#xianfeng

The Xie-en-zhou (Personal Memorial Expressing Gratitude) from the Last Ryukyu King, Shō Tai

In the tenth year of Xianfeng era, the last Ryukyu King, Shō Tai (1843-1901), sent an envoy Shō Shitao to the Qing dynasty, along with tributes and this memorial. During the envoy’s stay in the province of Fuchien, he was awarded with the Proclamation of the Ascension to the Throne of the Tongzhi Emperor. This imperial mandate was forwarded by the Viceroy of Min-Zhe. The envoy brought the edict back to the Ryukyu Kingdom.  After receiving the mandate, Shō Tai submitted a personal memorial to the Chinese emperor to express his gratitude. The Ryukyu Kingdom and some of the major tributary states had always been granted the honor of keeping the imperial edicts.

The Ryukyu Kingdom traditionally would send the tribute along with a tributary memorial as well as a zouben (personal memorial). Although the zhouben system was abandoned in the Qing court after 1748, it was still used by the tributary states. The seal of the Ryukyu King was affixed to both the tributary memorial and the zouben, and depended on the nature of things, the zouben’s were titled as xie-en-zhou (expressing gratitude), qing-he-zhou (expressing congratulation), qing-fong-zhou (seeking investiture), jin-kong-zhou (sending tributes).