Memorials were reports submitted to the emperor by high-ranking officials during the Ch'ing dynasty. A system originating with the K'ang-hsi Emperor, in the early period only certain high officials were conferred with the right to send memorials in secret to him. They would be returned to the sender once he had reviewed and annotated them with his comments in vermilion ink. The Yung-cheng Emperor expanded the scope of uses for memorials, and also initiated a system for their return to the court. Without exception, all memorials that had been rescripted by the emperor were to be returned to the palace archives for storage. Officials were forbidden from keeping them in private possession. This practice was followed in subsequent reigns and gradually became systematized. After the Grand Council was established, all memorials rescripted by the emperor also had to be submitted to the Grand Council to be transcribed to serves as copies for future reference, hence the term "memorial copies" (figs. 10, 10-1, 11, 11-1, 12).

Figure 10 Memorial on surveying the completion of construction for the sacred tree at the Yung-ling imperial tombs along with supplementary illustration Memorial Copy from the Imperial Inspector General Gipu, et al. Dated the 23rd day, 9th month, 2nd year of the T'ung-chih reign (1863) with an imperial response on the 2nd day of the 10th month, Ch'ing Dynasty 21 x 80 cm (H x W)

Figure 10-1 Illustration of Preserving the Sacred Tree at the Yung-ling Imperial Tombs Meomorial and illustration submitted by Imperial Inspector Gipu 23rd day of the 9th month of the 2nd year of the T'ung-chih reign (1863), Ch'ing Dynasty Imperial response on the 2nd day of the 10th month 63.5 x 65 cm (H x W)

Figure 11 Memorial Report on New Sprouts from the Sacred Tree at the Yung-ling Imperial Tombs Memorial copy from General Ioi-ming Dated the 15th day, 4th month, 3rd year of the T'ung-chih reign (1864), Ch'ing Dynasty 23 x 53 cm (H x W)

Figure 11-1 Illustration of the Sacred Tree at the Yung-ling Imperial Tombs Illustration appended to a memorial copy from General Ioi-ming 15th day of the 4th month of the 3rd year of the T'ung-chih reign (1864), Ch'ing Dynasty Imperial response on the 25th day 43 x 45 cm (H x W)

Figure 12 Memorial on the Status of the Sacred Tree at the Yung-ling Imperial Tombs Submitted by Wang šido, Ch'ing Dynasty 23rd day of the 10th month of the T'ung-chih reign (1864), Ch'ing Dynasty 20 x 90 cm (H x W)