Bao Zheng

Bao Zheng
Full name
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; "Bao the Blue Sky") Bāo Lóngtú (包龍圖; "Bao of the Dragon Image") Bāo Dàizhì (包待制; "Edict Attendant Bao")
Born	11 April 999(999-04-11)
Died	20 May 1062(1062-05-20) (aged 63)

Bao Zheng (包拯) (999–1062) 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 China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and has enjoyed sustained popularity.

Contents 1 Life and career 2 Legend 2.1 Famous cases 3 Popular culture 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links

Life and career

Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29, 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. 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" (qingguan 清官), and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature. Bao was also associated with the King of Hades Yama （阎罗王）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.^[1]

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 had conflicts with other powerful members of the imperial court as well, including the Prime Minister, Song Yang. 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 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).

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

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.

Legend

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 Ming Dynasty, the 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.

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

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 Chao (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.

Famous cases

• Chen Shimei - Chen Shimei was a poor student who was placed first in the Imperial examination and as a result married a princess of the Song Dynasty. However, Chen hid the fact that in his hometown he had another wife called Qin Xianglian who he had left behind to care for his aging parents and two young children. When Chen's parents died during a famine, Qin and the children set out for the capital and found out what had become of Chen. Qin managed to meet Chen and begged him to at least help his own children. Instead Chen sent his servant Han Qi to have the family killed in order to keep his secret, but Han let the family escape and killed himself. Qin sought help from Bao Zheng, who tricked Chen into coming to the court where he was arrested. Chen thought that as the emperor's son-in-law he would not be convicted, but Bao proved him wrong and executed him, despite protests and threats from the imperial family.

• Bao Mian - When Bao Zheng was an infant, he was raised by his elder sister-in-law Wu Miaozhen 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.

• The Civet for Crown Prince (Chinese: 貍貓換太子案; pinyin: Límāo huàn Tàizǐ Àn) or Beating the Dragon Robe Case (Chinese: 打龙袍案; pinyin: Dá lóngpáo Àn) - Bao Zheng met a poor woman claiming to be the mother of the current Emperor Renzong. It turned out that many years ago she was Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong, but later fallen out of favor for supposedly giving birth to a civet. What really happened was a jealous concubine Consort Liu plotted with eunuch Guo Huai to secretly swap Li's infant son with a bloody dead civet minutes after birth. Throughout the years Liu also plotted many times to murder Li, but she managed to escape from the palace. The infant son later became Emperor Renzong, not knowing who his real mother was. Bao managed to solve the difficult case, but Emperor Renzong refused to accept the findings. Faced with this, Bao ordered a set of beatings for the emperor for failing to oblige filial piety; however, because the emperor could not be physically punished, the Dragon Robe worn by him was beaten instead. Eventually Emperor Renzong accepted Li and elevated her as the new Empress Dowager.

Popular culture

• 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).
• He appears as the main character in a Ming Dynasty Detective novel named Bao Gong An.
• A side scrolling video game, Bao Qing Tian, was released for the Famicom.
• Different TV programs about Justice Bao (包青天) have been filmed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Singapore,^[2] such as Young Justice Bao. The Chinese Television System 1974/75 and 1993/94 series were both popular. The TVB and ATV Home networks in Hong Kong both bought the 1993/94 series in an attempt to gain viewers. Competition between the two networks during the showing of the series was so severe that identical episodes were shown on both channels on the same night. It was also one of the first dramas that used NICAM technology (Dual Sound Switch Cantonese/Mandarin). The series was so successful that it spawned numerous spin-off series and created other merchandise products related to Bao Zheng. Most of the series were pure fiction relating to Bao Zheng, with some Chinese fantasy thrown in. The series taught Chinese traditional values, like filial piety and respect for one's elders. Many of the programs starred Chin Chao Chun (金超群) as Bao whilst many series were released on VCD.
• 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.
• In the 2003 movie, Cat And Mouse, Andy Lau portrayed Zhan Zhao, a court officer under Judge Bao who received an order to pursue five mice. Judge Bao was played by Anthony Wong
• He briefly appears in the novel Iron Arm, Golden Sabre and sponsors young Zhou Tong's entry into the military as an officer.^[3]
• In the Marvel comic series New Universal, Young Judge Bao is one of the characters in an in-universe comic book.
• The new Justice Bao was recently shown on Taiwanese television and has consisted of characters from the first Justice Bao.
• 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.

See also

• Chinese Crime Fiction

Notes

External links

• (Chinese) His biography as recorded in Song's historical document
• (English) Another biography

Persondata
Name	Bao, Zheng
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 April 999
Place of birth
Date of death	20 May 1062
Place of death