Bao Zheng

thumb|Bao Zheng as depicted in the [[Sancai Tuhui (1609)]]

Bao Zheng (; 5 March 999 – 3 July 1062), commonly known as Bao Gong (), was a Chinese politician during the reign of Emperor Renzong in China's Song Dynasty. During his twenty-five years in civil service, Bao was known for his honesty and uprightness, with actions such as impeaching an uncle of Emperor Renzong's favourite concubine and punishing powerful families. His appointment from 1057 to 1058 as the prefect of Song's capital Kaifeng, where he initiated a number of changes to better hear the grievances of the people, made him a legendary figure. During his years in office, he gained the honorific title Justice Bao () due to his ability to defend peasants and commoners against corruption or injustice. Bao Zheng is depicted as the incarnation of the Astral God of Civil Arts (Wenquxing, 文曲星), while famous Northern Song warrior Di Qing is depicted as the Astral God of Military Arts (Wuquxing, 武曲星).

Bao Zheng today is honored as the cultural symbol of justice in Chinese society. His largely fictionalized gong'an and wuxia stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic mediums (beginning with The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants), and have enjoyed sustained popularity. In mainstream Chinese mythology, he is often portrayed wearing a judge's zhanjiao futou hat and a crescent moon on his forehead. Some Chinese provinces later deified Judge Bao, equating him to the benevolent war god Guan Gong.

Early life

Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Shenxian (), Hefei, Luzhou (present-day Feidong County near Hefei, Anhui). Bao's family was in the middle class, his father Bao Lingyi () was a scholar and an official, while his grandfather Bao Shi Tong () was a commoner. Though Bao's parents could afford to send him to school, his mother had to climb up mountains to collect firewood just before she gave birth to him. As Bao grew up among low working class, he well understood people's hardships, hated corruption and strongly desired for justice. Bao bellowed: "Why did you cut his ox's tongue and then accuse him?" In shock, the culprit had to confess.

When his tenure was up in 1043, Bao left without a single inkstone in his possession. The Liao subject could not respond. Nevertheless, the concubine's uncle Zhang Yaozuo () was quickly promoted within a few years from minor local posts to high office, including the state finance commissioner (). On July 12, 1050, Bao and two other censors together presented a memorandum, which in strong language accused Zhang of mediocrity and shamelessness, even attributing natural disasters to his appointments. Probably annoyed, Emperor Renzong not only did nothing to Zhang Yaozuo, he awarded Consort Zhang's sister with a title four days later. But Bao did not give up. In another memorandum submitted by himself alone, he wrote:

Partly to appease protests by Bao and others, the emperor relieved Zhang Yaozuo as state finance commissioner, but instead appointed him a concurrent four-commission position: commissioner of palace attendants, military commissioner of Huainan, Qunmu military commissioner-in-chief (), and commissioner of Jingling Palace (). In a memorandum dated December 26, Bao voiced his strong protest and wrote:

In the next court meeting to confirm Yaozuo's appointments, there was a heated argument in court led by seven ministers including Bao, which resulted in the emperor deciding to strip the commission of palace attendants and commission of Jingling palace from Zhang's promotion. which probably contributed to the development of future legends:

During his years in the government service, Bao had thirty high officials demoted or dismissed for corruption, bribery, or dereliction of duty. In addition, as the imperial censor, Bao avoided punishment despite many other contemporary imperial censors having been punished for minor statements. Bao held the position for only one year, but he initiated several material administrative reforms, including allowing the citizens to directly lodge complaints with the city administrators, thereby bypassing the city clerks who were believed to be corrupt and in the pay of local powerful families. Despite his high rank in the government, Bao led a modest life like a commoner.

Apart from his intolerance of injustice and corruption, Bao was well known for his filial piety and his stern demeanor. In his lifetime, Bao gained the name "Iron-Faced Judge" () and it was also said among the public that his smile was "rarer than clear waters in the Yellow River".

Due to his fame and the strength of his reputation, Bao's name became synonymous with the idealized "honest and upright official" (), and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature. Bao was also associated with the god Yanluo (Yama) 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.

Family

Bao Zheng had two wives, Lady Zhang () and Lady Dong (). Bao had one son, , born 1033, and two daughters with Lady Dong. His only son Bao Yi died in 1053 at a relatively young age while being a government officer, two years after his marriage to Lady Cui (). Bao Yi's son, Bao Wenfu (), died prematurely at the age of five.

Death

Bao died in the Capital City of Kaifeng (present day Kaifeng, Henan) in 1062. It was recorded that he left the following warning for his family:

<blockquote>Any of my descendants who commits bribery as an official shall not be allowed back home nor buried in the family burial site. He who shares not my values is not my descendant.

Notable descendants

8th generation: Bao Xun
9th generation: Bao Hui
27th generation: Bao Fang Wu (包方务)
28th generation: Pao Siu Loong
29th generation: Yue-Kong Pao, Yue-Shu Pao, Pao Teh-ming
30th generation: Anna Pao Sohmen, Bessie Pao Woo, Cissy Pao-Watari, Doreen Pao
32nd generation: Bao Zhenming
33rd generation: Bao Huacheng (包华成), Bao Huazhang (包华章), Bao Huabing (包华兵), Bao Huajun (包华军), Bao Huaxiu (包华秀), Bao Shengdong (包胜东), Run Bao, Anthony Bao, Tino Bao
34th generation: Bao Tingzheng, Bao Xi (包玺), Bao Dan (包丹), Bao Huifang (包慧芳), Bao Yong (包勇), Bao Zunyuan (包遵元), Bao Zunxin

Legends

Literary traditions

thumb|[[Pavilion of Ten Thousand Flowers, as printed in 1859 by the Hall of Gold and Jade (金玉樓), featuring Bao Zheng as main character]]

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. Vernacular fiction of Judge Bao was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. A common protagonist of gong'an fiction, Judge Bao stories revolve around Bao, a magistrate, investigating and solving criminal cases. When Sherlock Holmes was first translated into Chinese in the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese called Sherlock “the English Judge Bao.”

In the Yuan Dynasty, many plays (in the forms of qu and zaju) have featured Bao Zheng as the central character. These plays include:

Rescriptor Bao Cleverly Investigates the Circle of Chalk () by Li Qianfu
Rescriptor Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream () by Guan Hanqing, English translation can be found in Yang & Yang 1958
Rescriptor Bao Cleverly Executes Court Official Lu () by Guan Hanqing, English translation can be found in Yang & Yang 1958 (as The Wife-Snatcher)
Ding-ding Dong-dong: The Ghost of the Pot (), English translation can be found in Hayden 1978

The 16th-century novel Bao Gong An by An Yushi () (partially translated by Leon Comber in 1964) increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends.

The 19th-century novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants by the storyteller Shi Yukun () (partially translated by Song Shouquan in 1997 as well as Susan Blader in 1997) added a wuxia twist to his stories.

In Pavilion of Ten Thousand Flowers (), Five Tigers Conquer the West (), Five Tigers Conquer the South () and Five Tigers Conquer the North (), four serial wuxia novels composed by Li Yutang () during Qing Dynasty, Bao Zheng, Di Qing and Yang Zongbao appear as main characters.

In What the Master Would Not Discuss (), a Qing Dynasty biji by Yuan Mei (), Bao Zheng as well as the belief that he was able to judge affairs of both human beings and supernatural beings is featured.

Stories

thumb|Bao Zheng portrayed by a [[Peking Opera actor.]]

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

In legends, because he was born dark-skinned and extremely ugly, Bao Zheng was considered cursed and thrown away by his father right after birth. However, his virtuous elder sister-in-law, who just had an infant named Bao Mian (), picked Bao Zheng up and raised him like her own son. As a result, Bao Zheng would refer to Bao Mian's mother as "sister-in-law mother".

In most dramatizations of his stories, he used a set of guillotines (鍘刀, "lever-knife"), given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals:

The one decorated with a dog's head (狗頭鍘 or 犬頭鍘) was used on commoners.
The one decorated with a tiger's head () was used on government officials.
The one decorated with a dragon's head (龍頭鍘 or 火龍鍘) was used on royal personages.

He was granted a golden rod () by the previous emperor, with which he was authorized to chastise the current emperor. He was also granted an imperial sword () from the previous emperor; whenever it was exhibited to the persons surrounding, irrespective of their social classes, they must pay respect and compliance to the person exhibiting the sword as if they were the emperor (unless the person has an object of equal power). Each of Bao Zheng's guillotines were authorized to execute the corresponding social-ranked person without first obtaining approval from the emperor, though any interference from the emperor would stop the process.

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 (), who was also appointed as the Grand Tutor () and was known as Grand Tutor Pang (). He is depicted to have 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 Zheng also managed to remain in favour by cultivating a long-standing friendship with one of Emperor Renzong's uncles, the Eighth Imperial Prince () and Prime Minister Wang Yanling ().

In many stories Bao is usually accompanied by his skilled bodyguard Zhan Zhao () and personal secretary Gongsun Ce (). Zhan is a skilled martial artist while Gongsun is an intelligent adviser. When Sherlock Holmes was first translated into Chinese - Watson was compared to Gongsun Ce. There are also four enforcers named Wang Chao (), Ma Han (), Zhang Long (), and Zhao Hu (). 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

right|thumb|[[Wax sculptures inside the Lord Bao Memorial Temple, a tourist attraction in Kaifeng, Henan, China. In this scene, a fearless Bao Zheng takes off his official headwear to challenge the empress dowager, in order to execute the prince consort Chen Shimei.]]

All of these cases have been favorites in Chinese opera.

Executing Chen Shimei (): Chen Shimei had two children with wife Qin Xianglian, when he left them behind in his hometown for the Imperial examination in the capital. After placing first, he lied about his marriage and became the emperor's new brother-in-law. Years later, a famine forced Qin and her children to move to the capital, where they learned what happened to Chen. Qin finally found a way to meet Chen and begged him to help at least his own children. Not only did Chen refuse, he sent his servant Han Qi to kill them in order to hide his secret, but Han helped the family escape and killed himself. Desperate, Qin brought her case to Bao Zheng, who tricked Chen to the court to have him arrested. The imperial family intervened with threats, but Bao executed him nonetheless.
Executing Bao Mian (): When Bao Zheng was an infant, he was raised by his elder sister-in-law, Wu, 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 was about to reluctantly execute his nephew. In the end, the real criminals were forced to confess and Bao Mian's sentence was commuted.
Civet Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince (): Bao Zheng met a woman claiming to be the mother of the reigning Emperor Renzong. Dozens of years prior, she had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong's, before falling out of favour for supposedly giving birth to a bloody (and dead) civet cat. In reality, the jealous Consort Liu had plotted with eunuch Guo Huai () to secretly swap Li's infant with a skinned civet cat minutes after the birth and ordered palace maid Kou Zhu to kill the baby. However, Kou gave the baby to chief eunuch Chen Lin (), who secretly brought the child to the Eighth Prince, a younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong. Kou was later tortured to death by Guo when Consort Liu began to suspect that the infant had survived. The child was raised by the Eighth Prince as his own son and was subsequently selected to succeed Emperor Zhenzong, who had died heirless. Due to the passage of time, gathering evidence was a challenge. With the help of a woman dressed as Kou's ghost, Bao dressed himself as Yama, lord of Hell, to play on both Guo's fear of the supernatural and guilt, thereby extracting his confession. When the verdict was out, the emperor was reluctant to accept Consort Li. Bao then admonished the emperor and ordered that he be beaten for lack of filial piety. The emperor's Dragon Robe was beaten instead. Emperor Renzong eventually accepted his mother and elevated her as the new empress dowager.
The Case of Two Nails (): Bao Zheng investigated a man's suspicious death whose cause had been ruled as natural. After an autopsy, his coroner confirmed the earlier report that there was no injury to the whole body. At home, the coroner discussed the case with his wife, who mentioned that someone could force long steel nails into the brain without injuring the body. The next day, the coroner indeed found a long nail, and the dead man's widow was arrested; she confessed to adultery and mariticide. Afterwards, Bao Zheng began to question the coroner's wife and learned that the coroner is her second husband, as her first husband had died. Bao ordered his guards to go to the cemetery and unearth her first husband's coffin. Sure enough, there was also a nail driven into the skull.
The Case of the Black Basin (): A silk merchant by the name of Liu Shichang was on a trip home when he decided to ask for food and overnight lodging at the place of Zhao Da, the owner of a pottery kiln. Greedy for the riches carried by Liu, Zhao killed him by poisoning his dinner, burying his remains with clay in his kiln to make a black basin in order to destroy the evidence. An old man named Zhang Biegu, whom Zhao owed a debt to, soon took the basin from Zhao in lieu of cash payment. Zhang eventually encountered the Liu's ghost, who had been possessing the basin ever since his murder, and was told the story of the latter's cruel death at Zhao's hands. Determined to bring the suspect to justice, Zhang soon brought the black basin to Bao Zheng's court in Kaifeng and after several attempts, finally persuaded Liu's ghost to tell the judge everything. As a result, Zhao was finally arrested and executed for murder.

Modern references

thumb|The Kaifeng Court, a tourist attraction in [[Kaifeng, Henan, China, displaying the three guillotines Bao Zheng had allegedly used.]]

thumb|A large painted face of Bao Zheng in [[Haw Par Villa, Singapore.]]

Linguistic influence

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).

In the Thai language, Than Pao (ท่านเปา; "Lord Bao") has become a colloquial term for a judge. The Royal Institute of Thailand recorded the term in the Dictionary of New Words, Volume 2, published in 2009. Furthermore, the word "Pao" is used colloquially by the sports media to mean a referee in a game, especially a football match.

In March 2012, Frederic Lenormand, author of 18 Judge Dee's New Cases (Fayard 2004–2011), published at Editions Philippe Picquier Un Thé chez Confucius (A Tea with Confucius), first novel of his new series, The Judge Bao Cases.

Video games

An unlicensed Nintendo side-scrolling/platform game for Famicom, entitled Bāo Qīngtián (), also known as Justice Pao, was made in Taiwan by ex-Sachen developers and published by Ka Sheng in 1996.

Comics and manga

In the Marvel comic series New Universal, Young Judge Bao is one of the characters in an in-universe comic book.

"Les éditions Fei" also publishes a series of French-language comics about Bao Zheng. As of August 2010, two volumes have been printed.

A 16-volume Japanese manga series Hokusō Fūunden (北宋風雲伝), partly adapting the 1993 TV series, was serialized in the magazine Princess GOLD, published by Akita Shoten, from May 2000 to May 2008.

References

External links

"The CCP vs Bao Zheng, Patron Saint of the Petitioners" by Wang Yichi (pseudonym), Bitter Winter (March 29, 2024)