On October 8, 1735, the Yung-cheng emperor died. Upon assuming the throne, the new emperor Ch’ien-lung, in order to thoroughly understand the state of government affairs and make informed decisions about which policies deserved reconsideration, swiftly promulgated an edict (dated November 3, 1735) which instructed all Manchu and Han civil and military officials to submit memorials in turn for the emperor to refer to while governing. The memorials submitted in response to this command are primarily collected in the “Itemized Memorials” section of the Kung-chung-tang Yung-cheng tsou-che. Over the course of a three month period between November 8, 1735 and February 9, 1736, a total of 306 memorials were submitted by 199 officials representing every government ministry and office. 199 off these memorials were written in Manchu, 185 in Chinese, and two in both Manchu and Chinese. The largest single group of memorialists, representing approximately one third of the total, were military officials attached to the Eight Banners. Their memorials dealt primarily with banner affairs. The remaining memorials addressed a wide array of administrative, legal, fiscal, educational, and personnel matters. Because these memorials were precipitated by the new emperor’s desire to understand the true state of governmental affairs, the memorialsits were quite direct in their assessment of the many reforms enacted during the latter years of the Yung-cheng regin. Furthermore, because the memorials were quite direct in their assessment of the many reforms enacted during the latter years of the Yung-cheng reign. Furthermore, because the memorials were explicitly intended to serve as the basis for making changes in governance, they had dramatic impact on policy direction the early Ch’ien-lung reign. For these reasons, they are a valuable source of historical evidence.