Song mingchen zouyi 宋名臣奏議

Song mingchen zouyi 宋名臣奏議 "Memorials of famous ministers of the Song period", also known by the name (Guochao) Zhuchen zouyi (國朝)諸臣奏議 "Memorials of all ministers of (Our Dynasty)", is a collection of memorials presented to the throne by Northern Song-period 北宋 (960-1126) ministers.

The 150-juan long book was compiled by the early Southern Song-period 南宋 (1127-1279) scholar Zhao Ruyu 趙汝愚 (1140-1196), who was a distant member of the imperial family and occupied the offices of Minister of Personnel (libu shangshu 吏部尚書), Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs (zhi shumiyuan shi 知樞密院事) and Counsellor to the right (you chengxiang 右丞相). After a failed attempt to get rid of the Left Counsellor Han Tuozhou 韓侂胄 (1152-1207), the latter forced Zhao to leave his office in the central government, so that Zhao Ruyu served as a local governor in Fujian. He has also compiled an extract to the veritable records of Emperor Taizu 宋太祖 (r. 960-975), Taizu shilu juyao 太祖實錄舉要. His collected memorials are united in the book Zhao Zhongdinggong zouyi 趙忠定公奏議, his collected writings in the Zhao Zhongdinggong shiwen ji 趙忠定公詩文集.

The Song mingchen zouyi is divided into 12 chapters in which the memorials are arranged according to themes. For each memorial, information is provided about the author and his position in the administrative structure. This is very helpful for an evaluation of the functioning of the government of the Song empire. Zhao Ruyu's intention was to provide examples of good and bad suggestions for government and so points at some reasons for the failure of the Northern Song empire.