Chen Shimei was originally a good official of the Qing Dynasty, but why did she finally fall to the point of being executed by Bao Zheng? This Qing official was born in the family of eunuchs, and was once an honest and honest official, and was deeply appreciated by Emperor Kangxi. However, for some reason, he was sentenced to death by the famous Bao Qingtian in the Song Dynasty hundreds of years later. Is there really such an ugly face as the world has rumored, and he has done all the heinous crimes? Or is it just the unjustified injustice of all evil? What kind of twists and turns of historical truth lie behind this mystery? Let's find out.
Chen Shimei's past and present life
Chen Shimei, formerly known as Nian Gu, also known as Shumei, is a native of Junxian County, Hubei. He was born in a family of eunuchs who have been in the family for generations, and his family education is rigorous since he was a child. During the Shunzhi period, Chen Shimei traveled to Beijing to study, and finally became famous in the Xinmao Branch.
At the beginning of the small county of Hebei, because of his brilliant political achievements, he was even favored by Emperor Kangxi. Soon, Kangxi made an exception and entrusted Guizhou with the important task of guarding the Siren Mansion, and also served as a political envoy to participate in government affairs. It can be seen that Chen Shimei is indeed a capable minister and good official of the Qing Dynasty.
It's just that the world is unpredictable, just when Chen Shimei's career is rising step by step, a bizarre and strange thing suddenly interrupts his future. According to historical records, shortly after Chen Shimei's death, there were literati and writers who witnessed her figure haunting Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty! Seeing that he was taken to the execution ground, he was severely punished by Bao Zheng, a famous minister of the Song Dynasty, and was finally tortured by Ling Chi.
At the moment, everyone was amazed, how could this Lord Chen, who had made small achievements in the Qing Dynasty, suddenly travel through time and space, fell to the Song Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and was tortured like this? Could it be that Chen Shimei really has two identities, he was a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty in his previous life, and he is a sinner in the Song Dynasty in this life?
But what's even more incredible is that hundreds of years later, during the Kangxi period, wasn't Chen Shimei already in an important position and favored by his superiors? How can this be justified by the rumors that a sinner died in the Song Dynasty hundreds of years ago? It seems that there must be something else behind this matter!
Bao Zheng's iron-fisted punishment
Speaking of Bao Zheng, he was a famous minister of science in the Song Dynasty, who was honest and honest, and was known as "iron-faced and selfless". In his early years, when he was appointed as the governor of Chenzhou, Henan, he implemented the "anti-corruption Haoyuan" iron case, and the rewards and punishments were clear. Bao Zheng would rather lose his own son, but also adhere to the principle of fairness and selflessness, and never show favoritism. Therefore, he established a good image during the Chenzhou period.
Later, Bao Zheng was promoted to the prime minister of the Song Xuanzong Dynasty and was in charge of the government, creating a new mechanism for trying unjust cases that went down in history. He personally inspected various places, carefully investigated the backlog of cases, and revealed countless wronged souls. All those who bend the law for personal gain and take bribes will be severely punished. There is a saying that "hands start and the door falls", which shows Bao Zheng's iron fist.
It was during this period that Bao Zheng suddenly took over a bizarre "Quanmei case". It is said that the protagonist of this case is the Qing Dynasty Mr. Chen Shimei mentioned at the beginning of this article. The facts of the case at that time were that Chen Shimei was ungrateful, his wife was extravagant, and his son killed his father and took his wife. Bao Zheng was furious when he saw this, so he cut Chen Shimei with a knife, and used the qi consumption between heaven and earth to consume energy.
As soon as this "Quanmei case" came out, it spread all over the Great Song Jingshi in an instant. So literati and writers from all walks of life sang and started this grand case, some wrote and some wrote poems, and Bao Zheng agreed to be "the messenger of justice" and "the iron-faced judge". Among them, the most widely circulated is "Qin Xianglian Hugging the Pipa", which evolved from a small play.
This play was originally about the story of Qin Xianglian, the wife who was forced by Chen Shimei, and finally escaped. Later, I don't know which literati supported the scene, and added the prequel of Bao Zheng's trial of Chen Shimei's "Quanmei Case". As a result, this sketch, which was originally a simple praise of chivalry, immediately changed and became a drama depicting Bao Qingtian's punishment of crimes and justice.
Fiction and reality in drama
As we all know, rap art has been a popular cultural form in China since ancient times. Whether it is quyi, miscellaneous opera or traditional opera, they all have a broad mass base. Most of them are based on folk tales or historical classics, and through artistic techniques such as exaggerated rendering and fictional imagination, they inject dry historical facts into a strong dramatic tension.
Take this "Quanmei Case" as an example, it was gradually developed from a sketch drama that was originally only about Qin Xianglian's fate. Later, I don't know which rap master added the scene of Bao Zheng's trial of Chen Shimei, so that the theme of the whole play suddenly changed from praising chivalry to praising justice and whipping evil forces.
Such fictional techniques were indeed common in ancient times. Many composers and storytellers tend to exaggerate the personalities of their characters to meet the audience's aesthetic expectations. For example, in the traditional image of Bao Zheng, people portray him as a ruthless judge through and through, selfless and impartial in judging cases. In fact, Bao Qingtian's personality is not so paranoid, according to history, he is also a person who attaches importance to family affection.
Seeing the character of Chen Shimei again, its origin is even more confusing. Judging from the history books, it seems that there is no such person. And his prototype is likely to be a Qinglou bustard or contractor in the Qing Dynasty, who was spurned for doing some bad things. Later, the literati and scholars portrayed him as an ungrateful and extravagant criminal, so that the upright and wise Bao Zheng could sentence him to a great sentence on the stage to show justice.
It can be seen that rap literature and art are often mixed with a lot of fictional elements, exaggerating the characters and plot details, not all of which are historical facts. In the cultural atmosphere of the time, which was based on entertaining and education, and bantering right and wrong, storytellers and actors naturally added branches and leaves to some vague story origins, in order to attract the attention of more audiences.
An analysis of the origins of folklore
So, where did the legend about Chen Shimei, a fictional character, begin to circulate and spread? According to the evidence, its birthplace is likely to be in the area of Junxian County, Hubei.
As early as the Ming Dynasty, there were some clans surnamed Chen in Junxian County, who lived in the place for generations, and their family backgrounds were not too prominent, but they were also small and medium-sized landlords. Later, in the Qing Dynasty, there were naturally some middle and low-level officials among the descendants of the Chen family.
Legend has it that in that era, there was a petty official surnamed Chen who did something wrong in office, or dereliction of duty, favoritism, or corruption and perversion of the law, and was subsequently dismissed from his post and investigated. Perhaps this is where the slanderous remarks of the time began to brew. The literati and scholars portrayed this old man surnamed Chen as an extravagant and ungrateful villain, and linked it with the widely circulated story of Bao Qingtian beating iron and punishing adultery.
Especially in the Junxian area, because there are many residents surnamed Chen, this public opinion rumor is even more rampant. Later, slowly, people simply connected this immoral official surnamed Chen with the trial of Bao Qingtian, and made up a rap show of "Bao Gongquan Chen Shimei".
In order to exaggerate the dramatic tension, in this arrangement, people also specially added a female character named "Qin Xianglian" as Chen Shimei's wife, so that Lord Bao Gong can save the beauty and maintain the world at the same time while punishing Chen Shimei. In this way, a quyi work with the theme of Bao Gong's punishment of crime and justice was born.
It is conceivable that in the Junxian area, this art show of Bao Qingtian killing Chen Shimei must be widely circulated and sung very highly. After all, in the Qing Dynasty, this kind of rap literature and art that is entertaining and educating and reasoning is the most popular form of entertainment. Over time, people have regarded this "Chen Shimei" as a real person rather than a fiction.
The final unraveling of historical truth
Through the above analysis and speculation, we have roughly been able to restore the ins and outs of this folk legend about "Chen Shimei crossed into the ghost of Bao Qingtian's knife".
In fact, the so-called character of "Chen Shimei" is completely a fiction made up by later generations. His prototype is likely to be a dereliction of duty and immorality during the Qing Dynasty, or a young bustard who was spurned for doing something wrong. Later, in order to arrange an entertaining and educational drama of reasoning, the literati and scholars linked this dark little person with the famous theme of "Bao Qingtian's trial" in the Song Dynasty.
In order to increase the dramatic tension, they further fictionalized a female character named "Qin Xianglian", which was arranged into a wife room imprisoned by the villain Chen Shimei. In this way, the plot of Bao Zhengquan's beheading of Chen Shimei has become more reasonable and convincing.
After the success of this arrangement, because it fit the cultural atmosphere of entertaining and reasoning in that era, it was soon widely spread among the people, especially in the Junxian area, because there are a large number of people surnamed Chen living there, so this rap with the theme of punishing the wicked Chen Shimei is more popular. Over time, people have regarded this fictional "Chen Shimei" as a real person.
end
Of course, in the process of widespread circulation among the people, the character image of this "Chen Shimei" is constantly exaggerated and amplified. Some storytellers portray him as a lascivious and ungrateful thug in order to exaggerate the tragedy; Some composers have described him as a bully referred to by a thousand masters. In short, it is to demonize him to contrast Bao Zheng's upright and wise side.