Bao Zheng
As Acting Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture he was impartial and incorruptible: "No back-door dealings get through; there is old Bao, the King of Hell."
Life
Filial to his parents
After passing the jinshi exam, Bao Zheng declined office for ten years to care for his parents. As prefect of Duanzhou, a place famous for its precious Duan inkstones, he left office without taking a single inkstone with him.
Took not a single inkstone
He served successively as investigating censor and remonstrance official, and repeatedly impeached the powerful, including Zhang Yaozuo, uncle of a favorite consort of Emperor Renzong of Song.
Kaifeng Prefecture
In 1056 he became Acting Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture. He opened the main gate so that ordinary people could hand in their complaints directly and punished local bullies severely, and the capital said: "No back-door dealings get through; there is old Bao, the King of Hell." He later rose to vice commissioner of military affairs and died in 1062. His family precepts decreed that any descendant who took bribes in office could not be buried in the family graveyard.
Legacy
Bao Zheng was famed for his integrity and fairness; later operas and novels turned him into "Bao the Upright Judge," a byword for an honest official.
Major works & achievements
- Acting Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture; cleaned up the bureaucracy
Did you know? The historical Bao Zheng never tried the famous "Case of Chen Shimei" (Zha Mei An); that story is an invention of the opera stage.
Key dates
- 1027Passed the jinshi exam
- 1040Prefect of Duanzhou; returned without a single inkstone
- 1056Acting Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture
- 1061Became Deputy Military Affairs Commissioner
- 1062Died