Shengchao xunjie zhuchen lu 勝朝殉節諸臣錄

(Qinding) Shengchao xunjie zhuchen lu (欽定)勝朝殉節諸臣錄 "(Imperially endorsed) Records of the subjects who had loyally died for the defeated dynasty" is a collection of biographies of high officials from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) that was compiled on imperial order of the Qianlong Emperor 乾隆帝 (r. 1736-1795) in 1776.

Most persons included in the collection had participated in the armed resistance against the conquest of the Ming empire by the Manchus, founders of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911), some others lost their lives during the suppression of various rebellions against the Ming, and quite a few resisted the usurpation of prince Zhu Di 朱棣 (Emperor Chengzu 明成祖, the Yongle Emperor 永樂帝, r. 1403-1424) in the early Ming period. The compilation was supervised by the two members of the State Council (junjichu 軍機處), the Manchu Šuhede 舒赫德 (1710-1777) and the Chinese Yu Minzhong 于敏中 (1714-1779).

The 12-juan long book is divided into three parts, according to "moral" criteria. The first category includes 33 persons of such an outstanding conduct (zhuozhe 卓著) that the rewards for their integrity deserve to be transmitted to their descendants. They are granted specific posthumous honorific titles (zhuanyi 專諡). The second category includes persons that died as martyrs for their dynasty's cause (kangkai jiuyi 慷慨就義). They deserve to be rewarded with common posthumous honorific titles (tongyi 通諡). 124 persons of this category were "loyal martyrs" (zhonglie 忠烈), 122 such of loyal conduct (zhongjie 忠節), 377 persons "deplorable as martyrs" (liemin 烈湣 or 愍), and 882 persons "deplorable because of their unselfishness" (jiemin 節湣). The lowest category includes common people from low officials and scribes down to "firewood cutters" and generally people without an eminent family background.

All parts are divided into the sections on persons of the foundation period of the Ming dynasty (fengjian xunjie 封疆殉節), the destruction of the Ming dynasty by the Qing in 1644 (year with the cyclical signs jiashen 甲申), persons serving the Prince of Fu 南明福王 (r. 1644-1645), the Prince of Tang 南明唐王 (r. 1645-1646), the Prince of Lu 南明魯王 (r. 1646), the Prince of Gui 南明桂王 (r. 1646-1661, all of the Southern Ming 南明 1644-1661), and such suffering under "bandits" (kounan xunjie 冦難殉節, mainly pirates). The last section is particularly dedicated to the Jianwen reign-period 建文 (1399-1402), when Emperor Hui Emperor Hui 明惠帝 (r. 1398-1402) was toppled by his nephew, Emperor Chengzu 明成祖 (r. 1402-1424).

The book includes 2,249 biographies in total. The collection refrained from including persons that had proved themselves as enemies of the Ming dynasty at an earlier point of time, like Yang Weiyuan 楊維垣 (d. 1645), who had participated in factional strives at the court.

The most important sources for the biographies was information from the official dynastic history Mingshi 明史, as well as the imperial geography Da-Qing yitong zhi 大清一統志 and a large number of local gazetteers. Those persons that were granted a disctint posthumous honorific title all have a small biography, but those venerated in "shrines for the loyal and upright" (zhongyi ci 忠義祠) are only listed by name.

The Shengchao xunjie zhuchen lu is included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and was again printed separately in 1797 by Xie Qikun 謝啟昆, a version that is today owned by the Library of Nankai University 南開大學圖書館.