Those relics that tell the ancient ideas of governance
Zhang Menghan
Integrity has been the focus of all dynasties since ancient times. Throughout the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization, the contest between anti-corruption and corruption has never stopped. The trajectory of the formation and evolution of the traditional clean government system is basically consistent with the macro clues of the overall development of Chinese social history, and its connotation complements each other with the ideology of governing the country and the means of governance through different periods of development, forming a continuous concept of political governance in ancient China.
Along with the rule of virtue and public law, clean government has become an important aspect of ancient governance thought, and is an important part of traditional Chinese political culture, reflecting the importance that traditional Chinese politics attaches to the moral cultivation and professional quality of officials. And these ideas have been handed down in the vast history, or in the form of essays, books, or in the unearthed cultural relics scattered around.
One
A statue has "virtue", the beginning of national governance?
"Virtue" is an important concept that has been handed down in China since ancient times, and "rule by virtue first" is an important feature of traditional Chinese society. The country cannot prosper without virtue, and people cannot stand without virtue. The Chinese nation has always emphasized advocating virtue and etiquette, and the Confucian ideas of "governing the country with virtue", "courtesy for the country", and "attaining the Tao to hold the world" have profoundly influenced the successive dynasties.
King Wu conquered business, and Taibao summoned the prince to exhort King Wu to govern with virtue. Zhou Gong believed that the fundamental reason for Zhou's destruction of the Shang Dynasty was that King Wen won the hearts of all the people in the world with his noble virtues.
According to historical records, after King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he was so worried about the problem of consolidating his power. When he spoke with the Duke of Zhou, he said that those who disobeyed him should be dealt with with with the same punishment as the king of Shang. He also proposed to establish a military and political center to facilitate the rule, saying that the geographical situation around Yishui and Luoshui was very good, and it was the former residence of the Xia people, and the capital should be built here. So "King Wuying lived in Luoyi and then went" ("Historical Records of Zhou Benji").
"Zhou Ju" is the capital of Zhou, and King Wu returned to Zong Zhou after initially building Luoyi. In the inscription of He Zun unearthed in Jiacun Town, Baoji City, it records a series of activities of King Cheng of Zhou's camp to build Zhou, hold sacrifices, and reward courtiers, and expound the importance and role of building Luoyi.
The word "China" appears for the first time in He Zun's inscription.
It is noteworthy that in this artifact, the word "China" appears for the first time. When the Son of Heaven instructed the son of the sect "He", he quoted the prayer delivered by King Wu of Zhou when he held a sacrifice at Songshan Mountain, that is, "Zhaizi China, from its own people". The "China" here refers to the central area of the four corners of the world, that is, Luoyi between Yi and Luo. King Wu made it clear that the purpose of building Nakyi was to "rule the people from here", that is, to rule the people from here.
This precious cultural relic, which records the founding monarch of the Zhou Dynasty and accepted the mandate of heaven, experienced a twist and turn at the beginning of its discovery and was almost destroyed. In June 1963, Chen Dui, a villager who lived in Jiacun Town, Baoji City, rented two houses next door to Chen Chengshan because his family could not live in the old house, and there was a cliff behind the yard. On a rainy morning in August of that year, Chen Dui found that there seemed to be a bright light on the earth cliff that had collapsed due to the rain in the backyard. In the second year, Chen Dui and his wife left Baoji, and when they left, they handed over the bronze ware to their brother Chen Hu for safekeeping. In 1965, Chen Hu, who needed money, sold the bronze to a scrapyard.
Fortunately, by chance, experts from the Baoji City Museum found this dignified and majestic cultural relics with rigorous and varied ornamentation at the acquisition station, and bought the bronze back to the museum at a price of 30 yuan. Later, it was confirmed by archaeologists that this was a bronze wine vessel in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and the relief was "gluttonous pattern".
He Zun recorded the time node of "the fifth year of King Zhou Cheng", allowing future generations to get a glimpse of the political situation at that time. After the death of King Wu, he left the young lord who could not yet govern the king, and the regent of the Duke of Zhou, attracted the covetousness of the clan, and soon the "Three Eunuchs Rebellion" occurred. According to legend, Guan Shuxian, Cai Shudu and Huo Shudu were dissatisfied with Zhou Gongdan's regency, and held Wu Geng, the son of King Xu, hostage, to rebel together. Then Xiong, Ying and other ethnic groups in the east and Xu Rong and Huaiyi in the southeast also rebelled together. After quelling these rebellions, the Zhou dynasty re-established Luoyi on a larger scale. "King Cheng summoned the prince to restore Luoyi, as King Wu intended" ("Historical Records of Zhou Benji"), the father and son paid so much attention to the construction of Luoyi, out of the need to consolidate the regime, after the death of King Wu, there was a big mess, and it was necessary to completely build Luoyi.
However, the expansion of Luoyi alone could not fully consolidate the rule of the Zhou dynasty, and the inscription of He Zun shows the Zhou dynasty's declaration of legitimacy to his regime, and the Zhou dynasty also used different means to "exert grace and power" on other clan princes. After Zhou Gongdan quelled the "Three Eunuchs Rebellion", Cai Guo was withdrawn, and as the son of Cai Shudu, Cai Zhong was humiliatingly sent to the fiefdom of Zhou Gongdan's son, Bo Yu, as a secretary. However, Cai Zhong still conscientiously assisted his father's enemy, the son of Zhou Gongdan, who was an important minister of the court, to govern the Lu State in an orderly manner, and finally won the unanimous praise of the court with his good character and outstanding political achievements. In 1038 B.C., Zhou Gongdan asked King Cheng of Zhou for approval, and Cai Zhong was able to restore Cai Di as a marquis to continue the sacrifice of Cai Shudu.
In the bronze He Zun, the earliest inscription of "Gongde Yutian" appeared, and the record in "Shangshu Cai Zhong's Life" that "the emperor has no relatives, but virtue is supplementary, the people's heart is impermanent, and only the bosom of benefit" also reflects the idea of "rule by virtue". After Cai Zhong was awarded the title of Cai Guo, he abided by the moral training of King Wen of Zhou and was kind to others.
According to legend, Cai Zhong worked hard to keep the luxurious palace alive, but built grass on the hillside. He took off his gorgeous clothes, changed into rough cloth clothes and straw sandals, held a wooden staff in his hand, and led his entourage to investigate the field, only to find that under the stubborn rocks and gravel several feet thick were the yellow and black soil that could grow crops. So, Cai Zhong mobilized his subjects to open up wasteland and farm. A year later, when people saw the green crops growing on the yellow earth, they understood Cai Zhong's good intentions and kowtowed to him to thank him. Then, Cai Zhong led the people to continue to build the capital of Cai that his father had not repaired. The capital city was built, political institutions were established, social stability and production developed, and since then, Cai has had prosperity and stability for a long time.
Two
“鼎”书德善,德考“六廉”
The rule of virtue advocated by the rulers of the early Zhou Dynasty was a positive response to the demands for social change at that time, which opened the political tradition of focusing on ethics and morality in Chinese history, and thus opened the prelude to the "rule by virtue culture" in Chinese politics. Since King Wu of Zhou, successive monarchs have paid attention to "governing the people with virtue". In the Confucian classic "Shangshu", there are detailed records of the idea of rule by virtue and the construction of rule by virtue.
The interpretation and practice of "rule by virtue" can also be explored in many cultural relics today.
In the oracle bone inscription unearthed in Yinxu, there are the words "official" and "de". The word "de" is shaped by the oracle bone glyph and adds "straight" next to the line word. The meaning next to the word line is action, execution, and the word "straight" is the content and object of action and execution. Therefore, the core part of the word "de" is "straight".
After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, under the historical conditions of the implementation of the hereditary aristocracy with blood relations as the bond, the state power carried out the initial exploration in strengthening its own construction, and gradually formed certain political norms in the management and assessment of officials and the cultivation of officials' own virtues.
Mao Gongding, one of the treasures of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, reflects the political and cultural changes in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The inscription in the Ding Ding of Mao Gong first recounts the great achievements of the monarchs of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wen and King Wu, laments the current unrest, and then narrates that King Xuan appointed Mao Gong to manage internal and external affairs, and has the power to announce the king's order. King Xuan repeatedly taught Mao Gong to be good at politics, to be diligent in government and love the people, to cultivate self-cultivation and morality, and gave him some utensils to show encouragement.
The content of Mao Gongding's inscription cannot help but remind people of the situation that the ties between the branch vassal states in various regions in the late Western Zhou Dynasty were too weak, and the continuous enrichment of local resources to the central power could not be satisfied. And the path of Mao Gongding's exile a thousand years later seems to be a rewrite of the fate of the overthrow of the dynasty that the Zhou rulers were about to face at that time.
In the twenty-third year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1843), Dong Chunsheng and Dong Zhiguan of Dongjia Village, Qi County, Shaanxi Province, dug out Mao Gongding from the soil, Dong Chunsheng wanted to sell it to the antique dealer at that time for 300 taels of silver, and the Dong magistrate was not allowed to do so, so the antique dealer bribed the local magistrate and sued the magistrate Dong for hiding the national treasure, and the magistrate Dong was imprisoned, and Mao Gongding was also transported to the county office, and finally the officials and businessmen colluded, and the businessman got Mao Gongding from the magistrate. Decades later, Mao Gongding went through several tosses, and on the eve of the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he was obtained by Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang.
In 1911, when Duanfang was suppressing the Baolu Movement in Sichuan, he was killed by the revolutionary army. After the decline of his family, his descendants wanted to mortgage Mao Gongding to a foreign bank in exchange for money. It happened that at that time, patriots actively called for the protection of national treasures, and Mao Gongding was obtained by Ye Gongxuan, the director of Chinese culture, so that Mao Gongding found a slightly stable place in the troubled times.
It's a pity that after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, the Japanese learned of Mao Gongding's whereabouts, and Ye Gongchao, his nephew who was still in Shanghai, urgently telegraphed: Even if his life can be lost, he must protect the national cultural relics. In 1941, Ye Gongchao secretly took Mao Gongding to Hong Kong to join his uncle, and soon, Hong Kong fell, and the Ye family had to ask a friend to take Mao Gongding back to Shanghai again.
After Japan's surrender, Chen Yongren dedicated Mao Gongding to the Nationalist Government in Shanghai at that time, and in 1947, Mao Gongding was transported from Shanghai to Nanjing and collected in the Central Museum. Later, the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, and at the same time took Mao Gongding with them.
Mao Gongding saw the political situation in the troubled times when he was tossing and turning in later generations, and its holders included unscrupulous businessmen, selfish bureaucrats, but also upright people who insisted on guarding the national treasure, which could not help but remind people of the political requirements of King Xuan of Zhou to Mao Gong in Ding Ming, and aroused people's thinking about "six incorruptibles".
In "Zhou Li: Heavenly Officials", it is written: "To listen to the six plans of the government, the rule of the masses of officials." One is honest, the second is honest, the third is honest, the fourth is honest, the fifth is honest, and the sixth is honest. That is, the "six incorruptibles" are used to examine officials, which means that officials must not only have ability, but also be honest. Honesty and kindness refer to being good at doing things and being able to do things well; Honesty refers to the ability to make administrative orders and have the ability to govern; Honesty and respect, to examine whether the officials are respectful of their posts, prudent and diligent; Integrity, to examine whether the officials are of good character, clean and upright; Honest law, to see whether officials abide by the law and enforce the law; Honest discernment, to examine whether the officials are sober-minded, distinguish between right and wrong, and distinguish between things and things.
This concept embodies in a concentrated way the requirements of the mainland for the overall quality of officials in ancient times. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in the process of contention among the hundreds of schools of thought, the concept of clean government also came to the fore, and rich ideological achievements were obtained, and the measures of clean government were also released one after another, forming an early model of the adjustment and improvement of the ruling policy of the ancient Chinese state power, and the traditional Chinese clean government system sprouted from then on.
Three
The rule of officials is the foundation, and the "law beast" is upright
Corruption is a common phenomenon in society since its inception. Legend has it that during the time of the Yellow Emperor, there was a greedy and cruel official who harmed the people by "greedy for food, risky for bribes, greedy for extravagance, not tired of surplus, accumulating and accumulating, ignorant of discipline, not distinguishing between widows and orphans, not caring for the poor, and the people of the world, comparing the three murderers, called gluttony" ("Zuo Chuan: The Eighteenth Year of Duke Wen").
Corruption and anti-corruption are two sides of the same coin, and the idea of "simplicity and honesty" put forward in "Shangshu Gao Taomo" is the source of the people-oriented thought and the concept of "honest contract". However, due to the fact that the early state had not yet appeared, and the public power above the society had not been institutionalized, most of the corrupt figures, honest government thoughts, and honest government behaviors on the eve of the birth of civilization were legendary, but these records reflected to a certain extent the people's hatred of corruption and their pursuit of beautiful and honest political ideals.
After the establishment of the feudal dynasty in Qin, local power was concentrated in the hands of county officials, the bureaucratic system became institutionalized, and the management system for officials also matured, and the rule of officials was an important link in Qin's law. Nowadays, to study the provisions of the early Qin administration and "prison management", a special cultural relic is indispensable.
The content of Qin Jian in the Sleeping Tiger Land is mainly the legal system and administrative documents of the Qin Dynasty, among which "The Way of Officials" puts forward "officials have five virtues" and "officials have five failures", which has high requirements for the role of officials as moral models and the role of providing education for grassroots localities.
In December 1975, the bamboo slips of the Qin Dynasty, which had been sleeping in the No. 11 tomb of Sleeping Tiger Land in Yunmeng, Hubei Province for more than 2,000 years, were unveiled, which shook the archaeological community at that time. At that time, a water conservancy project was being built in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and a farmer found a number of tombs in a farmland area called Sleeping Tiger Land on the west side of the Han-Dan Railway that passed through Chengguan Town, Yunmeng County. After that, the archaeological experts of the Hubei Provincial Museum led the archaeological team to Yunmeng to carry out archaeological excavations.
When cleaning the coffin, the archaeologists found that the remains of the tomb owner were still there, the brain tissue in the skull had shrunk to the size of a fist, and a small amount of jade and lacquer were buried in the tomb. What's even more shocking is that the tomb owner's head, right side, abdomen and feet are full of bamboo slips, because they have been soaked in water, these bamboo slips have not rotted, and you can see the Lishu font on it, totaling 1155 pieces.
These bamboo slips are the earliest Qin Dynasty bamboo slips found in China, written in the late Warring States period and the Qin Shi Huang period, and their content is mainly the legal system, administrative documents, medical works, and books about auspicious and bad times in the Qin Dynasty. It can be said that Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Jian made the history of the Qin State "live".
In the first year of the reign of King Qin (246 B.C.), the 17-year-old owner of the tomb "Xi" registered his name as a servant of the Qin State, and then successively served as a low-level official related to criminal law such as Anlu Yushi, Anlu Lingshi, Yan Lingshi, and Prison Yan. He served in the army three times, visited several counties of Qin, and finally died in office, and personally experienced the whole process from the first emperor's personal government to the unification of the six kingdoms.
The bamboo slips unearthed from the tomb are the relevant legal documents transcribed by "Xi" who engaged in legal activities during his lifetime, which can be said to be his "administrative diary", which mainly copied the provisions of the laws and regulations on administrative management and "prison management".
It is worth noting that one of the official documents, "The Way of Being an Official", records the rules of being an official in the world. Before exiting the tomb, it was placed under the belly of the tomb's owner. The first article of this document mentions the requirements of virtue for officials, "all the way of officials must be pure and upright, prudent and firm, selfless, subtle and subtle, quiet and not harsh, and judge rewards and punishments", bluntly saying that officials need to be clear, upright, and selfless, and have keen insight, not favoritism, and must correctly use the means of reward and punishment they have.
Nowadays, for ordinary people, it is somewhat difficult to identify the Qin Li on these bamboo slips in the museum, but it is easier to identify the more vivid "divine beasts". However, among these mythical beasts, one of the animals with horns in front of the head is often confusing.
Among some of the portrait stones left over from the Han Dynasty, there is a mythical beast that is very similar to a sheep, with horns. Some scholars believe that this may be an image of "獬豸" (xièzhì). Why does it look like a sheep? This may have something to do with a story in Mozi Ming Ghost.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Duke of Qi Zhuang had two courtiers named Wang Liguo and Zhongli Li, and they fought a lawsuit for three years, but it was still a mess, and it was difficult to sort out which was right and which was wrong. Qi Zhuang Gong is in a dilemma: if he kills the two, I am afraid that he will kill the innocent by mistake; If you let the two go, you will condone the criminals. So, he decided to judge the right with a sheep, so he made an alliance at the shrine and swore an oath to cut off the neck of the sheep and sacrifice it with the blood of the sheep. During the ceremony, when the words of Wang Liguo were read, the sheep was indifferent; And before he could finish reading the words, the sheep suddenly jumped up and killed him with his horns.
The hedgehog is a mythical beast in ancient Chinese legends, with an acute horn on its head, which can distinguish straight and curved, and is a symbol of courage and justice, and is also known as the "law beast".
Legend has it that the horns of the pig are used against those who enforce the law unfairly, so it is also called the "law beast". The pig resembles a unicorn, with thick black hair all over its body and a horn on its forehead, commonly known as a unicorn. The ancient Chinese people had a "fair" imagination about this mythical beast. According to legend, the pig can distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, loyal and treacherous, and if it finds an evil official, it will touch him with his horns and eat his stomach. Therefore, the pig has also become a symbol of judicial justice.
Since the Han Dynasty, the Gaotao and the pig, which are revered as the gods of prison, have formed a fixed combination and appeared on the portrait stone. "Shangshu, Yushu, Gao Taomo" and "Historical Records, Five Emperors, Benji" and so on all record the deeds of Gaotao, "Emperor Shun three years, fate Tao to be punished", "Gaotao prison and the law exists" and other classic sentences, in the explanation of the origin of criminal law is frequently quoted, Gaotao is called the ancestor of ancient Chinese justice.
According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Shun, Yu was appointed as Sikong, and when he governed the water, Yu resigned and recommended Ji, Qi and Gaotao to serve in this position. But Di Shun still gave this position to Yu. After that, Emperor Shun appointed Gaotao as a judge and a Dali official, responsible for the punishment of the clan regime, prisons, and the rule of law, that is, the chief of justice. After Gao Tao was hired as an official in charge of criminal law, he was selected by Yu as his heir and assisted Yu in handling leadership affairs.
And this unicorn named the hedgehog was used by Gao Tao to break the prison. When the judgment of Gaotao is in doubt, he releases the miraculous hedgehog, and if the person is guilty, the hedgehog will touch it, and if he is not guilty, he will not. The history books say that Gaotao is Dali, there is no torture and no unjust prison in the world, and those despicable villains are very afraid and have fled, so that the world is peaceful.
Whether it is a legend or a law, it can be seen that benevolence, rule by virtue, honesty, and fairness have an important position in the governance tradition of the mainland. These cultural relics that tell the ancient ideas of governance all show the logic of governing the country of "the politician is right". Today, these cultural relics are a testament to time and preserve the old stories, which are not only signs of the past, but also a warning for the present, and should be a lesson for future generations.
Source: Inspectorate's Office
Text / photo: Zhang Menghan