Yuan Cheng

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Yuan Cheng was born into the Northern Wei imperial clan. He was a grandson of Emperor Jingmu, Tuoba Huang, and the eldest son of Tuoba Yun, Prince Kang of Rencheng. Tuoba Huang was the eldest son of Emperor Taiwu, Tuoba Tao. Although he died in 452, the second year of the Zhengping era, before ascending the throne, he was posthumously honored as Emperor Jingmu, and his descendants occupied important positions in Northern Wei politics. Tuoba Yun served in high office under Emperors Wencheng, Xianwen, and Xiaowen, eventually becoming General Who Conquers the South and Inspector of Yongzhou. He held the title Prince of Rencheng and died in 480, the fourth year of the Taihe era, with the posthumous title Prince Kang.

Yuan Cheng loved learning from childhood. He was noted for handsome hair and sideburns, measured movements, clear and eloquent speech, and a voice as resonant as a bell. After his father's death he became known for filial conduct during mourning, then inherited the title Prince of Rencheng and was additionally appointed General Who Conquers the North. According to the Book of Wei, Yuan Cheng displayed maturity and talent beyond his years, and Empress Dowager Feng held him in high regard.

Service in Liangzhou and Xuzhou

Yuan Cheng's political career began with frontier pacification. When the Rouran invaded the Northern Wei frontier, he was additionally appointed Bearer of Credentials and Commander of the Military Affairs of the Northern Campaign and led troops against them; the Rouran withdrew. Later, when Di and Qiang groups rebelled, Yuan Cheng was appointed Commander of the Military Affairs of Liang, Yi, and Jing Provinces, General Who Conquers the South, and Inspector of Liangzhou.

Empress Dowager Wenming Feng received Yuan Cheng and exhorted him before his departure. Turning to Secretariat Director Li Chong, she said that the young prince had striking presence and calm, refined speech, that he would become an outstanding leader of the imperial clan, and that sending him on this mission would surely meet her expectations.

After arriving in Liangzhou, Yuan Cheng adopted conciliatory measures suited to local customs. The Di leaders Yang Zhongxian, Poluo, the brothers Yang Bu, and Fuchipan had long occupied strategic positions on the frontier and caused disturbances. Yuan Cheng memorialized the court to send Poluo to the capital, appointed Yang Zhongxian deputy commander of Xuncheng Garrison, Yang Bu Administrator of Guangye, and Fuchipan deputy commander of Gudao Garrison, while assigning other leaders according to their abilities. Those who submitted were rewarded and those who defied orders were punished. Chouchi was thereby stabilized and peoples of the southwest came over to Northern Wei. The court additionally appointed Yuan Cheng Palace Attendant and bestowed a set of clothing and a riding horse in recognition of his ability.

He was later transferred as General Who Conquers the East, Commander Unequalled in Honor, and Inspector of Xuzhou, where his administration earned considerable acclaim.

A Central Figure in Emperor Xiaowen's Reforms

After returning to court, Yuan Cheng became a central participant in the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, Yuan Hong. At Huangxin Hall the emperor asked him about the ancient dispute in which Zichan of Zheng cast written laws and Shuxiang of Jin criticized him. Yuan Cheng answered that Zheng was a small and weak state intimidated by powerful neighbors and that its people's allegiance could not be maintained without penal law. Zichan's written code, though contrary to ancient practice, suited the needs of his time; Shuxiang's criticism preserved ancient principles and was appropriate for discussing morality, though not necessarily adaptation to circumstance. Emperor Xiaowen remarked that the Prince of Rencheng might become the Zichan of Wei.

Yuan Cheng modestly declined the comparison but continued that Zichan's methods had suited his own era. The emperor, by contrast, ruled all under heaven and sought to cultivate the realm through civil virtue, yet the lands south of the river remained separate and standards of transport and writing were not unified. People in an age of disorder, he argued, could more easily be controlled by authority than governed by ritual; Zichan's penal methods could therefore still be used temporarily, while moral transformation should follow after unification. Emperor Xiaowen, already planning institutional change, greatly approved of the answer and said that only the Prince of Rencheng truly understood the principle of transformation and that he intended to reform the court together with him for the benefit of future generations.

When the Southern Qi envoy Yu Bi visited the Northern Wei court, he saw Yuan Cheng's vigorous yet elegant manner and refined bearing and told the Host and Guest Gentleman Zhang Yi that the former Prince of Rencheng of Wei had been renowned for martial ability, while the present Prince of Rencheng was admired for literary accomplishment.

A Key Promoter of the Move to Luoyang

In 493, the seventeenth year of the Taihe era, Emperor Xiaowen publicly announced a southern campaign while secretly intending to move the capital to Luoyang. While fasting in a side chamber to the left of the Mingtang, he ordered Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Wang Chen to divine the proposed southern expedition with turtle plastrons and the Book of Changes. The result was the Hexagram Ge, “Revolution.” The emperor declared that this was the hexagram by which Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou changed dynasties in accordance with Heaven and the people. None of the ministers dared to speak. Yuan Cheng responded that Ge meant change: when rulers such as Tang and King Wu altered the mandate between ruler and subject in accordance with Heaven and the people, it was auspicious, but the present emperor had inherited a continuous dynasty and was ostensibly divining a military campaign. Such a case could be described as punitive war against rebellion, not dynastic revolution; it was therefore not a ruler's hexagram and could not simply be pronounced auspicious.

Emperor Xiaowen angrily cited the Commentary on the Images, which says that “the great man changes like a tiger,” and demanded why the sign should not be auspicious. Yuan Cheng replied that the emperor had long risen like a dragon and could hardly be compared merely to the transformation of a tiger. The emperor's expression changed sharply and he accused Yuan Cheng of discouraging the army. Yuan Cheng answered that although the state was indeed the emperor's state, he himself was a minister of that state and, when consulted, was obligated to exhaust his limited judgment. Because Emperor Xiaowen had already resolved to move the capital, he disliked the reply, though after a time he calmed down and said that there was no harm in each man stating his view.

After returning to the palace, Emperor Xiaowen immediately summoned Yuan Cheng. Before Yuan Cheng had even mounted the steps, the emperor called to him from a distance and said that the Hexagram Ge should be discussed again. He explained that his anger in the Mingtang had only been intended to prevent the assembled officials from debating and obstructing the larger plan and that Yuan Cheng surely understood his intention. He then spoke privately about how Northern Wei had risen in the north and settled at Pingcheng, but despite ruling a vast realm had not unified cultural standards; the northern capital was suited to military power rather than civil government, and changing customs there was extremely difficult. By moving into the imperial heartland around the Yellow River and Luo River, he hoped to establish a brilliant seat in the Central Plains. Yuan Cheng replied that the Yi and Luo region lay at the center of the realm and that the people should rejoice if the emperor governed the Huaxia lands and brought the nine regions into order from there.

The emperor worried that northerners were attached to their homeland and would be alarmed by an abrupt move. Yuan Cheng answered that such an extraordinary undertaking could not be understood by ordinary people and required only firm imperial resolve. Emperor Xiaowen then called Yuan Cheng “my Zifang,” comparing him to Zhang Liang. Yuan Cheng was additionally appointed General Who Pacifies the Army and Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and concurrently served as Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs.

Once the plan was settled, Emperor Xiaowen ordered Yuan Cheng to travel rapidly by relay to the old capital at Pingcheng to sound out the officials left behind. When the officials heard the order to relocate, they were all alarmed. Yuan Cheng patiently cited examples from ancient and recent history until they accepted the policy. He then rode south to report and met Emperor Xiaowen at Huatai. The emperor was delighted and said, “Without Rencheng, my undertaking could not have succeeded.”

Suppression of Mu Tai's Rebellion

In 496, the twentieth year of the Taihe era, Inspector Mu Tai of Hengzhou rebelled. The court granted Yuan Cheng imperial credentials, bronze and bamboo tallies, the right to use the imperial guards' staffs, and concurrent authority over Hengzhou affairs. When Yuan Cheng reached Yanmen, he sent Attendant Censor Li Huan ahead. Upon arriving in Hengzhou, he immediately arrested Mu Tai and pursued his associates until all of the accused were captured. Lu Rui, Duke of Julu, Yuan Long, Marquis of Anle, and more than one hundred others were imprisoned. Yuan Cheng submitted a detailed memorial to the court.

After reading the report, Emperor Xiaowen expressed great satisfaction and praised the Prince of Rencheng as a true pillar of the state, saying that even the legendary judge Gao Yao could hardly have surpassed him. Looking at Yuan Xi, Prince of Xianyang, he remarked that the other princes could not have accomplished the same task. Emperor Xiaowen later went personally to Pingcheng, rewarded Yuan Cheng, and inspected the accused rebels. None claimed to have been wronged, and contemporaries praised Yuan Cheng's handling of the case. The emperor said that he had now personally seen the ideal of eliminating litigation and appointed Yuan Cheng to regular charge of the Department of State Affairs.

Political Rise and Fall under Emperor Xuanwu

After Emperor Xiaowen's death, Yuan Cheng received a testamentary order to assist the government. Early in the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, Yuan Ke, a surrenderer named Yan Shumao reported that Wang Su, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, had sent Kong Sida to communicate secretly with Southern Qi and intended to rebel. Yuan Cheng believed the report, memorialized that Wang Su was about to revolt, and imprisoned him without authorization. Yuan Xi, Prince of Xianyang, and Yuan Xiang, Prince of Beihai, impeached Yuan Cheng for arbitrarily detaining a senior minister of the court, and he was dismissed to his residence.

Before long Yuan Cheng was restored as Commander Unequalled in Honor and Inspector of Yangzhou. While in Yangzhou he enlarged Sunshu Ao's tomb, destroyed the shrine to Jiang Ziwen, and petitioned to establish a school for the imperial clan with four courses of study. Emperor Xuanwu approved the proposal.

Yuan Cheng later directed the forces of Xiao Baoyin and Chen Bozhi in a southern campaign. He sent commanders Fu Shuyan and Wang Shennian, among others, to advance on Daxian, Dongguan, Jiushan, and Huailing, assigning generals to seize the positions by forced marches day and night. Heavy rain soon caused the Huai River to flood, however, and Yuan Cheng withdrew to Shouchun. The retreat was disorderly and cost more than four thousand soldiers. Yuan Cheng repeatedly requested removal from the office of Inspector of Yangzhou, but the emperor refused. The responsible authorities instead recommended stripping him of the Commander Unequalled in Honor title and reducing him by three grades.

He was then transferred as General Who Guards the North and Inspector of Dingzhou. The people of Dingzhou had long been burdened with assorted extra levies that previous governors had failed to remove. Yuan Cheng abolished most of them, issued clear rules for rewards, punishments, promotion, and demotion, and petitioned to reduce land occupied by official parks and distribute it to poor people without livelihoods. He also ended the production of cloth that was unsuitable for clothing. The population greatly welcomed and relied on his administration.

Later Years and Posthumous Honors

After Yuan Cheng's mother, Princess Dowager Meng, died, he was deeply grief-stricken during mourning and was praised for his filial conduct. When the mourning period ended, he was appointed Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

During Gao Zhao's domination of the court, talented members of the imperial clan were viewed with suspicion. Yuan Cheng was slandered by Gao Zhao and often feared that he would not be able to preserve himself. He therefore spent his days heavily intoxicated, presenting an image of dissipation and decline. His eccentric behavior caused contemporaries to regard him as wildly unrestrained.

Emperor Xuanwu died suddenly during the night. Gao Zhao held a large army outside the capital, Emperor Xiaoming Yuan Xu was still a child, and the court and public were unsettled. Although Yuan Cheng had been politically marginalized, his status and reputation as a senior imperial clansman meant that he continued to play an important role.

In the twelfth lunar month of 519, the second year of the Shengui era, Yuan Cheng died at the age of fifty-three. The court posthumously granted him the privileges and offices of Acting with the Yellow Axe, Bearer of Credentials, Commander of All Military Affairs Inside and Outside the Capital, Grand Tutor, and Defender-in-chief, and bestowed the posthumous title Prince Wenxuan. His funeral followed the precedent of Sima You, Prince Xian of Qi of Western Jin.

His Name, His Family, and the Favour of the Empress Dowager Feng

Yuan Cheng, originally named Tuoba Cheng, styled Daozhen, was born in 467 at Pingcheng in Dai commandery, grandson of the emperor Jingmu, Tuoba Huang, and eldest son of Tuoba Yun, prince Kang of Rencheng. Tuoba Huang was the eldest son of the emperor Taiwu, Tuoba Tao, and though he never came to the throne, dying in 452, he was honoured posthumously as emperor Jingmu, and his descendants held an important place in Northern Wei politics; and Tuoba Yun served in high office under the emperors Wencheng, Xianwen and Xiaowen, rising to general of the southern expedition and governor of Yongzhou with the title prince of Rencheng, and died in 480 with the posthumous name Kang. Yuan Cheng was studious from boyhood, with beautiful side-whiskers, dignified in movement and speech, clear and eloquent, with a voice like a bell; and after his father's death he was known for his filial mourning, succeeding afterwards to the princedom of Rencheng with the rank of general of the northern expedition. The Wei History records that as a boy he showed a maturity and talent beyond his years, and that the empress dowager Feng thought highly of him. His political career began with the pacification of the frontier: when the Rouran raided the Northern Wei border he was given the staff of authority and command of the northern expedition against them and drove them off; and when the Di and Qiang rebelled he was made commander of military affairs in Liang, Yi and Jing, general of the southern expedition and governor of Liangzhou. The empress dowager Wenming Feng, receiving him, admonished and encouraged him and turning to the president of the Secretariat Li Chong said that this boy was striking to look at and quiet and elegant in speech, that he would be an outstanding man of the imperial house, that sending him on this expedition must answer her wish, and that Li Chong might note it down, for she did not speak of persons and affairs at random. Reaching Liangzhou he took conciliatory measures according to local custom: the Di chiefs Yang Zhongxian, Poluo, the brothers Yang Bu and Fu Chapan holding the frontier passes for generations and doing harm, he memorialized to send Poluo to the capital and made Yang Zhongxian deputy of Xuncheng, Yang Bu governor of Guangye and Fu Chapan deputy of Gudao, employing the other chiefs according to their ability, rewarding those who submitted and killing those who disobeyed, so that Chouchi was settled and the peoples of the south-west came over one after another; and the court made him attendant and gave him a set of clothes and a horse to mark his ability. He was afterwards moved to be general of the eastern expedition with a staff of his own and governor of Xuzhou, where he governed with conspicuous success and a good name.

The Debate on Zichan in the Huangxin Hall and the Secret Talk of Moving the Capital

At court Yuan Cheng became a central figure in the reforms of the emperor Xiaowen. Xiaowen received him in the Huangxin hall and asked him whether Zichan of Zheng, who cast the penal code, or Shuxiang of Jin, who reproached him, was in the right; and Yuan Cheng answered that Zheng, being small and weak and overawed by a strong neighbour, could not control the allegiance of its people without law and therefore cast the code to display its authority, which, though contrary to the ancient model, was right for the circumstances, so that Zichan was right, while Shuxiang's censure showed that he had not forgotten antiquity and could be spoken with of the Way but not of expediency. Xiaowen said that the prince of Rencheng would be the Zichan of Wei; and Yuan Cheng, declining, added that Zichan's method suited his own time, whereas the emperor, with the four seas as his house, spread civil virtue to win the world, and only the south was still cut off and the writing and the gauge not yet one, so that the people of a dying age were easier to subdue by authority than to govern by rite, and Zichan's code should still be used for a time, to be replaced by moral teaching when the empire was united. Xiaowen, then planning his changes, was much pleased and said with a laugh that none but the prince of Rencheng could understand the principle of change, and that he meant to reform the institutions of the court and would complete the work of ten thousand generations together with him. In 493, when Xiaowen announced a southern campaign with the real purpose of moving the capital, he fasted in the western chamber of the Bright Hall and had the master of ceremonies Wang Chen divine the campaign with tortoise shell and the Changes, obtaining the hexagram Ge; and he said that this was the hexagram of Tang and King Wu changing the dynasty in accord with heaven and the people, and none dared speak. Yuan Cheng memorialized that Ge meant change, and that to speak of divining a campaign could only mean punishing rebels, not changing a dynasty, so that it was not a ruler's hexagram and could not be called altogether auspicious. Xiaowen said sharply that the Commentary spoke of the great man changing as a tiger changes its stripes, and asked why it was not auspicious; and Yuan Cheng answered that the emperor had risen like a dragon long since and could hardly be likened to a mere tiger's change. Xiaowen's colour changed and he said that the empire was his and the prince of Rencheng wished to dishearten the host; and Yuan Cheng answered that he knew the empire was the emperor's, but that he was the empire's servant and, being consulted, should exhaust his foolish mind. Xiaowen, resolved already on the move and disliking the answer, took a long while to recover and said that each might speak his mind and what harm was there. Returning to the palace he at once summoned Yuan Cheng and, before he had mounted the steps, called to him from afar that the Ge hexagram must be discussed again, and that his anger in the Bright Hall had been from fear that men would chatter and block his great plan, so that he had put on a stern face to overawe the officials. He then said to him privately that this day's business was known to be difficult, that the state had risen in the north and moved to Pingcheng, and that though it held the four seas the writing and the gauge were not one, and that this was a land for arms and not for civil government, where changing customs was indeed most hard; that the Xiaohan passes were the house of emperors and the Luo the king's own land, and that by this great move they might give light to the central plain — asking what the prince of Rencheng thought. Yuan Cheng answered that the central region of Yi and Luo was the ground on which all under heaven depended, and that the emperor's governing of Huaxia and pacifying of the nine domains should be cause for the people's great rejoicing; and Xiaowen said that northerners loved their own soil and, hearing suddenly of a move, could hardly fail to be alarmed; and Yuan Cheng answered that this being no ordinary matter, ordinary men need not know it, and that it was for the emperor's own mind to decide, and what could such men do in any case; and Xiaowen said that the prince of Rencheng was his Zhang Liang, and gave him the rank of general of the pacifying army and junior guardian of the heir apparent, with the presidency of the left of the Secretariat besides. When the plan was settled Xiaowen sent Yuan Cheng by post to the old capital Pingcheng to consult the officials left there; and reaching Dai, where all were astonished at the decree, Yuan Cheng expounded ancient and modern precedents with patience until they were convinced, and then rode south to report, meeting Xiaowen at Huatai, where the emperor said with delight that but for the prince of Rencheng his work could not have been done. Besides this, when the Southern Qi envoy Yu Bi came to court and saw Yuan Cheng's firm and elegant bearing and clear and uncommon manner, he told the master of guests Zhang Yi that whereas the prince of Rencheng of former Wei had been famed for arms, the prince of Rencheng of the present Wei was praised for letters.

The Suppression of Mu Tai's Revolt and the Charge of Rites and Teaching

In 496 Mu Tai, governor of Hengzhou, rebelled. The court gave Yuan Cheng the staff of authority, the bronze tiger and bamboo credentials and the imperial escort, with charge of Hengzhou affairs; and marching to Yanmen he was told in the night by the governor that Mu Tai had taken his troops west toward the prince of Yangping and was gathering outside the city with nothing but bows and weapons to be seen, whereupon Yuan Cheng pressed on at once. His right assistant Meng Bin said that matters could not be measured and that they should call up the troops of Bing and Si as the decree provided and move slowly; but Yuan Cheng answered that Mu Tai, having rebelled, should have held a strong city and had instead gone to welcome the prince of Yangping, from which he judged his strength to be small, and that since Mu Tai did not resist, to call out troops for no reason was improper, and that they had only to press on quickly and overawe him, when the people's minds would settle; and so he marched day and night, taking him unawares, and sent the investigating censor Li Huan ahead, who on arrival seized Mu Tai and quieted the people. He examined Mu Tai's partisans thoroughly and all the guilty were found, more than a hundred men including Lu Rui, duke of Julu, and Yuan Long, marquis of Anle, being imprisoned; and when the memorial came Xiaowen was greatly pleased, summoned the ministers and showed it to them, saying that his prince of Rencheng could be called a servant of the altars of state, and that in trying the case even Gao Yao himself could not have surpassed him, adding to the princes of Xianyang and the rest that in his place they could not have done it. Visiting Pingcheng he thanked Yuan Cheng, saying that this expedition fully answered his distant trust; and Yuan Cheng answered that the emperor's majesty reached far and no guilty man escaped punishment, so that he himself had no merit. When the rebels were brought before him not one claimed to be wronged, and all men marvelled; and Xiaowen, turning to those about him, said that Confucius had said that in hearing cases he was like other men but that he sought to make litigation cease, and that this must be what was meant, for the end of litigation had been seen that day; and he made Yuan Cheng president of the Secretariat. When the emperor campaigned south he left Yuan Cheng in charge with the presidency of the right besides, and Yuan Cheng memorialized to give a year's rents of his fief to the army, of which half was accepted. When the emperor was at Ye and the Gaoche leader Shuzhe rebelled and he would have campaigned in person, Yuan Cheng memorialized against it, and the revolt was put down by the prince of Jiangyang, Yuan Ji, so that the emperor did not go. On his return to Luo, Xiaowen received the ministers and said that the root of governing a state was rites and teaching, asking whether since his departure from the capital rites and teaching had been renewed daily; and Yuan Cheng answered that in his view they had. Xiaowen said that entering the city the day before he had seen women in carts with caps and short jackets, and asked why the Secretariat had not seen to it; and Yuan Cheng answered that those who wore them were still fewer than those who did not; and Xiaowen said it was most strange, and asked whether the prince of Rencheng wished them all to wear such things, and whether the saying that one word could ruin a state meant this, and ordered the historians to record it. He asked again whether, since kings did not receive ministers from heaven but chose the able, and since his own choice of men had failed so that a crowd of women did such strange things, the prince of Rencheng in the Secretariat was upholding the framework of the empire or merely signing documents; and Yuan Cheng answered that he was in truth only signing. Xiaowen said that then a single clerk would suffice and there was no need of a prince of Rencheng; and he asked why, when he sent an attendant to proclaim a decree, he let petty men hear it, and Yuan Cheng answered that there were petty clerks about but they were far from the notice. Xiaowen said that what was far could not be heard and what was heard was not far, and that since the decree had been heard the reason was plain; and thereupon the officials left in charge took off their caps and confessed their fault.

Yangzhou, the Southern Campaign, and the Memorials on Governing the State and Relieving the People

Yuan Cheng was afterwards made governor of Yangzhou with a staff of his own, and on taking office he repaired the tomb of Sunshu Ao, destroyed the temple of Jiang Ziwen, and memorialized asking that the school of the imperial clan be restored and teaching in the four branches opened. In his memorial he said that he had been trained in the former court and knew the affairs of the imperial house, and that since the removal of the capital to the central region the pattern of the clan had been entrusted to him and the selection of the four branches had been his to weigh; and that since the late emperor's death there had been no leisure to set it out, so that "the school vainly bears the name of the four gates, the men of the clan lack the studies of the four seasons, and the thread of the scholars will presently be broken," and he asked that the officers be ordered to restore the school of the imperial clan and open the teaching of the four branches, so that a family about to fall might advance daily and monthly; and the decree answered that the pursuit of learning by the sons of nobles had been a great institution since antiquity, that this teaching should not long be neglected, and that the Secretariat should consider how to establish it as was fitting. In his campaign to the south he repeatedly memorialized without the emperor's consent, and asking leave on his mother's age was put by; but his memorial on the danger from the Chao lake is especially concrete: that Xiao Yan repeatedly cut the eastern pass to flood the Chao lake, which was more than four hundred li around, while the mouth where it joined the Yangtze was no more than a few dozen paces across, so that if the enemy's plan succeeded the garrisons south of the Huai would share the fate of Jinyang; that the men of Wu and Chu were used to fighting on water and would both flood and plunder, so that the land south of the Huai would no longer belong to the state; that Shouyang lay five hundred li from the river and the people were in terror of the water; and that, taking advantage of the people's wish and attacking the enemy's weakness, they should order the provinces in advance and gather men and horses for a great assembly in early autumn, when the southern rivers might become a ford for watering horses and the Huo ridge a place to linger and survey; that such matters turned on seizing the moment and the plan must be made early; that even if unification could not be certain, Jiangxi would at least be safe; and that to hesitate and delay, without destroying and punishing the enemy, would mean that once the dikes were made and the flood came, the people and garrisons of the plain would become food for fishes. The court therefore decreed the calling out of twenty thousand men and fifteen hundred horses from the six provinces of Ji, Ding, Ying, Xiang, Bing and Ji, to assemble south of the Huai in mid-autumn, with the thirty thousand men already at Shouyang, all under Yuan Cheng's direction. In the fighting he sent the general of the state's support Cheng Xing against the invader and recovered Yiling, and the chief of the Changfeng post, Qi Daoxian, broke the Yinshan post of Xiao Yan, killing its chief Mei Xingzu, and then broke the Baigao post and killed Wu Daoshuang; and he sent the army commanders Fu Shuyan and Wang Shennian to Daxian, Dongguan, Jiushan and Huailing, setting the generals in separate commands and taking them by double marches, Wang Shennian taking the two towns of Guanyao and Yingchuan and killing the enemy commander Fei Ni, while the generals Wei Hui and Li Boyou still held Daxian; and Yuan Cheng sent the commanders Dang Fazong and Fu Shuyan, who took Daxian and besieged Baita and Qiancheng, so that within days they fled and scattered, and the Qingxi post of Xiao Yan dispersed at the rumour of them. Xiao Yan's governor of Xuzhou, Sima Mingsu, came with three thousand men to relieve Jiushan, and his chief of staff Pan Bolin to hold Huailing, and the general Wang Xie seized the defile of Jiaocheng; and Dang Fazong took Jiaocheng, broke Huailing, took Sima Mingsu alive and killed Pan Bolin, while the governors Wang Houqiang of Jiyin and Pei Sui of Lujiang also fled. The emperor decreed that "the general's civil virtue shines within and his military merit spreads without; his great plans will sweep the Wu of the river," and that the waves of the rivers and lakes would be stilled within a day. He then attacked Zhongli, and the emperor decreed that if the grain of Zhongli were exhausted before the third month it might surely be taken, but that if it came to the fourth month and the Huai rose so that boats could pass, he should weigh it well, and that if the water made it hard he might choose the safe course rather than seek profit and fail to reproach himself afterwards. When Xiao Yan's generals Zhang Huishao and others brought five thousand men to carry grain to Zhongli, Yuan Cheng sent the commanders Wang Zu and Liu Sizu against them and broke them heavily, taking Zhang Huishao, Yin Xian, Zhang Jingren and the colonel Shi Wenyuan with twenty-six others of commander's rank and above; but then the rain came and the Huai rose violently, and he withdrew to Shouchun "in sorry state, losing more than four thousand men." He memorialized repeatedly to be relieved of his province, and the emperor refused; and the officers memorialized that the army had lost its way in returning, and his staff of his own was taken from him with a further demotion of three grades. When Xiao Yan sent a letter asking to exchange Zhang Huishao, Yuan Cheng memorialized against it; the matter was referred to the eight bureaux, and the president of the Secretariat, Yuan Jia, prince of Guangyang, and others advised that he be returned, and the decree allowed it — "and afterwards he raided the frontier again." He also asked reward for the prefects, since at the end of the Zhengshi years an edict had raised all officials by one grade but the officers in charge, not understanding it, had left the governors and magistrates out, so that for ten years suits had not ceased; and he cited the promotions of Feng Hui and Yuan Kuang as having come under the earlier decree, asking that the governors and magistrates be included in the general promotion. The decree answered that henceforth matters at home and abroad that had come up under a former reign should not be reported again. He also presented the imperial admonitions and clan ordinances with a glossary in a scroll each, wishing the empress dowager to read them for the benefit of admonition, and memorialized ten matters for the good of the state and the relief of the people: first, that weights and measures, being different in public and private, should be unified; second, that schools be established to make plain the law of promotion and dismissal; third, that fallen houses be restored and their heirs continued, each recommending men he knew; fourth, that beyond the five levies the people be troubled in nothing, and their labour used no more than three days; fifth, that officials over the people all be subject to promotion and dismissal to make rewards and punishments clear; sixth, that those who pay taxes in place of runaways of long standing be allowed to settle unless they are craftsmen; seventh, that frontier soldiers who flee, or who are in truth lost, be carefully examined, and that the three elders and near kin who conceal them be made to pay in their place, and those who do not, not punished; eighth, that households of hereditary merchants and artisans, burdened beyond bearing by further taxes, be exempted to pursue their trade; ninth, that the three elders, in suppressing wickedness, not command across boundaries, and that households too few be merged with their neighbours; and tenth, that the imperial guards go to battle when the frontier has trouble, and that ordinary garrisons be held by rotation troops instead. The empress dowager referred the memorial to the officials, who agreed with some parts and not others.

His Last Years, His Remonstrance on the Empress Dowager's Buddhist Works, and His Mourning

In his last years he was made duke of the ministry of education with his offices of attendant and president of the Secretariat as before. At that time the four corps commanders being few and weak and unable to guard the capital, Yuan Cheng memorialized that the eastern corps should take in Yingyang, the southern Luyang, the western Hengnong and the northern Henei, with men of the second and third grades both close to the throne and worthy, cutting unnecessary works and giving them strong troops, so that "the root be deep and the trunk firm while the branches are weakened"; and the empress dowager was at first inclined to agree, but desisted when others objected. He memorialized again that the root should be made strong and that prevention lay in preparation, so that though there were civil matters arms should not be forgotten, that with the southern barbarians still fierce and northern rebels gathering the four commands with their weak troops could not resist a sudden rising, and that in his own foolish view the corps commanders should hold troops and civil office together, saving offices and making salaries real, asking again for more troops and higher titles — and it was not adopted. He also memorialized that the displaced persons newly come to distant garrisons had neither food nor clothing and many died, and that they and their wives and children should be given a year's grain, which was granted; and presently, being ill, he asked to be relieved, and was refused. The empress dowager Ling was bent on building, raising the Yongning and Taishanggong temples at the capital at great cost and five-storey pagodas in the provinces, and holding great feasts with gifts to monks by the ten thousand, while the people were worn out with earthworks, the price of gold and silver rose, the strength of the officials was cut down and the treasury drained, and gifts to those about her ran to thousands a day. Yuan Cheng therefore memorialized, the Comprehensive Mirror recording his sense that Xiao Yan harboured designs of encroachment, that while the state was strong and the soldiers able they should seek to complete the unification, and that in recent years public and private alike being poor they should cut down wasteful expense to meet pressing needs; and though the empress dowager could not use his words she always answered him with courtesy. All business, great and small, was brought to him for decision, and he for his part did his utmost to support the throne, remonstrating whenever a matter was inconvenient to the people; and though he was not heeded he pressed on earnestly, so that "within and without all respected and feared him." In the twelfth month of 519 he died at fifty-three; the court gave twelve hundred bolts of cloth, six hundred thousand cash and four hundred catties of wax, with a warm bright vessel of the eastern park, a set of court dress and a robe; the grand master of ceremonies supervised the mourning and all officials were summoned to it; and he was posthumously made commissioner with the yellow axe, with the staff of authority, commander of military affairs at home and abroad, grand tutor and concurrent grand commandant, with special honours and the nine bestowals after the precedent of the grand marshal, prince of Qi of the Jin, with the posthumous name prince Wenxuan. His funeral was magnificent; the empress dowager Ling escorted it in person beyond the suburbs and, halting her carriage, wept so that those about her were moved, and more than a thousand officials attended, none without a sigh, "which men of the day thought the extremity of mourning and honour"; and his fourth son Yuan Yi inherited.

Major Activities

Political Activities

Yuan Cheng's political career spanned the reigns of Emperors Xiaowen, Xuanwu, and Xiaoming, making him one of the most important imperial-clan politicians of middle and late Northern Wei. He played an indispensable role in Emperor Xiaowen's move to Luoyang and the Sinicization reforms: from confidential planning before the move, to persuading officials who remained in the old capital, to subsequent personnel reorganization, Yuan Cheng was consistently one of the emperor's most trusted executors. In 496, the twentieth year of Taihe, he suppressed Mu Tai's rebellion with great speed, capturing the principal rebel and more than one hundred accomplices and stabilizing the political situation during the early phase after the relocation.

In local administration, Yuan Cheng successively served as Inspector of Liangzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Dingzhou. In Liangzhou he used conciliation to pacify the Di and Qiang and stabilize Chouchi; in Xuzhou he earned a strong reputation; in Yangzhou he promoted education and enlarged Sunshu Ao's tomb; and in Dingzhou he reduced extra levies and distributed land to the poor, earning notable administrative credit.

Literature and Scholarship

Although Yuan Cheng was chiefly known for political ability, he also possessed literary talent. At a banquet for members of the imperial clan in Huangxin Hall, Emperor Xiaowen specifically ordered him to compose linked seven-character rhymed verse, and the two repeatedly exchanged verses in friendly competition until the gathering ended in great enjoyment. The Southern Qi envoy Yu Bi praised his “vigorous and elegant tones” and “refined and graceful bearing,” saying that “the former Prince of Rencheng of Wei was renowned for martial prowess, while the present Prince of Rencheng is admired for literary accomplishment.”

While serving as Inspector of Yangzhou, Yuan Cheng petitioned to establish a school for the imperial clan and open four courses of study, contributing to the education of Northern Wei princes and clansmen.

Travels and Places of Activity

Yuan Cheng's career took him across much of the Northern Wei realm. Born in Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi), he went while young to Liangzhou, roughly corresponding to parts of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan, to suppress unrest, and later served in Xuzhou in the region of present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu. After entering court he accompanied Emperor Xiaowen on campaigns north and south and traveled repeatedly between Luoyang and Pingcheng during the capital relocation. In later years he served in Yangzhou, around present-day Shouxian in Anhui, and Dingzhou, around present-day Dingzhou in Hebei.

Relationship with Emperor Xiaowen

The relationship between Yuan Cheng and Emperor Xiaowen Yuan Hong was among the most celebrated examples of accord between ruler and minister in Northern Wei political history. Emperor Xiaowen called Yuan Cheng “the Zichan of Wei” and “my Zifang,” confided in him over the plan to move the capital, and after Mu Tai's rebellion praised him as “a minister who safeguards the altars of state.” Their discussions at Huangxin Hall on Zichan's written law, at the Mingtang on the Hexagram Ge, and at Beimang on Ji Shao's dream combined political debate with intellectual exchange. Yuan Cheng's receipt of a testamentary order to assist the government when Emperor Xiaowen died further demonstrated the depth of the emperor's trust.

The Executor of Reform, His Institutional Proposals, and Their Political Limits

Yuan Cheng was one of the chief executors of the Xiaowen emperor's sinicizing reforms, and his part may be seen in three stages. Before the move of the capital, in the Huangxin hall he argued that Zichan's penal code should still be used for a time until the empire was united and moral teaching could take its place, which answered the emperor's intention of reforming the institutions of the court; and in the Bright Hall he dared say outright that the Ge hexagram was not a ruler's, only to be told privately afterwards of the true purpose of the move, and to answer that so extraordinary a matter was not for ordinary men to know and must be decided by the emperor's own mind, earning the name of Zhang Liang. After the move he was sent by post to the old capital to explain and persuade the officials left there until they were convinced, from which the emperor said that but for him his work could not have been done. And then came the suppression of Mu Tai's revolt, in which his judgement that Mu Tai, having rebelled, should have held a strong city and had gone instead to welcome the prince of Yangping, showed his strength to be small, overruled Meng Bin's cautious proposal to call up the troops of Bing and Si, and brought him by forced marches to take the rebel unawares, sending Li Huan ahead to seize Mu Tai and imprison more than a hundred of his partisans, so that the emperor called him a servant of the altars of state and likened him to Gao Yao's judging. Taken together, these three stages show him both as the executor of the reform and as a man able to form an independent judgement on particular military and political questions.

In institutions he left two kinds of record. The first concerns education and the imperial clan: he memorialized for the restoration of the clan school and the opening of the four branches, on the ground that since the move to the central region "the school vainly bears the name of the four gates, the men of the clan lack the studies of the four seasons, and the thread of the scholars will presently be broken," and obtained the answer that the Secretariat should establish it as was fitting. The second is his set of ten memorials on administration and finance, covering the unification of weights and measures, the establishment of schools, the restoration of fallen houses, the limitation of labour to three days, promotion and dismissal of officials over the people, the settlement of those paying for runaways, the exemption of hereditary merchants and artisans, the merging of under-populated households, and the division of duty between the imperial guards and the rotation garrisons; the empress dowager referred them to the officials, who agreed with some parts and not others, so that his proposals were mostly improvements adopted in part. His request for the reward of the prefects, made with the precedents of Feng Hui and Yuan Kuang, met likewise with the restriction that matters arising under a former reign should not be brought up again. His political limits appear in two setbacks: as governor of Yangzhou he first won and then lost in the southern campaign, and with the Huai in flood withdrew to Shouchun losing more than four thousand men, for which his staff of his own was taken and he was demoted three grades; and in his last years his memorial for more troops for the four corps commanders was not adopted, nor his memorial urging the empress dowager to cut the expense of her Buddhist works, though the histories say he was always answered with courtesy after the event. He also, being envied by Gao Zhao, drank all day to hide himself and "was taken by men of the day for a wild and unrestrained man"; and when the Xuanwu emperor died suddenly by night with Gao Zhao holding an army outside and the Xiaoming emperor a child, so that the court and the countryside were in alarm, Yuan Cheng, though out of favour, still played his part at court as a senior prince of the blood. On the whole, he was at once the executor of reform, a governor of provinces and a remonstrating minister, and his successes and failures alike were bound up with the tension in the middle and later Northern Wei between the imperial authority, the imperial kin and the powerful ministers.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Tuoba Huang, Emperor Jingmu, eldest son of Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao
• Father: Tuoba Yun, Prince Kang of Rencheng
• Mother: Princess Dowager Meng
• Self: Yuan Cheng, Prince Wenxuan of Rencheng
• Li Chong: Secretariat Director and General Who Guards the South; Empress Dowager Wenming praised Yuan Cheng to him. The two served at court together and shared views on matters including the relocation of the capital and southern campaigns
• Zhang Yi: Host and Guest Gentleman; present when receiving the Southern Qi envoy
• Empress Dowager Feng (Empress Dowager Wenming): Northern Wei empress dowager who appreciated Yuan Cheng from his youth
• Emperor Xiaowen Yuan Hong: Yuan Cheng's ruler and most important patron; called him “the Zichan of Wei” and “my Zifang”
• Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke: son of Emperor Xiaowen; Yuan Cheng received a testamentary order to assist his government
• Emperor Xiaoming Yuan Xu: son of Emperor Xuanwu; the young ruler whom Yuan Cheng served in his later years
• Yuan Xi: Prince of Xianyang and fellow senior imperial clansman; impeached Yuan Cheng in the Wang Su imprisonment affair
• Yuan Xiang: Prince of Beihai; joined Yuan Xi in impeaching Yuan Cheng
• Yuan Xie: Prince of Pengcheng; took part in deliberations over the southern campaign
• Feng Dan: Minister of Education; took part in deliberations over the southern campaign
• Mu Liang: Minister of Works; took part in deliberations over the southern campaign
• Wang Su: Prefect of the Masters of Writing; Yuan Cheng once imprisoned him after mistakenly believing an informer
• Gao Zhao: powerful minister under Emperor Xuanwu who distrusted the imperial clan and slandered Yuan Cheng
• Mu Tai: Inspector of Hengzhou; rebelled and was captured by Yuan Cheng
• Lu Rui: Duke of Julu; participated in Mu Tai's rebellion and was captured
• Yuan Long: Marquis of Anle; participated in Mu Tai's rebellion and was captured

Historical Assessment

Northern Wei / Contemporary

• Empress Dowager Feng (Empress Dowager Wenming): praised Yuan Cheng's striking bearing and refined speech and predicted that he would become a leader of the imperial clan. (Book of Wei, “Biography of Yuan Cheng”)
• Emperor Xiaowen Yuan Hong: called him “the Zichan of Wei,” “my Zifang,” declared that without Rencheng his undertaking could not have succeeded, and praised him as a vital minister of state after the suppression of Mu Tai's rebellion. (Book of Wei, “Biography of Yuan Cheng”)
• Southern Qi envoy Yu Bi: observed that the former Prince of Rencheng had been renowned for martial ability, while the present Prince of Rencheng was admired for literary accomplishment. (Book of Wei, “Biography of Yuan Cheng”)
• Northern Wei historian Wei Shou: described Yuan Cheng as clear-sighted in government, decisive in judgment, and known for combining authority with beneficence, earning a strong reputation. (Book of Wei, “Biography of Yuan Cheng”)

Sui and Tang Periods

• Li Yanshou's History of the Northern Dynasties largely follows the Book of Wei, describing Yuan Cheng as handsome in appearance, clear and eloquent in speech, and possessing a voice like a bell, while affirming his ability and administrative achievements.
• Tang historians discussing Northern Wei imperial clansmen often mentioned Yuan Cheng together with Yuan Xie as representative supporters of Emperor Xiaowen's reforms within the imperial house.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Yuan Cheng's career and gives detailed attention to his persuasion of officials in the old capital during the relocation, treating it as a key part of Emperor Xiaowen's successful move.
• Hu Sansheng, in his commentary on the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, described Yuan Cheng's handling of Mu Tai's rebellion as evidence that his practical ability made him one of the outstanding members of the imperial clan.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian, in History of the Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, listed Yuan Cheng among the enlightened members of the Northern Wei imperial clan who supported Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization reforms and regarded him as a key force in the move and institutional transformation.
• Zhou Yiliang, in Notes on the History of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, examined Yuan Cheng's career and emphasized his distinctive position in Northern Wei imperial-clan politics, regarding him as important to political stability after Emperor Xiaowen's death.
• Tian Yuqing, in Aristocratic Politics of the Eastern Jin and related writings on Northern Wei politics, used Yuan Cheng as an example showing that the Northern Wei imperial clan included capable political figures.