The full text of the "Official Proverbs" is only 36 words, that is, "Officials are not afraid of my strictness, but fear my honesty; the people do not obey my ability, but obey my father." The public and the people do not dare to be slow, and the honest officials do not dare to deceive. Gongsheng Ming, Lian Shengwei. "It is now on an engraved stone in the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an. Among them, the three words "Gongshengming" are erected in the middle of the ancient Fuzhou County Yamen Lobby, and you will see it when you walk into the Yamen. For example, walking into kaifeng's Kaifeng mansion, there is a huge ring stone inscription, and the south side is engraved with the three big characters of "Gongshengming". So who is the author of these 36-character "Official Proverbs"?
The earliest source of "Gongsheng Ming" is "Xunzi Bugou": "Gongsheng Ming, Partial Birth Dark". This means that justice makes sense of things. When it was introduced into the Yamen, as the motto of the ruler, it was carved into stone or stood on the archway, that is, the Ring Stone Inscription, or the Gongsheng Ming Arch. It is said to have begun in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu did more abundantly, with the obverse "Gongsheng Ming" and the back book excerpted from the Five Dynasties Shu Lord Meng Chang's "Ling Zhen" in "Erqi Erlu, the people anointing the people's fat." The people are easy to abuse, and the heavens are difficult to deceive" four sentences, so that the county carved stone stood in front of the public hall. Zhu Yuanzhang, the anti-corruption "First Emperor" of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the jieshi inscription to be unified in the front of the hall between the Yongdao, engraved with the words "Gongshengming" in the south, and engraved on the back "Erqi Erlu, the people anointed with the people's fat." The people are easy to abuse, and the heavens are difficult to deceive." This rule was continued into the Qing Dynasty.
So, who is the author of the 36-character "Official Proverbs"? First of all, the carved stone of the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an was brought by yan Botao (1792-1855) of the Qing Dynasty, who took office in 1822 when he was appointed to the Shaanxi Tingsui Daotai with the carved stone of the "Official Proverbs" made by his father Yan Guan (1757-1832). It is used to warn oneself to be a clean and honest official, strict with oneself, honest in government, and determined to serve the public with one heart. Yan Botao was a righteous and honest official, and successively served as the governor of Shaanxi Grain Road, the envoy of Gansu Province, the envoy of directly subordinate to the government, the governor of Shaanxi, the governor of Yungui, and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and was one of the main warring factions in the Opium War.
Where did Yan Zhen get the "Official Proverbs"? This brings us to his father, Yan Xishen (1729-1780), the fifth ancestor of the Lianping Yan clan and the first generation of the LianPing Yan family to enter the career. The 36-character text was found in the remnants of the old section house when Yan Xishen was the prefect of Tai'an Province, Shandong Province, during the twenty-third year of qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1758). Proverbs was originally a motto of being an official during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, in order to rectify the rule of officials and promote honest government, so it was called "Official Motto". At that time, the owner of the Zhen'an Temple, Ren Tai'an Zhizhou, once carved the proverbs into stone to warn himself. After reading this inscription deeply, Yan Xi was greatly inspired, moved it to the western corridor of the department, and wrote a text behind the inscription as a motto for himself and his successor officials, in order to spur himself and his subordinates and future generations. Therefore, it was passed on between the three generations of the Yan family's grandchildren, and one of them remained in the Forest of Steles in Xi'an.
According to Wang Keyu, the carved stone of the "Guan Zhen" of Tai'an Province, according to Wang Keyu, is from the hand of the Ming Dynasty's Shandong Inspector Nianfu, and the body is a calligraphy, solemn and stable, horizontal, vertical, skimming, pinching, pointing pen and pen appear steep, solid, sharp, and smooth, which can be described as fine pen and pearls. According to research, this piece was first carved by Gu Jingxiang of Tai'an Zhizhou in August of the fourteenth year of Ming Hongzhi (1501) in Tai'an Province. Who is the original author of the 36-character "Official Proverbs"? According to scholars, the earliest came from the mouth of Cao Duan, a famous scholar and theorist in the early Ming Dynasty.
Cao Duan was a native of Shichi, Henan, and in the sixth year of Ming Yongle (1408), the 34-year-old Cao Duan was awarded the title of Xuezheng of Huozhou, Shanxi, in the capital city examination and as the first in the deputy list (B list). Since then, Cao Duan has entered the career path, in addition to politics and teaching, the research of subliminal psychology, profound achievements, his learning to practice as a business, and to the survival of the theory as the big end, the important propositions of science have been revised and played. The Biography of Ming Shi Cao Duanlie calls him "the crown of early Ming Science", and his writings are abundant. His major works include: "Explanation of Taiji Tushu", "Explanation of Tongshu", "Detailed Explanation of four books", "Collected Poems of Yuechuan" and so on.
While serving the government, Cao Duan actively advocated the theory of "public honesty". In 1414, his student Guo Sheng was given the title of Tongzhi of Xi'an Province, and before taking office, he went to bid farewell to his teacher and asked for advice as an official. Cao Duan said to him, "His fairness is incorruptible! The public and the people do not dare to be slow, and the honest officials do not dare to deceive. More than a hundred years after Cao Duan's death, the Ming Dynasty scholar Hong Yingming put forward the saying "Gongsheng Ming, Lian Shengwei" in his book Cai Gen Tan. In the Ming Dynasty, Inspector Nianfu of Shandong recreated Cao Duan's quotations from his student Guo Sheng and wrote the 36-character "Official Proverbs", which was widely circulated by later generations.
In addition to the Xi'an Forest of Steles Museum, there is also a book inscribed by Guo Yunli in the Ming Dynasty in Wuji County, Hebei Province. Guo Yunli is a native of Qufu County, Shandong Province. In the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521), he was appointed as Wujizhi County. Guo Yunli was a clean and honest official, paying attention to self-cultivation, and his inscription "Juguan Motto" in October of the third year of Jiajing (1524), that is, the 36-character "Official Proverbs", engraved in stone, was passed on to future generations and appreciated and admired by the world. Who is the original of the 36-word "Official Proverbs"! At this point, there is no conclusion, perhaps it is a joint creation, which has yet to be further studied and discovered by scholars. (Text/Cai Si) (The picture originates from the Internet, if there is infringement, please inform and delete)