Are there no good people in Hongdong County?

During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Su San, a girl from Yichun Courtyard in Qianmen, Beijing, fell in love at first sight with Mr. Wang San, a failed scholar. The two got along for half a year, and they were very romantic. After Mr. Wang spent all his money, he was kicked out of Yichun Courtyard. Su San was extremely heartbroken. From then on, he didn't think about food or clothing, so he was sold by the madam to Shen Hong, a horse dealer from Hongdong County, Shanxi. Later, Shen Hong was killed, and Su San was falsely accused of being a murderer and imprisoned. After the county magistrate was betrayed, Su Sanqu beat him and sentenced him to death, waiting for the queen to be executed. This prison where Su San was imprisoned is very famous. It is the earliest county-level prison in ancient China. It is very valuable in the study of the history of prisons in ancient China, because Su San was once imprisoned here, and it is now usually called "Su San Prison". Su San's story was later made into a drama, and the play was called "Yu Tang Chun", which is a famous traditional piece in Chinese Peking Opera. The most famous part of this opera is "Su San Qi Jie", which depicts the scene when Su San was escorted to Beijing. At that time, Su San sang: "Su San left Hongdong County and came to the street; elders, listen to me..." Su San also sang sadly: "The more I think about it, the sadder I feel. Hongdong County There are no good people!" This sentence "There are no good people in Hongdong County" later spread throughout the country and became known to everyone. Hongdong County has become a "den of bad people". People not only often use this to make fun of people in Hongdong County, but also treat bad people as The concentrated area is also called "Hongdong County", which makes the people of Hongdong County embarrassed and unconvinced.

The problem lies in people's understanding of the meaning of the word "county". The traditional form of "Xian" is "Xian", which originally means "hanging". "Shuowen" says: "Xian is a department. From the department, it holds the county's will." For example, in "Shi Wei Feng Cut Tan" there is " If there is no hunting, how can there be quails in Huzhan'erting?" Another example is "Guoyu Jinyu": "Li Ji asked the envoy to apply, and she was located in Quwo County in Su County." The counties here all mean "hanging". County is also called "Huan" under the guise of "Huan", which is a county of a state or county and is an administrative division unit. The county system originated in the Spring and Autumn Period, was promoted in the Warring States Period, and was customized in the Qin Dynasty. County is the product of princes plundering land and competing for hegemony. It first appeared in Chu State in about 690 BC. The establishment of a county was an expedient measure to control newly conquered areas. Because it was recently conquered and far away, a temporary organization was set up to "hold it", hence the name "county". After the Warring States Period, it became a relatively stereotyped local regional system. In the Qin Dynasty, counties were established, directly under the central government, and divided into upper, middle and lower levels. It has been established in all dynasties since then and is the most basic basic administrative unit in China. China's county system, which has been in existence for more than 2,000 years, serves as a link between the upper and lower levels. It connects counties, roads, prefectures, prefectures, and provinces at the top, and connects townships, li, districts, villages, Jia, Lu, etc. at the bottom. We now usually understand counties as first-level administrative divisions, which generally refer to all areas under the jurisdiction of a county. In fact, the scope of objects referred to by county has a changing process, so county has multiple meanings. County first refers to "county government" and "county government", such as "Xiaolin" written by Handan Chun of the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms: "Suifu Yi County". What this means is that the person is kidnapped and sent to the county government office. In our current spoken language, we usually say "sent from the county", "notice from the county", etc., which undoubtedly refer to the administrative units at the county level, which are derived from the "county government". County secondly refers to the "county seat", which is the town where the county seat is located. We usually say "go to the county", which means to go to the county town. County finally refers to "county area", that is, all areas within a county-level administrative region. This is the meaning we usually use now. For example, "Susan Prison is located in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province." The "Hongdong County" here refers to the entire area under the jurisdiction of Hongdong County.

In fact, the meaning of the word "province" is quite similar. Province now mainly refers to the highest local administrative division system in China after the Yuan Dynasty. In ancient times, the forbidden areas of the royal palace were called provinces, such as "province". During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the three provinces of Zhongshu, Shangshu and Menxia were established in the central government to assist the emperor in handling daily government affairs. The provinces became the names of the central official offices. In the fifteenth year of Emperor Wanyan's reign in Tianhui (1137), Xizong of the Jin Dynasty purchased Xingtai Province in Liu Yu's hometown of Qi. Later, when local affairs encountered major affairs, the central government would often send ministers and provincial officials to take charge of the affairs of the local government, saying that serving ministers would save trouble. However, the Shangshu Province in the Jin Dynasty was still a temporary local agency of the central government. Yuan Chengjin system. Kublai Khan made the Zhongshu Province the Prime Minister of national government affairs, and changed the local Xingshu Province to Xingzhongshu Province.

With the expansion of territory and the stability of the political situation, during the reign of Emperor Chengzong, 11 provinces were established across the country, and provinces became the highest local administrative divisions. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Yuan system was still followed and the Xingzhongshu Province was established in local areas. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the power of the Xingzhongshu Province was too heavy. In order to strengthen the centralization of power, he first took measures to weaken local power. In the ninth year of Hongwu (1376), Zhongshu Province was reorganized into the Provincial Envoy Department. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, 13 government agencies had been established across the country. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, provinces were set up in the Guannei area, and the Proclamation Department was changed to the province. In addition to the original 13 provinces in the Ming Dynasty, in the first year of Shunzhi (1644), North Zhili was changed to Zhili Province, and South Zhili was changed to Jiangnan Province, totaling 15 provinces. It has been used by successive dynasties, and this is the origin of the current "province". Therefore, the meaning of province originally refers to the forbidden area in the palace, later it refers to the central administrative agency, and after the Yuan Dynasty it refers to the highest local administrative agency, all of which belong to the official office. Later, the scope of the province was expanded to refer to the location of the entire provincial-level government agency, that is, the provincial capital. For example, in the "Province-Hong Kong Strike" that occurred in 1922, the "Hong Kong" here refers to Hong Kong, and the "province" refers to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, not the entire Guangdong Province. In our spoken language today, we usually say that going to the provincial capital means "going to the province." Now, the meaning of province in most cases refers to all areas under the jurisdiction of provincial administrative agencies. The high school textbook "Ancient Chinese History" introduces the imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and says that "rural examinations are held in provinces." Of course, the province here specifically refers to the provincial capital. Because this meaning is rarely used nowadays, some people say that "the provincial examination is held in the province" is a wrong sentence. Later, textbooks added the word "city" after the word "province". In fact, this sentence is not wrong, but the meaning of "saving" is less used now, and it has even caused misunderstandings.

From this point of view, when Su San said "there are no good people in Hongtong County", he did not mean that there were no good people in the entire Hongtong County, but that there were no good people in the Hongtong County Yamen. These words were not exaggerated at all at the time. It cannot be said that Su San's words were too extreme. But everyone got the idea wrong. Not only did the people of Hongdong County suffer unjust injustice, but Su San was also accused of wrongly accusing a good person.