"If a descendant of a descendant commits a crime of stolen goods, he shall not be released to his own family, and after his death, he shall not be buried in the Great Shrine. Not from my will, not from my descendants. - Bao Zheng's family motto
In Hefei, Anhui Province, Baohe Park, located near Huancheng Road in the bustling old city, is a good place for citizens to visit the park and take a walk on weekends and holidays. The scenery in the park is different at four times, and visitors are weaving.
In addition to the lush forests, three sides of the water, quiet in the middle of the noise, it is also the location of the Bao Cemetery. Bao Gong Ancestral Hall, Bao Gong Cemetery, Qingfeng Pavilion, as well as the surrounding Lianquan Pavilion, Liufang Pavilion, Bao Gong Cultural Corridor, etc., attract tourists to check in and linger because of the story of Bao Gong that has been passed down through the ages.
Bao Cemetery
Bao Zheng, alias Bao Gong, Bao Xiaosu, Bao Qingtian, etc. Hefei is the place where he was born, raised, studied, fulfilled his filial piety and was finally buried. Of Bao Gong's 64 years of life, 38 years were spent in Hefei.
In recent years, with the resurgence of Bao Gong opera and Bao Gong novels, the image of this famous minister through the ages has become more and more influential, and the culture of Bao Gong has become a hot spot in today's research.
Consult ancient books: "Pure heart is the root cause, and the straight way is the strategy." Xiugan will eventually become a building, and steel will not be hooked. The warehouse is full of rats and birds, and the grass is full of rabbits and foxes. There is a testament in the annals of history, and those who come are not ashamed. This representative poem of Bao Zheng expresses his pure heart to be a pillar of the country and an honest official of the people.
"If a descendant of a descendant commits a crime of stolen goods, he shall not be released to his own family, and after his death, he shall not be buried in the Great Shrine. Not from my will, not from my descendants. It is the family motto that Bao Zheng set up for future generations before his death, which can be called "the strictest family motto in history". It is recorded that since then, Bao Gong's son Bao Shou and eldest grandson Bao Yongnian, no matter where they work, they have adhered to the family motto and been honest and diligent.
Not only his descendants followed, but even today, more than 1,000 years later, we are still exploring the growth trajectory of Bao Gong, studying his cultural heritage, deconstructing the core of his ideology of being in the world and being an official, inheriting and developing, and using the past for the present. Where does Bao Gong's spiritual quality come from? Today, why do we still respect Bao Gong? What is the significance of his family style and family motto?
Exploring the source
In early spring, a gentle breeze blows.
Entering Baohe Park from Wuhu Road, the wall of "Bao Xiaosu Cemetery Park" and the Qingfeng Pavilion standing majestically not far away separate the bustle and bustle of the old city from the quiet and elegant in the park.
According to records, the location of today's Baohe Park is the location of the Baohe River given to Bao Zheng by Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. In that year, Emperor Renzong saw that Bao Zheng was old and had no land at home, so he issued an edict to reward Bao Zheng with a considerable amount of land on the boundary of Luzhou. Bao Gong asked people to clean up the weeds, dig up the silt, and instructed the people to plant lotus and raise fish in the river, so as to supplement the family with the income from water farming. This moat has since been known as the "Bao River". It is said that the lotus root that grows in the Bao River has knots and no silk (private), and is called "silkless lotus root".
Baohe Park
Then, the war is still frequent, the Bao Zheng Ancestral Hall in Luzhou has been destroyed and built repeatedly, changed its site several times, after the vicissitudes of the world, until 1979, the Hefei Municipal Government repaired again, and the Bao Zheng Ancestral Hall and the surrounding ancient buildings have regained their solemn and simple.
Walking into the main hall of Bao Gong Ancestral Hall, the bronze statue of Bao Gong is tall and burly, righteous and awe-inspiring, which makes people feel admiration. Directly above hangs the banner and plaque of "Luyang Righteousness", "Festival Bright and Clear" and "Color is Cold". Up and down the hall, you can see the couplets left by the literati and writers of the past dynasties everywhere.
The main hall of Bao Zheng Ancestral Hall
On the east wall of the hall, there is a stone carving "Bao Zheng's Family Motto", which is called "the strictest family motto in history" by later generations. On the west wall of the hall, there is also Bao Zheng's "Begging Without Stolen Officials" and his poem inscription. The east and west compartments of the main hall are exhibition rooms, displaying "Bao Zheng's Life Introduction" and the local chronicle "Bao Zheng's Case Map" that records Bao Zheng's deeds, etc., as well as "Bao Zheng's Epitaph" written by Bao Zheng's former friend Wu Kui, although some handwriting is blurred, but it describes Bao Zheng's life in more detail than "Song History: Bao Zheng's Biography". In addition, the Lianquan Pavilion and Liufang Pavilion in the ancestral hall, and the newly built Bao Gong Cultural Corridor in recent years are also good places to learn about Bao Zheng.
In addition, the Bao Gong Cemetery, which is far away from the Bao Zheng Ancestral Hall in the park, covers an area of 3 hectares and is the cemetery where the remains of Bao Zheng, his wife and descendants were relocated and rebuilt. The buildings in the cemetery follow the shape, the garden is full of pines and cypresses, fragrant grass, simple and quiet.
In order to focus on the "Bao Gong Thought" and "Bao Gong Culture", in March 2023, Bao Zheng's birthplace - Dabao Village, Bao Gong Town, Feidong County, Hefei City, Bao Gong Hometown Cultural Park covering an area of about 90 acres was officially opened. The park makes use of the existing historical relics, highlights the "culture of clean government", and has many scenic spots such as Xiaosu Pavilion, Bao Gong's former residence, Bao Gong Academy, Garden Well, and Lotus Pond. Wandering in this theme cultural park featuring interactive experience scenarios, you can fully feel and experience the spiritual character of "filial piety, honesty, wisdom, integrity and loyalty" in Bao Zheng's life.
Not only in Hefei, according to statistics, there are hundreds of ancestral temples and pavilions related to Bao Gong in China, and there are many bridges, streets, villages and towns named after Bao Gong and Xiaosu. In Tianchang, Chizhou, Kaifeng, Duanzhou (now Zhaoqing) and other places where Bao Gong is the official, and even in Thailand, Singapore and other places in Southeast Asia, there are Bao Gong Ancestral Hall, temples, tombs, and monuments, and many tourists make a special trip to pay respects.
Deconstruction
In the process of listening to the story of Bao Gong, studying the spirit of Bao Gong, and discussing the culture of Bao Gong, Bao Zheng's image of being honest and honest, hard-working, responsible, and upright throughout his life has become more and more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and more experts and scholars have the interest in deconstructing the source of his character and the core of spiritual culture.
Ma Lichun, a senior media person and writer in Anhui, is one of them. In July 2021, she wrote and published a single book "Pure Heart as the Root of the Rule: Bao Zheng, a Famous Minister of the Great Song Dynasty", and this year, nearly 300,000 words of "Those Things of Bao Gong" are also to be published. "In order to write these two books, I bought and borrowed dozens of books and materials, plunged into the stacks of books, studied the history of the Song Dynasty in depth, visited the birthplace of Bao Gong, and mastered a large number of first-hand materials. Ma Lichun told the all-media reporter of China Women's Daily that in the process of 3 years of research, in order to understand Bao Zheng who is more complete and plump, close to the real person, she placed Bao Zheng in the grand historical environment of the entire Song Dynasty, and used the records of Bao Zheng left by several celebrities such as Ouyang Xiu and Fan Zhongyan in the 20 years before and after, as well as the surviving classics and historical materials to corroborate each other, remove the false and retain the true, and finally completed the book in half a year.
"Hook and sink to sort out historical materials, there is a kind of happiness of 'exploration' and 'treasure exploration'. When vivid and interesting historical figures are presented in my mind, there is a sense of accomplishment that makes this famous minister gradually flesh and blood, relatable, and 'resurrected' in front of me. Ma Lichun said with a smile.
Sunset in Baohe Park
In the process of researching and compiling the book, Ma Lichun raised the following questions: What kind of person was Bao Zheng? Who had an important influence on him, why did he return to his hometown to keep filial piety for ten years, and what did he do in the past ten years?
She found Bao Zheng who was different from the folk scripts and operas. "He was not raised by a widowed sister-in-law, as legend has it to say, to be poor. Ma Lichun noticed that he was not only born in Luzhou (Hefei) in a family of farming and studying, but also had a solid family and both parents.
Bao Zheng's grandfather was a township school, and his father Bao Lingyi was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo (983), and in 1012, he was appointed as the county of Hui'an, Fujian, and the 13-year-old Bao Zheng is very likely to go with his father. It is conceivable that Bao Zheng received a good education when he was young, and his grandparents and fathers also gave him a good enlightenment in dealing with people and things, learning and becoming officials. Ma Lichun said that the family taught by word and deed, read thousands of books, and traveled thousands of miles, forming Bao Zheng's original humanistic character.
In 1027, 28-year-old Bao Zheng was admitted to the Jinshi, and the first stop of the release was to supervise taxes with the state, but the time was very short, and then "dismissed the official and returned to the rear", returned to his hometown to guard filial piety for ten years, and only returned to Shitian Changzhi County at the age of 39. Subsequently, he successively served as the prefect of the county, the prefect of the prefecture, the prefect, the envoy to the Khitan, the Ministry of Crime, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Finance, and served as the imperial historian and counselor in the supervision department, and finally the deputy envoy to the privy council - the deputy governor of the highest military institution in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Bao Zheng has been an official for 26 years in his life, no matter what position he is in, he can quickly enter the state and do it well. He is highly gifted, intelligent, and loves to read and learn, and is good at logical thinking and investigation. Studying the evaluation system of local officials in the Song Dynasty and Bao Zheng's achievements in different positions, Ma Lichun spoke highly of Bao Zheng, "He is far more than the image of a clean official who is like a god, iron-faced and selfless, and loved by the people." During his reign in Duanzhou, he taught the local people to dig wells for water, and he was a politician who was well versed in military affairs. He also had a keen insight into the social crisis in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, and had corresponding reform ideas and practices in politics, economy, and the rule of law. These reform measures fully demonstrate his hard work and responsibility. ”
Studying historical materials, Ma Lichun also proposed: Bao Zheng returned to his hometown to guard filial piety for ten years, which is often simply interpreted as "filial piety" by the world. In fact, his subsequent firm political determination, all kinds of beautiful will qualities and mature official thoughts, as well as the guidance of his mentor Liu Yun, who served as the prefect of Luzhou, during the ten-year period of filial piety, read a wide range of books, and accumulated a lot of money. "If he hadn't been able to study and think hard in the past ten years, he might not have had his extremely high political literacy. ”
Bao Zheng is indifferent to power, which can be seen from the fact that he resolutely chose to return to his hometown to guard filial piety after he was able to enter the high school and went to the state. And his character of kindness, integrity, determination, fairness and justice, etc., has been rooted in his heart long before he became a leader, thus achieving his glorious life for thousands of years. Ma Lichun said, "Bao Zheng is very great, his greatness lies in the fact that although he was born in the Northern Song Dynasty, even in modern times, his reform spirit, work style, and his ideas and knowledge are still outdated, and even very trendy." ”
Inheritance
"Pure heart is the root cause, and the straight way is the strategy. In the interview, this poem from Bao Zheng's "Shuduanzhou County Zhaibi" was mentioned several times by the interviewee - it means that "correct thinking is the foundation of official governance, and upright character is the principle of self-cultivation".
Seifukaku
For more than 1,000 years, many experts and scholars have also excavated the multiple meanings of Baogong culture in multi-angle and multi-level research: the moral quality of pure heart as the root cause and straight path as the self-seeking strategy, the spirit of selflessness and uprightness in the rule of law, the spirit of reform in eliminating malpractices and opening the door to handle cases, the people-oriented spirit of sympathizing with the people's hardships and reassuring the people, and the spirit of hard work in ruling and benefiting the party.
"The characteristics of its characters are highly consistent with many spirits of the times, and its connotations of fairness and justice, honesty and honesty are in line with the needs of the times, in line with the spiritual concept of comprehensively governing the country according to law, and in line with the core values of socialism that promote fairness and justice. As one of the planners of the book "Pure Heart as the Root Cause: Bao Zheng, a Famous Minister of the Great Song Dynasty", Zhang Yi, editor of Anhui Juvenile and Children's Publishing House, has in-depth thinking about the social value and cultural value of inheriting Baogong culture.
In Zhang Yi's view, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture", Bao Zheng has a pivotal position in Chinese historical celebrities, and is a well-known image of clean government in China. At the same time, the character has a Chinese identity, and the story has Chinese characteristics, so it also has the communication value of being based on China, telling Chinese stories well, and radiating the world.
Not only publishing books, but also studying Bao Gong culture and inheriting Bao Gong thought has become a common practice in Anhui.
In Hefei Baohe Park, the "Baogong" element is spread all over the park. In May 2010, with the history and culture of Baogong's honesty and integrity, this Baohe Park built next to the citizens was named the first batch of national clean government education bases by the Ministry of Supervision of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. In Hefei Rail Transit Line 1 "Bao Park Station", Bao Gong incarnated as a cartoon image, lively and serious. "Only by doing practical things can we be too strong!" "The breeze on both sleeves is really strong!"...... The distinctive Hefei dialect is integrated with the spirit of Baogong, and the "clean government" small classes that can be seen everywhere have enhanced the image of the city and enriched the connotation of the city.
Baohe Park
Anhui University and Feidong County Government have cooperated to establish the "Anhui Baogong Research Center", which not only studies Baogong itself, but also expands to new fields such as grassroots social governance, rural community governance, and the effective path of integrating Baogong and integrity culture into the ideological and political education of college students, so as to provide intellectual support for social development.
In Bao Gong's hometown, the green pepper roasted hairtail fish is "clean from generation to generation", the green onion fried white dry "clean white life", and the lotus seed opening soup "lotus (incorruptible) heart"...... The recipe of "Bao Gong's Family Banquet" launched by them combines Bao Gong's spirit of fairness and honesty with the new era, "cools down" the continuous rise in human consumption in weddings, funerals, and weddings, "slims down" the scale of wine banquets, and promotes the change of customs.
Today, the ancestral village at the foot of Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui Province still houses more than 2,000 descendants of the Bao family. On the annual family memorial day, the descendants of the Bao family gather in the ancestral hall of the Bao family to worship, and an important part of it is that all the descendants of the Bao family recite aloud the family motto left by Bao Zheng.
"The story of Bao Gong has been passed down from generation to generation, which is enough to prove that the excellent traditional Chinese culture has strong vitality, and the research, inheritance, and innovative transformation and development have mirror significance in all aspects such as family style construction, clean government culture, rule of law construction, and urban governance. A number of experts and scholars said.
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2024
China Women's Daily, China Women's Movement
Source/China Women's Daily (ID: fnb198410) Author/China Women's Daily All-Media Reporter Wang Bei
Picture / Propaganda Department of Baohe District Committee of Hefei City Photo Editor / Tian Yuan Huang Die, Chen Xiaobing Review / Yifan Producer / Zhifei