有昔之所利不盡利於今者，未有昔之所害不為害於今者； 容有昔所欲除之害至今猶未盡除者，未有昔所應防之害至今轉可不防者。 惟皇上成法在胸，以應幾務，庶利害瞭如指掌，而興廢可決於一心。 並請責成大吏，力戒欺飾，考察屬吏； 其徇隱庇護者，經言官彈劾，即嚴懲督撫，整頓營伍，責令捕盜，勿任推諉。」 疏入，被嘉納，特詔飭行。 咸豐元年，擢刑部尚書。 二年，疏言：「戶部籌餉二十馀條，所議之款，緩不濟急。 請照道光二十一年河南河工、城工捐輸章程，變通辦理。」 又謂：「按戶派捐，先斂怨於民。 請飭各督撫確查巨富之家，勸諭激發忠愛，力圖報效。」 從之。
Zuopei passed the jinshi examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed compiler. After five promotions he rose to expositor of the Hanlin Academy. He was appointed Superintendent of Education for Shaanxi and Gansu. He held the posts of Hanlin reader, tutor of the heir apparent, and Grand Secretariat academician in turn. In the twenty-third year he was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites, then transferred to Works and afterward to Punishments. In the twenty-sixth year he joined Minister Sai Shang'a in inspecting post-disaster arrangements for the Jiangnan river defenses and in reviewing the garrisons of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi. In the thirtieth year, when the Wenzong Emperor ascended the throne, he memorialized: "The essentials of our dynasty's governance and the methods of employing men are fully recorded in the Veritable Records of successive emperors; Your Majesty should read them regularly. What concerns benefit and harm follows much the same course in every age; what once profited the state may not profit it fully today, but what once harmed it will still harm it today; some evils the past sought to remove may not yet be wholly removed, but there is no evil the past had to guard against that we may now leave unguarded. Only if Your Majesty keeps the established methods in mind in meeting affairs of state will benefit and harm stand clear, and what to advance or abolish be decided with a single purpose. He also asked that high officials be held strictly accountable, forbidden to deceive, and made to examine their subordinates; and that any who indulged or shielded offenders, once impeached by the censors, be punished at once; governors and generals should reform the garrisons, be charged to capture bandits, and not be allowed to pass the blame elsewhere." The memorial was praised and accepted, and a special edict ordered its strict enforcement. In the first year of Xianfeng he was promoted to Minister of Punishments. In the second year he memorialized: "The Board of Revenue's more than twenty proposals for raising funds are too slow to meet the urgent need. Please adapt the regulations used in the twenty-first year of Daoguang for voluntary contributions to Henan river works and city fortifications." He also argued: "Levying contributions household by household breeds popular resentment from the start. Please order each governor-general and governor to identify truly wealthy families, exhort them, awaken their loyal devotion, and urge them to serve the state generously." The court agreed.
7
三年，要犯劉秋貴死於獄，承審官未得實情，祖培坐降三級調用，授左副都御史。 疏言：「賊匪滋事以來，屢諭各省辦團練，築寨浚壕，仿嘉慶年間堅壁清野之法，行無實效，賊竄突靡定，各州縣毫無豫備，賊至即潰。 請嚴飭督撫，責成賢能有司，會紳速辦； 有怠玩從事，反滋擾累者，予參處。」 從之。 歷工部、吏部侍郎。 四年，連擢左都御史、兵部尚書，兼管順天府尹。 六年，宣宗實錄、聖訓成，加太子太保，調吏部。
In the third year the major criminal Liu Qiugui died in prison before the examining officials had established the facts; Zuopei was demoted three ranks and transferred, and appointed Left Vice Censor-in-Chief. He memorialized: "Since the rebels rose, the provinces have repeatedly been ordered to organize militia, build stockades, and dig moats along the Jiaqing model of fortified villages and cleared countryside, yet with little real effect. The rebels roam at will, the districts are wholly unprepared, and when the rebels arrive they collapse at once. We ask that governors-general and governors be strictly charged, capable officials be held responsible, and local gentry be gathered to carry the work out quickly; and that any who are negligent or who harass the people instead be impeached and punished." The court agreed. He served as Vice Minister of Works and of Personnel in turn. In the fourth year he was promoted in quick succession to Left Censor-in-Chief and Minister of War, and also placed in charge of the Shuntian prefect. In the sixth year, when the Xuanzong Emperor's Veritable Record and Sacred Instructions were completed, he was granted the additional title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and transferred to the Board of Personnel.
8
八年，會辦五城團防，以吏部尚書協辦大學士，兼署戶部。 九年，調戶部，兼署吏部。 京師戒嚴，疏陳團防章程六條：曰查戶口以別良莠，勸保衛以聯眾志，任官紳以專責成，協營汛以聯臂指，設水會以備不虞，增幫辦以資助理。 車駕幸熱河，命留京辦事，拜體仁閣大學士，管理戶部。 十一年，文宗崩，命總理喪儀，兼辦定陵平安峪工程。 及穆宗奉兩宮回鑾，祖培疏言怡親王載垣等擬定「祺祥」年號，意義重複，請更正，詔嘉其關心典禮。 又言近畿各處抗糧拒捕成風，由於州縣不得其人，諭各督撫秉公遴選，毋稍徇隱。 同治元年，調管刑部。 四年，山陵告成，賜花翎。 五年，文宗實錄、聖訓成，賜其子文龠員外郎，文令舉人。 六年，卒，年七十五，優恤，諡文勤。
In the eighth year he jointly managed militia defense for the Five Wards; as Minister of Personnel he was made Associate Grand Secretary and also acted head of the Board of Revenue. In the ninth year he was transferred to the Board of Revenue and also acted head of Personnel. When the capital was placed under martial law, he memorialized six rules for militia defense: examine households to distinguish loyal from disloyal subjects; encourage self-defense to unite public resolve; assign officials and gentry clear responsibility; coordinate garrison posts as parts of one body; establish water brigades against emergencies; and add assistants to support the work. When the court withdrew to Rehe, he was ordered to remain in the capital to conduct affairs, was appointed Grand Secretary of the Tiren Hall, and put in charge of the Board of Revenue. In the eleventh year, when the Wenzong Emperor died, he was ordered to direct the mourning rites and also to oversee construction of the Ding Mausoleum at Ping'anyu. When the Muzong Emperor returned with the two palaces, Zuopei memorialized that Prince Yi Zaiyuan and others had proposed the reign title Qixiang, whose meaning was redundant, and asked that it be changed; the throne praised his concern for ritual propriety. He also reported that resistance to tax collection and arrest had become widespread near the capital because unfit men held local office, and ordered governors-general and governors to select officials impartially without favoritism. In the first year of Tongzhi he was transferred to head the Board of Punishments. In the fourth year, when the imperial mausoleum was completed, he was granted the peacock feather. In the fifth year, when the Wenzong Emperor's Veritable Record and Sacred Instructions were completed, his sons Wen Yue and Wen Ling were granted an outer-court secretaryship and provincial graduate status respectively. In the sixth year he died at seventy-five; the court granted exceptional mourning favors and gave him the posthumous title Wenqin.
9
朱鳳標，字桐軒，浙江蕭山人。 一甲二名進士，授編修。 十九年，大考二等，賜文綺，直上書房。 尋督湖北學政。 歷司業、侍講、庶子、侍講學士、侍讀學士。 二十五年，授皇七子讀。 連擢內閣學士、兵部侍郎，調戶部。 二十八年，命赴天津驗收漕糧。 尋偕大學士耆英查辦山東鹽務，疏劾歷任巡撫、運司收受程儀節壽，論譴有差。 又言：「山東鹽政疲敝甚於他省，若求裕課暢銷，惟除弊、緝私最為先務。 會議變通成法，請先課后鹽以重帑項。」 下部議行。 又查運庫出借銀七萬馀兩，責賠繳； 籓庫積存減平及扣還軍需行裝等款三十萬兩，撥解部庫； 通省倉庫正雜未完銀四十一萬兩，缺穀三十七萬石，命限八個月彌補。 ，擢左都御史，歷署工部、刑部、戶部尚書。
Zhu Fengbiao, whose style was Tongxuan, came from Xiaoshan in Zhejiang. He graduated second in the first class of the jinshi examination and was appointed a Hanlin compiler. In the nineteenth year he earned second grade in the palace examination, was rewarded with patterned silk, and entered the Upper Study. Soon afterward he was appointed Superintendent of Education for Hubei. He held the posts of vice director of studies, Hanlin expositor, tutor of the heir apparent, expositor of the Hanlin Academy, and Hanlin reader in turn. In the twenty-fifth year he was made tutor to the seventh imperial son. He was promoted in quick succession to Grand Secretariat academician and Vice Minister of War, then transferred to the Board of Revenue. In the twenty-eighth year he was ordered to Tianjin to inspect and receive the grain transport tribute. Soon afterward he joined Grand Secretary Qiying in investigating Shandong salt administration and memorialized against successive governors and transport commissioners for accepting traveling allowances and birthday gifts; punishments were meted out according to the degree of guilt. He also argued: "Shandong's salt administration is more distressed than any other province's; to fill the revenue coffers and restore brisk sales, rooting out abuses and suppressing smuggling must come first. In deliberations on reforming established practice, he proposed levying the tax before issuing the salt, so as to strengthen treasury receipts." The proposal was referred to the ministries for deliberation and adoption. He also found that more than seventy thousand taels of silver had been lent from the transport treasury and ordered their repayment; three hundred thousand taels accumulated in the provincial treasury from scale deductions and recoveries for military supplies and traveling expenses were transferred to the central treasury; throughout the province unpaid regular and miscellaneous silver in the granaries totaled four hundred ten thousand taels, with a grain shortfall of three hundred seventy thousand piculs; the officials were given eight months to make up the deficits. He was promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief and served in turn as acting Minister of Works, Punishments, and Revenue.
10
三年，粵匪陷江寧，复陷揚州，漕督楊殿邦退保淮安，廷議調山西、陝西兵七千赴援。 鳳標與尚書文慶，侍郎全慶、王慶雲合疏，言：「淮安賊所必爭，萬一賊眾渡河，則河南、山東民情震動，撲滅愈難。 請命山東巡撫李僡親往淮安扼賊北竄，並請敕直隸總督迅派布政使張集馨率兵扼要駐守，以為京師屏蔽。」 疏入，如所請行。 五月，賊陷河南歸德，鳳標與大學士賈楨、尚書翁心存等條擬防剿六事，多被採擇。 未幾，悍賊林鳳祥等竄畿輔，复偕楨、心存等奏陳預籌守城事宜。 疏入，報聞。 四年，授刑部尚書。 六年，宣宗實錄、聖訓告成，加太子少保。 尋調兵部，復調戶部。
In the third year the Cantonese rebels captured Jiangning and then Yangzhou; Grain Transport Commissioner Yang Dianbang withdrew to defend Huai'an, and the court debated dispatching seven thousand troops from Shanxi and Shaanxi as reinforcements. Fengbiao joined Ministers Weng Qing, Quan Qing, and Wang Qingyun in a joint memorial: "Huai'an is ground the rebels are certain to contest; if their forces cross the river, the people of Henan and Shandong will be thrown into alarm and suppression will become far more difficult. We ask that Governor Li Shen of Shandong be sent in person to Huai'an to block the rebels' northward advance, and that the Zhili governor-general be ordered to dispatch Provincial Administration Commissioner Zhang Jixin at once with troops to hold the strategic points that shield the capital." The memorial was adopted and carried out as proposed. In the fifth month the rebels captured Guide in Henan; Fengbiao joined Grand Secretary Jia Zhen, Minister Weng Xincong, and others in drafting six proposals for defense and suppression, many of which the court adopted. Before long the fierce rebel Lin Fengxiang and others broke into the capital region; Fengbiao again joined Zhen, Xincong, and others in memorializing on preparations for the capital's defense. When the memorial was submitted, the court noted receipt. In the fourth year he was appointed Minister of Punishments. In the sixth year, when the Xuanzong Emperor's Veritable Record and Sacred Instructions were completed, he was granted the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Soon afterward he was transferred to the Board of War and then back to the Board of Revenue.
11
八年，典順天鄉試，因中式舉人平齡朱墨不符，為言官論劾，興大獄，大學士柏葰論大辟，鳳標亦解任聽勘。 文宗原其無私，從寬坐失察革職。 逾數月，命以翰林院侍講學士銜，仍直上書房，授醇郡王讀如故。 歷大理寺少卿、通政使、左副都御史，署刑部侍郎。 隨扈熱河，复擢兵部尚書。 十一年，護送文宗梓宮回京，追錄扈從勞，加二級。 調吏部，充上書房總師傅。 ，以吏部尚書協辦大學士，兼翰林院掌院學士。 未幾，拜體仁閣大學士，管理吏部。 十一年，以病乞休，命以大學士致仕，食全俸。 十二年，卒於家，贈太子太保，諡文端。 子其煊，工部郎中，官至山東布政使。
In the eighth year he presided over the Shuntian provincial examination; when the successful candidate Ping Ling's papers failed to match the official copies, the censors impeached him, a major scandal erupted, Grand Secretary Bai Jun was sentenced to death, and Fengbiao was removed from office pending investigation. The Wenzong Emperor excused him of any private motive and, treating the offense leniently as failure of oversight, dismissed him from office. After several months he was restored to the Upper Study with the rank of Hanlin expositor and again made tutor to the Prince of Chun as before. He held the posts of vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, commissioner of transmission, Left Vice Censor-in-Chief, and acting Vice Minister of Punishments in turn. He accompanied the court to Rehe and was again promoted to Minister of War. In the eleventh year he escorted the Wenzong Emperor's coffin back to the capital; his service in accompanying the court was recognized afterward and he was granted two additional ranks. He was transferred to the Board of Personnel and made chief tutor of the Upper Study. As Minister of Personnel he was made Associate Grand Secretary and also chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. Before long he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Tiren Hall and put in charge of the Board of Personnel. In the eleventh year he asked to retire on account of illness and was permitted to leave office as Grand Secretary while drawing his full salary. In the twelfth year he died at home; the court posthumously granted him the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and the posthumous name Wenduan. His son Qi Xuan served as a director in the Board of Works and rose to Provincial Administration Commissioner of Shandong.
12
單懋謙，字地山，湖北襄陽人。 進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 十七年，入直南書房。 十九年，大考二等，以贊善升用。 尋授司業，遷洗馬。 二十年，督廣東學政，歷侍讀、庶子。 以病歸，父喪服闋，請終母養。 咸豐三年，粵匪擾湖北，懋謙方居母憂，命在籍治團練。 六年，回京，仍直南書房，補原官。 七年，督江西學政，歷侍讀學士、少詹事、內閣學士、工部侍郎，均留學政任。 十一年，巡撫毓科、布政使慶廉為言官論劾，命懋謙按之，疏言：「毓科非應變之才，適當賊擾，省防尤重。 本境兵勇不敷調遣，辦理未能悉合機宜。 現雖全境肅清，善後急宜妥辦，籌備浙防，接濟皖餉，大局攸關，恐未能措理裕如。 慶廉現未到任，無事蹟可考，未敢妄陳。」 疏入，報聞。 任滿，回京，充實錄館副總裁。 同治二年，調吏部，擢左都御史。 三年，偕大學士瑞常等進講治平寶鑑，授工部尚書。
Shan Maoqian, whose style was Dishan, came from Xiangyang in Hubei. He passed the jinshi examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed compiler. In the seventeenth year he entered service in the Southern Study. In the nineteenth year he earned second grade in the palace examination and was promoted from the post of mentor to the heir apparent. Soon afterward he was appointed vice director of studies and then promoted to groom of the heir apparent. In the twentieth year he was appointed Superintendent of Education for Guangdong and held the posts of Hanlin reader and tutor of the heir apparent. He returned home on account of illness; when his father's mourning ended, he asked to remain and care for his mother through her final years. In the third year of Xianfeng, when Cantonese rebels ravaged Hubei, Maoqian was observing mourning for his mother and was ordered to organize militia training at home. In the sixth year he returned to the capital, resumed service in the Southern Study, and was restored to his former post. In the seventh year he was appointed Superintendent of Education for Jiangxi while holding the posts of Hanlin reader, junior vice president of the Hanlin Academy, Grand Secretariat academician, and Vice Minister of Works, all without relinquishing his educational commission. In the eleventh year Governors Yu Ke and Administration Commissioner Qing Lian were impeached by the censors; Maoqian was ordered to investigate and memorialized: "Yu Ke lacks the resourcefulness needed in an emergency; with bandits active, provincial defense is especially critical. The province's troops are insufficient for deployment, and his handling of affairs has not always suited the circumstances. Although the province is now pacified, the aftermath urgently requires proper handling; preparing Zhejiang's defenses and supplying Anhui's military funds bear on the larger situation, and I fear he may not manage these tasks with adequate competence. Qing Lian has not yet taken up his post; there is no record of his conduct to judge, and I dare not speak without evidence." The court noted receipt of the memorial. When his term ended he returned to the capital and was appointed vice director of the Veritable Records Office. In the second year of Tongzhi he was transferred to the Board of Personnel and promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief. In the third year he joined Grand Secretary Ruichang and others in lecturing on the Mirror of Ordered Rule and was appointed Minister of Works.
13
四年，命赴盛京偕侍郎志和等承修太廟、昭陵工程。 時奉天馬賊猖獗，命懋謙就近查察，劾將軍玉明、府尹德椿，下部議處。 回京，疏陳馬賊難防，請籌兵餉出邊會剿，以弭盜源。 又請飭奉天所屬各州縣查勘市鎮鄉村應修堡寨之處，勸民作速興築，擇錄嘉慶年間龔景瀚所著堅壁清野議刊發各州縣，令遵照團練守御之法，量為辦理。 疏入，均得旨議行。 六年，管戶部三庫事務。 七年，調吏部。 十年，管國子監事務。 十一年，以吏部尚書協辦大學士，尋拜文淵閣大學士，兼管兵部。 十三年，因久病請解職回籍，允之。 ，卒於家，詔依例賜卹，有「學問優長，持躬端謹」之褒。 贈太子太保，諡文恪。
In the fourth year he was ordered to Mukden, together with Vice Minister Zhihe and others, to oversee repairs to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Zhaoling Mausoleum. At the time mounted bandits were rampant in Fengtian; Maoqian was ordered to investigate locally, impeached General Yuming and Prefect Dechun, and the case was referred to the ministries for punishment. On returning to the capital he memorialized that mounted bandits were difficult to contain and asked that funds and troops be prepared for a joint campaign beyond the border to cut off the source of the disorder. He also asked that the districts under Fengtian survey market towns and villages where stockades should be built, urge the people to erect them quickly, print and distribute Gong Jinghan's Jiaqing-era essay On Fortified Villages and Cleared Countryside to every district, and order local officials to implement militia defense measures as circumstances allowed. When the memorials were submitted, the throne ordered each proposal deliberated and carried out. In the sixth year he was placed in charge of the three treasuries of the Board of Revenue. In the seventh year he was transferred to the Board of Personnel. In the tenth year he was placed in charge of the Imperial Academy. In the eleventh year, as Minister of Personnel, he was made Associate Grand Secretary; soon afterward he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Hall and also put in charge of the Board of War. In the thirteenth year, after a long illness, he asked to resign and return home; the request was granted. He died at home; the court granted mourning favors according to precedent, praising him as "outstanding in learning and upright and careful in conduct." He was posthumously granted the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and the posthumous name Wenkai.
14
論曰：自咸豐初軍事起，四郊多壘，廟堂旰食。 京師舉辦團防，閣部重臣領之，賈楨、周祖培、朱鳳標皆預其事。 其時用人猶循舊格，揆席多由資進。 至穆宗踐阼，底定東南，漢閣臣多取勳望，六官中大拜者鮮，惟單懋謙獨由正卿入閣，時以為榮遇焉。
The commentator writes: From the outbreak of war early in the Xianfeng reign, enemies pressed on every side and the court labored late into the evening in constant anxiety. When the capital organized militia defense, leading ministers of the Grand Secretariat and the boards took charge; Jia Zhen, Zhou Zupei, and Zhu Fengbiao all played a part. At that time appointments still followed the old pattern, and most grand secretary posts went to men advanced by seniority. When the Muzong Emperor came to the throne and the southeast was pacified, Han Chinese grand secretaries were mostly drawn from men of merit and renown; few received the highest appointments in the Six Ministries, and only Shan Maoqian entered the Grand Secretariat directly from a chief minister's post—a distinction regarded at the time as a singular honor.