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Bao Zheng

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Bao Zheng
block print portrait from Illustrations of the Three Powers (1609)
Born(999-04-11)11 April 999
Hefei (in today's Feidong)
Died20 May 1062(1062-05-20) (aged 63)
Kaifeng
Burial
Hefei (in today's Luyang)
Names
Family name: Bāo (包)
Given name: Zhěng (拯)
Courtesy name: Xīrén (希仁)
Posthumous name: Xiàosù (孝肅)
Other names
Bāo Gōng (包公; "Lord Bao")
Bāo Qīngtiān (包青天; "Clear-Sky Bao")
Bāo Lóngtú (包龍圖; "Dragon-Design Bao")
Bāo Dàizhì (包待制; "Rescriptor Bao")

Template:Chinese name

Bao Zheng
Chinese包拯

Bao Zheng (包拯) (999-1062), commonly known as Bao Gong (包公, "Lord Bao"), was a much-praised official who served during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Northern Song Dynasty in ancient China. Culturally, Bao Zheng today is respected as the symbol of justice in Greater China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and has enjoyed sustained popularity.

Biography

According to History of Song,[1] Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29[2] he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song Dynasty.

After passing the imperial examination in 1027, Bao deferred embarking on his official career for a decade in order to care for his elderly parents and faithfully observe proper mourning rites after their deaths. From 1037 until his death in 1062, Bao successively held several offices at the imperial court and in provincial locations.

While at the post in Duanzhou, renowned for its inkstones that are perfect as gifts, he discovered that previous prefects always collected more inkstones than allowed. Bao Zheng stopped the practice and left without a single inkstone in his possession once his tenure was over.[3]

In his lifetime, Bao was renowned for his filial piety, his stern demeanor, and his intolerance of injustice and corruption. Due to his fame and the strength of his reputation, Bao's name became synonymous with the idealized "honest and upright official" (qing guan 清官), and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature. Bao was also associated with the god Yanluo (Yama) and the "Infernal Bureaucracy" of the Eastern Marchmount, on account of his supposed ability to judge affairs in the afterlife as well as he judged them in the realm of the living.[4]

He had 30 high officials demoted or dismissed for corruption, bribery, or dereliction of duty. He also had Zhang Yaozhuo, uncle of the high-ranked imperial concubine impeached 6 times. In addition, as the imperial censor, he avoided punishment despite having many other contemporary imperial censors punished for minor statements.

Bao had 3 wives in his life, named Lady Zheng, Lady Tung and Lady Sun. He had 2 sons, Bao Ye (包繶) and Bao Suo (包綬). Bao left this warning for his family: "Any of my descendants who commits bribery as an official shall not be allowed back home nor buried in the family burial site. He who shares not my values is not my descendant." Despite his high rank in the government, he led a modest life like a commoner.[3]

Tomb of Bao Zheng, mount and altar on top.

His burial site in Hefei contains his tomb along with the tombs of family members and a memorial temple. It was built in 1066.

Legend

Literary Traditions

Bao Zheng's stories were retold and preserved particularly in the form of performance arts such as Chinese opera and pingshu. Written forms of his legend appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in the form of Qu.

In the Yuan Dynasty, many plays (in the forms of qu and zaju) have featured Bao Zheng as the central character.[5] These plays include:

  • Rescriptor Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream (包待制三勘蝴蝶夢; Bāo Dài Zhì Sān Kān Hú Dié Mèng) by Guan Hanqing[6]
  • Rescriptor Bao Cleverly Executes Lu Zhailang (包待制智斬魯齋郎; Bāo Dài Zhì Zhì Zhǎn Lǔ Zhāi Láng) by Guan Hanqing[7]
  • Rescriptor Bao Selling Rice in Chenzhou (包待制陳州粜米; Bāo Dài Zhì Chén Zhōu Tiào Mĭ), author unknown
  • Rescriptor Bao Cleverly Investigates the Circle of Chalk (包待制智勘灰闌記; Bāo Dài Zhì Zhì Kān Huī Lán Jì) by Li Qianfu

In Ming Dynasty, the detective novel Bao Gong An increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends. The Qing Dynasty novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants also added a wuxia twist to his stories.

Stories

In opera or drama, he is often portrayed with a black face and a white crescent shaped birthmark on his forehead.

In legends, because he was born dark-skinned and extremely ugly, Bao Zheng was considered cursed and thrown away by his father right after birth. However, his virtuous elder sister-in-law, who just had an infant named Bao Mian (包勉), picked Bao Zheng up and raised him like an own son. As a result, Bao Zheng would refer to Bao Mian's mother as shǎoniáng (嫂娘, lit. 'sister-in-law mother').

In most dramatization of his stories, he used a set of guillotines (Chinese: 鍘刀; pinyin: zhádāo; Literal: lever-knife), given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals:

  • The one decorated with a dog's head (Chinese: 狗頭鍘 or 犬頭鍘; pinyin: gǒutóuzhá or quǎntóuzhá; Literal: dog-headed lever-knife) was used on commoners.
  • The one decorated with a tiger's head (Chinese: 虎頭鍘; pinyin: hǔtóuzhá; Literal: tiger-headed lever-knife) was used on government officials.
  • The one decorated with a dragon's head (Chinese: 龍頭鍘 or 火龍鍘; pinyin: lóngtóuzhá or huǒlóngzhá; Literal: dragon-headed lever-knife or knife of the fire dragon) was used on royal personages.

He was granted a golden rod (Chinese: 金黄夏楚; pinyin: jīnhuángjiáchǔ) by the previous emperor, with which he was authorised to chastise the current emperor. He was also granted an imperial sword (Chinese: 尚方寶劍; pinyin: shàngfāngbǎojiàn) from the previous emperor; whenever it was exhibited the persons surrounding, irrespective of their social classes, must pay respect and compliance to the person exhibiting as the Emperor was present thereat himself. All guillotines of Bao Zheng were authorised to execute any persons without first obtaining approval from the emperor, whilst some accounts stating the imperial sword was a license to execute any royals before so reporting.

He is famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time. He upheld justice and refused to yield to higher powers including the Emperor's Father-in-Law (Chinese: 國丈; pinyin: guózhàng), who was also appointed as the Grand Tutor (Chinese: 太師; pinyin: tàishī) and was known as Grand Tutor Pang (Chinese: 龐太師; pinyin: Páng tàishī). He treated Bao as an enemy. Although Grand Tutor Pang is often depicted in myth as an archetypical villain (arrogant, selfish, and cruel), the historical reasons for his bitter rivalry with Bao remain unclear.

Bao Zheng also managed to remain in favour by cultivating a long standing friendship with one of Emperor Renzong's uncles, the Eighth Imperial Prince (Chinese: 八王爺; pinyin: Bāwángyé).

In many stories Bao is usually accompanied by his skilled bodyguard Zhan Zhao and personal secretary Gongsun Ce (公孙策). Zhan is a skilled martial artist while Gongsun is an intelligent adviser. There are also four enforcers named Wang Zhao (王朝), Ma Han (馬漢), Zhang Long (張龍), and Zhao Hu (趙虎). All of these characters are presented as righteous and incorruptible.

Due to his strong sense of justice, he is very popular in China, especially among the peasants and the poor. He became the subject of literature and modern Chinese TV series in which his adventures and cases are featured.

Bao Zheng portrayed by a Peking Opera actor.

Famous cases

All of these cases have been favorites in Chinese opera.

  • The Case of Executing Chen Shimei (鍘美案): Chen Shimei had two children with wife Qin Xianglian, when he left them behind in his hometown for the Imperial examination in the capital. After placing first, he lied about his marriage and became the emperor’s new son-in-law. Years later, a famine forced Qin and her children to move to the capital, where they learned what happened to Chen. Qin finally found a way to meet Chen and begged him to help at least his own children. Not only did Chen refuse, he sent his servant Han Qi to kill them to hide his secret, but Han helped the family escape and killed himself. Desperate, Qin brought her case to Bao Zheng, who tricked Chen to the court to have him arrested. The imperial family intervened with threats, but Bao executed him nonetheless.
  • Executing Bao Mian (鍘包勉): When Bao Zheng was an infant, he was raised by his elder sister-in-law, Wu, like a son. Years later, Wu's only son Bao Mian became a magistrate, and was convicted of bribery and malfeasance. Finding it impossible to fulfill both Confucian concepts of loyalty and filial piety, an emotional Bao Zheng executed his nephew according to the law and later tearfully apologized to Wu, his motherly figure.
  • Wild Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince (狸貓換太子): Bao Zheng met a woman claiming to be the mother of the current Emperor Renzong. She had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong's, before falling out of favor for supposedly giving birth to a bloody dead Chinese wild cat. What really happened was a jealous Consort Liu plotting with eunuch Guo Huai to secretly swap Li's infant son with a skinned Chinese wild cat minutes after birth. The infant eventually became Renzong, but he refused to accept Bao's findings. Faced with this, Bao ordered a set of beatings for the emperor for failing to oblige filial piety; his Dragon Robe was beaten instead. Eventually Renzong accepted Li and elevated her as the new Empress Dowager.
  • The Case of Two Nails (雙釘記): Bao Zheng investigated a husband's suspicious death whose cause had been ruled natural. After an autopsy, his coroner confirmed the earlier report that there was no injury throughout the body. At home, the coroner discussed the case with his wife, who mentioned that someone could force long steel nails into the brain, leaving no other traces on the body. The next day, the coroner found a long nail indeed, and the widow was arrested and confessed to adultery and mariticide. Afterwards, Bao Zheng began to question the coroner's wife and learned that the coroner is her second husband, as her first husband had died. Bao ordered his guards to go to the cemetery and unearth her first husband's coffin. Sure enough, there was also a nail in the skull.

Modern References

  • In modern Chinese, "Bao Gong" or "Bao Qingtian" is invoked as a metaphor or symbol of justice.
    • There is a chain of cafes selling baozi in Singapore called Bao Today (Bao Jin Tian), which is a pun on Bao Qingtian (Justice Bao).
  • A side scrolling video game, Bao Qing Tian, was released for the Famicom.
  • He briefly appears in the novel Iron Arm, Golden Sabre and sponsors young Zhou Tong's entry into the military as an officer.[8]
  • In the Marvel comic series New Universal, Young Judge Bao is one of the characters in an in-universe comic book.
  • Stephen Chow made a spin-off movie based on Bao Zheng called Hail the Judge and titled "Pale Face Bao Zheng Ting" in Chinese. In the movie Stephen plays a descendant of Bao Zheng called "Bao Sing" living in Qing Dynasty, whose family lost its once glorious prestige due to generations of incompetence and corruption.
  • Lingling Takiguchi, a sister-duo team, wrote and drew the manga Hokusou Fuuunden (北宋風雲伝), with Bao as the central character while retelling or tweaking several of the cases. It was published by monthly Japanese magazine Princess Comics, serializing from May 2000 to May 2008, and compiled into 16 tankōbon.
  • "Les éditions Fei" publish a series of French-language comics about Bao Zheng, as of August 2010, 2 volumes are in print.
  • In March 2012, Frederic Lenormand, author of 18 Judge Dee's New Cases (Fayard 2004-2011), published at Editions Philippe Picquier Un Thé chez Confucius (A Tea with Confucius), first novel of his new series, The Judge Bao Cases.

Films

The 1993-1994 TV series Justice Bao greatly popularized Bao Zheng in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Television

Some of the more prominent TV series include:

  • Justice Bao (包青天), a 1974-1975 series produced by CTS totaling 350 episodes. Yi Ming portrayed Bao Zheng.
  • Justice Bao (包青天), a 1993-1994 series produced by CTS with 41 cases totaling 236 episodes produced in one season. This would be the first series where Jin Chao-chun portrayed Bao Zheng.
  • Justice Bao (包青天),　a 1995 series produced by TVB and starring Ti Lung as Bao Zheng, with 16 cases totaling 80 episodes.
  • Justice Bao (新包青天), a 1995-1996 series produced by ATV and starring Jin Chao-chun as Bao Zheng, with 25 cases totaling 160 episodes.
  • Justice Bao (包青天), a 2008 Mainland series starring Jin Chao-chun as Bao Zheng, with 5 cases totaling 61 episodes.
  • Justice Bao (包青天), an ongoing Mainland series starring Jin Chao-chun as Bao Zheng. The first season airing in 2010, three seasons totaling 120 episodes have been shown as of 2012.

See also

References

  1. ^ 王家歆 (Wang Chia-Hsin) (2002). "〈宋史包拯傳〉疏證". Journal of National Taichung Technological College: Humanities and Social Science (in Chinese). 1: 33–50. Retrieved 2012-02-19. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help),
  2. ^ 孔繁敏 (Kong Fan-Min) (1986). 包拯年谱 (in Chinese). Anhui: Huangshan Publishing House. Retrieved 2012-02-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b Template:Zh icon Toktoghan et al., History of Song, vol. 316 (Bao Zheng)
  4. ^ Wilt L. Idema. “The Pilgrimage to Taishan in the Dramatic Literature of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), Vol. 19 (Dec., 1997), pp. 23-57, p. 34
  5. ^ Idema, Wilt L. (2010). Judge Bao and the Rule of Law: Eight Ballad-Stories from the Period 1250-1450. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
  6. ^ West, Stephen H.; Idema, Wilt L. (2010). Monks, Bandits, Lovers, and Immortals: Eleven Early Chinese Plays. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
  7. ^ Yang Xianyi; Gladys Yang (2001). Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
  8. ^ Wang, Yun Heng (汪运衡) and Xiao Yun Long (筱云龙). Tie Bei Jin Dao Zhou Tong Zhuan (铁臂金刀周侗传 - "Iron Arm, Golden Sabre: The Biography of Zhou Tong"). Hangzhou: Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1986 (UBSN --- Union Books and Serials Number) CN (10103.414) and 464574

External links

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