How to write ancient notices?

In ancient China, under the condition of underdeveloped information communication technology, placards and notices became important carriers for the government to issue government decrees, decrees and information to the public. There are many appellations of notice in history, and the appellations have also changed in different historical periods. For example, during the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin dynasties, people mostly called it "notice", while in the Tang, Song, Yuan and early Ming dynasties, names such as "list", "notice" and "notice" were mixed, and there were also names such as warning, proclamation and announcement. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, probably because of the difference between the upper and lower levels, and in order to distinguish its scope of application, the notices of monarchs and imperial courts were called lists, and those of local governments and chiefs were called notices. Billboards and notices are documents issued by the government to the public in view of the current unfavorable situation or a specific matter. Although the names are different, they are actually official notices of the same nature.

Billboards and notices are official documents with dual functions of law and education. As far as its content and function are concerned, it can be roughly divided into two categories: one is for the purpose of simile and enlightenment. The content is to emphasize the disadvantages of the times, affirm the ethical principles and the way of governing the country, with the intention of making people aware and alert, tending to the good and avoiding the evil. The second is to reaffirm the national laws, publish the decrees formulated by local officials, and require the subjects to abide by them as a whole. The latter placards and notices are normative and mandatory. As legally binding documents, they are an organic part of the national legal system and one of the forms of ancient laws.

Making and issuing notices and notices has a long history in China. In ancient China, there has always been a tradition of attaching importance to the promulgation of decrees and laws. The system of "hanging the law like Wei" in the Western Zhou Dynasty was a way for the court to announce laws and educate the people on the legal system. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the son of the ruling State of Zheng made the Book of Casting Punishment, and the doctor of the State of Jin, Zhao Yang, made the Ding of Casting Punishment, which was a pioneering work for the vassal States to promulgate laws. In order to implement laws and regulations at the grass-roots level and make people know and abide by the law, all previous dynasties attached great importance to the promulgation of laws and regulations. From Qin and Han Dynasties to Tang Dynasty, it became a common way for government officials to announce government orders and decrees with placards and notices. There are many records about this kind in history books. Looking up the imperial edicts of the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties and the classical documents, we can see that the terms "write this article on the official list" and "write this article on the official list" frequently appear, and some official lists and notices also have the requirement of "announcing Chinese and foreign languages to make them know". During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was very popular for local officials and officials to issue government orders and decrees through bulletins. The Zhu Communiqué, Communiqué and Wang Yun Communiqué included in this book are such documents. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, not only the monarch and the six ministries issued lists, but also local governors at all levels and court officials who toured the whole country took issuing notices as an important measure to govern local areas. In the collection of local chronicles, historical archives, and things of the Ming dynasty, especially in the collections of some officials who have presided over provincial, state and county government affairs, a large number of notices and notices are preserved.

Due to the long history, most of the notices and notices published before the Ming Dynasty have been lost, and the intact documents of this kind are rare. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the number of notices issued by local governments at all levels was considerable, but the notices issued by monarchs and imperial courts were scattered in various historical records and files, except those published by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the Criminal History of Nanjing published in the Yongle period of Hongwu and the Ming Dynasty, as well as the compilation of military and political examples. In view of the fact that the two representative lists published by the monarch have been published in the Collection of Rare Books of Ancient Legal Books in China and the Supplement to Rare Books of Ancient Legal Books in China respectively, and in view of the fact that most of the advice and education lists published in previous dynasties are the same, this book mainly includes the legally effective lists and notices issued by relevant local governors in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The placards and notices used by local governments and governors at all levels to issue laws and regulations are not released by officials at will, and their formulation and release have certain approval procedures. Its procedures are divided into the following situations according to the different authorities: one is that the lower level draws up a list and notice text for a certain matter, and after it is approved by the higher level, it is released in the name of the lower level head. The other is that the superior makes a list of a certain matter and sends it to the subordinate, and publishes it in the name of the superior officer, or authorizes it to be published in the name of the subordinate officer. There are also some placards and notices that advise farmers, keep customs, funeral, baby-rearing, gambling prohibition, anti-theft and customs, all of which have rules to follow. Local governments at all levels may, according to the spirit of relevant decrees and decrees authorized by the imperial court or higher authorities, formulate and issue them. Posters and notices are usually posted or hung on roads extending in all directions or densely populated places, so as to let more people know in time. In addition, some notices are issued specifically for officials, soldiers, scholars and other specific subjects, and such notices are usually published or posted where the notified objects are located.

Legally binding placards and notices are mainly laws and regulations that regulate civil administration and local administrative affairs, and their contents involve all aspects of social life, such as official administration, protecting the people, money and grain, learning politics, restraining soldiers, prohibiting salt, famine relief, common affairs, customs, prison administration, word litigation, rural conventions, Jiabao, customs and so on. The issues involved in the notice are not only universal issues such as fire prevention, theft prevention, litigation, gambling prohibition, cattle killing and official extortion, but also special issues arising from different regions, cultural environments, customs, natural disasters and wars. For example, when the years are fierce, it is necessary to strengthen group training, prohibit bad habits in a certain place, build water conservancy projects in specific areas, or promote crops and wars suitable for local growth. These placards and notices vividly and concretely recorded the local government's implementation of laws and regulations and rural governance, as well as the legal environment and various social problems at that time.

Compared with other official documents, laws and regulations, placards and notices have the following characteristics: first, the words are concise and have the language style of the person who wrote the notice. Posters and notices are mostly small in length, which make a detailed analysis around the stated matters and state the prohibition of the law. The placards and notices written by different officials have different styles, some are rhetorical, some are unpretentious and some are written in spoken language, but the language is generally refined and popular, which is easy for the grassroots to understand. Second, the content is highly targeted. What it announces is usually single and specific. These matters are outstanding social problems that need to be solved urgently in the local area, or specific problems that have not been involved in national laws. Throughout the Notice, the right and wrong, interests and corresponding disposal measures are clarified around the problems to be solved. Third, the standardization is poor and the application effect is short. Posting and notification are generally issued in an emergency and usually work in a short time. Once the problem is solved or the official leaves office, its effectiveness is often not lasting.

In the construction of ancient local legal system in China, notices and bulletins played an irreplaceable role in other laws, decrees and official documents. There are many kinds of laws made in the past dynasties, and the items are complicated, and the common people know very little. The placards and notices contain statements on legal and moral education, and the contents are about civil affairs that people care about. The government publishes and publicizes laws in the form of notices and notices, and gives specific guidance on specific matters. It has the characteristics of direct and rapid law enforcement. Under the condition of limited local officials and inconvenient information dissemination in ancient times, placards and notices are not only important ways to issue decrees and carry out legal education, but also effective ways to strengthen communication between officials and people and improve work efficiency.

In the ancient Chinese legal system, laws, examples, decrees and other legal forms coexist, and court legislation and local legislation coexist. As a supplement to imperial legislation, local legislation plays an important role in the national legal system. Laws and regulations issued in the name of local governors are mostly issued in the form of placards and notices. Some special laws on local governance formulated by the imperial court and the measures to implement these laws often educate the people in the form of placards and notices. Therefore, in order to comprehensively and correctly understand and expound the ancient Chinese legal system, we must attach importance to the study of notices and notices.

Because the placards and notices published in history are scattered in all kinds of ancient books, they are very difficult to use and have not been discussed in academic circles for a long time. In order to promote the research in this field, since the early 1980s, Yang Yifan has successively collected posters and notices, and after years of efforts, it has copied a number of valuable materials in this field. However, due to the future and consulting of many ancient books, the selection work has been delayed. In the spring of 2005, Wang Xu, who teaches in the Law Department of Inner Mongolia University, went to Beijing for further study. After more than a year of cooperation, they consulted thousands of ancient books, got a general understanding of the current situation of ancient placards and notices, and completed the selection of this book on this basis.

I hope it helps you.