The Meaning of "Honest Official" Zhou Chen in Ancient Chinese Literature

1. Selected from the classical Chinese translation of "Biography of Zhou Chen" in Ming Dynasty, Zhou Chen's handwriting is as good as that of Jishui people. In the second year of Yongle, he was a scholar and chose Jishi Shu. The following year, Cheng Zu chose 28 of them to enter the Wen Yuan Pavilion. When Chen was young, he asked for input. Emperor Jia was ambitious and agreed. Find the director of punishments and join the foreign minister. In September of the fifth year of Xuande, the emperor paid more attention to the wealth of the world, but why did Suzhou, a county in the south of the Yangtze River, accumulate 8 million stones and think hard and pay no attention to it? On the recommendation of Yang Rong, a great scholar, he was transferred to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, the governor of Jiangnan and the governor to pay taxes.

All treatments are simple. I have been in Jiangnan for a long time, and I am familiar with the officials and the people. Every village, screen to obedient, and farmers to make a wife, calmly ask their sufferings, and deal with them in Shang Lue. Under his control, although humble and redundant, he was happy to visit there. When the Dragon Officer is capable, such as Kuang Zhong, the magistrate of Songjiang, and Zhao Yubei, they all confide in each other, consult painters, and do their best to tell stories without exception. Chang Yi looked at Songjiang's water conservancy, and saw that the grass beside the Hujiang River in Jiading, Sheng Mao was muddy and flowing, which deepened its upper flow, so that the water in Kunshan and Gupu soon flowed down and stopped. In his spare time, he rode a horse to and from the river, but he didn't know he was the governor.

At that time, people who talked about financial management had no right. There are thousands of dollars in the valley, one finger counts. Taste yin is a book that records the lack of rain or shine, or that one day the river is lost in the wind, and that there is no wind in the river is shocking. A traitor mixed up his old case. Chenchen said, "Do you think that one day you will judge me and I will judge for you, and you will dare to forgive each other?" In a word, it is interesting to build a million armor. I realized that there were many ironworkers in the helmet bath, so I ordered Worthy to finish it in a few days.

2. Honest official Hai Rui explained the original text in classical Chinese.

The method of water control can neither stick to the rules, mud and sand, nor "pretend" to believe people's words. There are high and low levels of land cover, rapids, shallow and deep reservoirs and twists and turns. We should not only know the situation, but also ask for advice, and we should not be poor, so we should do our best and die. In the past, Jiezhi River in the sea, put on robes, wind and rain. He sends money and vegetables to his relatives without deducting a penny, but he never asks for a penny as an official. This must be the case \ before things can be done. For example, "love leisure and hate labor, forget justice for profit, and avoid resentment if it is too far away, then nothing can be done", and water conservancy is not prosperous.

Translation:

The way to control water can neither be stubborn nor inflexible, stick to ancient laws and regulations, nor believe what others say at will. The reason is that the terrain is high and low, the water is slow and fast, the pond is shallow and deep, and the river is curved and straight. Without observation and measurement, it is impossible to know its true situation, and without interview and soliciting opinions, it is impossible to thoroughly understand its situation. Therefore, we must be able to climb mountains and wade in person, not afraid of hardship.

In the past, when Hai Rui (Jie in the Sea) was managing the river, he wore light clothes, braved the wind and rain, shuttled back and forth between deserted villages, personally distributed money and food to workers and people, without deducting a penny, and the accompanying attendants never extorted a penny. Only in this way can things succeed. If you love ease and fear hard work, only care about self-interest and forget justice, and avoid suspicion and resentment, then things can't be done and water conservancy can't be done well.

3. Who knows the explanation of "Qing" in the ancient prose "Qing" E799Be5BaA6E997AE7AD 94E58685AEB931333238646432, which not only constitutes a basic political character and professional ethics requirement of ancient officials in China (Note: the "Qing" of officials is recorded in many historical books.

See Wang Zijin: The Black Light of Power —— Criticism of Feudal Political Superstition in China, Central Party School Press, 1994, pp. 174~ 185. ) and become an important content that the law tries to maintain.

Ancient laws not only prohibited officials from "committing stolen goods", but also made hell to pay guilty of "committing stolen goods" against officials. In some specific periods, there is often no room for punishing officials for taking bribes and bending the law. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty is an obvious example. (Note: At this point, we only need to read the famous code Da Gao compiled by Zhu Yuanzhang himself and some famous major cases initiated by him.

See Yang Yifan: A Study of Ming Dazhao, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 1988 for relevant information. Professor Yang Yifan pointed out: "The contradiction between Gao and Gao in Ming Dynasty was generally aimed at various subjects, with the focus on cracking down on corrupt officials"; (page 80) and said that Zhu Yuanzhang's practice, "is unprecedented in the history of feudal society in China".

(page 93) The full text of Yang Yifan's Study of the Ming Dynasty is attached to the back of this book for reference. In addition, please refer to Wu Han: Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang, People's Publishing House, 1965, pp. 255-265. )

Of course, it is still a very important moral and legal issue to require officials to be "clean" in modern society; Therefore, we are now praying for and respecting honest officials, not "groundless", but a natural rebound and response to the social, political and judicial status quo, mainly corruption and other common crimes and phenomena.