Walk into the Governor's Office of Zhili and read half of the history of the Qing Dynasty

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Walk into the Governor's Office of Zhili and read half of the history of the Qing Dynasty

The Zhili Governor's Office in Baoding, Hebei Province, from the 182 years when the Zhili Governor was stationed here in the eighth year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign (1730) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1911), can be described as the epitome of the history of the Qing Dynasty. " said.

After the Qing Dynasty won the Central Plains, it inherited the Ming system and continued to implement the provincial system throughout the country. Jifu, an important place at the foot of the emperor, was more important than other provinces. It was directly under the central government and was named Zhili Province. Much larger than the administrative divisions of Hebei Province today, especially in the late Qing Dynasty.

The governor-general originated from a temporary dispatch of officials by the imperial court in the Ming Dynasty, which was gradually improved in the Qing Dynasty, and the governor-general became a custom in the second year of Yongzheng (1724). The governor is the highest military and political head in charge of a province or several provinces. As a real senior official, the official rank is the second rank. The official title of the Governor of Zhili is "Governor of Zhili and other local admirals, military affairs, food and payment, management of rivers and governors." Among the eight governors of the Qing Dynasty, the Governor of Zhili was the most important, ranking first among the ministers of Jiangxi.

Where there are officials, there are Yamen. The Zhili Governor's Office is the place where the Zhili Governor works and lives. It was built in the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729). It is the only well-preserved Qing Dynasty provincial government office complex in my country.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the government offices from the imperial palace to the county government have been custom-made. They all adopt a layout that faces south, with the front hall and the back bedroom, divided into middle, east, and west roads, with writing on the left and military on the right, symmetrical and harmonious, and closed space. It is a typical working and living building group under the feudal hierarchy.

Zhili Governor's Office is a first-class feudal government building complex, about 220 meters deep from north to south, and 130 meters long from east to west. Now the West Road no longer exists, and the East Road is incomplete. The main building on the middle road is the best preserved. The main buildings include the gate, the Yimen, the lobby, the second hall, the official residence, and the upper room. It is now the Zhili Governor's Office Museum.

Outside the gate of the Governor's Office, there was originally a group of semi-enclosed courtyards, consisting of flagpoles, stone lions, screen walls, east and west gates, east and west classrooms, drum pavilions, and music pavilions. Guting, Laoting and Zhaobi do not exist today.

The large flagpoles outside the gates on both sides were originally made of wood. In the early years of the Republic of China, when Cao Kun served as a tour envoy to Zhiluyu, he had people dismantle the wooden flagpoles and replace them with concrete. The height also increased from the original ten meters to 33.6 meters. , Highlighting the momentum, it is the highest flagpole height in the country. The current flagpole is rebuilt.

The gate of Zhili Governor's Office adopts a simple hard gable roof and is three rooms wide. The plaque above the door reads "Director-General's Department of Zhili". The governor of Zhili was awarded the title of minister of the Ministry of War in the central government, and also the title of censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. For example, Li Hongzhang served as governor of Zhili twice, serving for nearly 30 years, with many concurrent titles. When he reached the peak of his power, his titles were Shangshu of the Imperial Ministry of War, Yudu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Governor of Zhili military affairs, and concurrently in charge of Zhili governor. , manage the river course by decree, manage the Changlu Salt Administration, imperially envoy Beiyang Minister of Commerce, and a scholar of the Wenhua Palace; Wearing Fanglong Bufu, riding a horse in the Forbidden City, rewarding purple reins, etc.

Step into the gate and look around, it is Yimen. On the gate of the ceremony hangs a plaque of "Weifu Jijiang", and on the bright pillars on both sides hangs the couplets inscribed by Li Hongzhang when he was the first governor. Only officials of the same rank as the governor are allowed to enter the hall through the Yimen, and low-level officials can only use the side door next to the Yimen.

Guoyi Gate is a wooden Jieshi Archway, also known as Gongshengming Archway. On the back is engraved the sixteen-character official motto written by Huang Tingjian, "Your salary is rich, the people are fat and the people are anointed, the people are easy to abuse, and the sky is hard to bully." These few sentences were originally exhorted by Emperor Meng Chang of Later Shu Dynasty to his ministers. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin excerpted the essence of the four sentences and asked Huang Tingjian to write them. They were placed in various government offices in the Song Dynasty.

The lobby, also known as the main hall, is the core building of the Governor's Office, where the Governor holds grand ceremonies and government affairs activities. The screen in the middle of the lobby is painted with sea tides, the rising sun and red-crowned cranes, symbolizing first-class civil servants. The hanging "Ke Gong Chief Shepherd" plaque was written by Emperor Yongzheng to Tang Zhiyu, the eighth governor of Zhili, and has been kept by his successors. There are 9 wing rooms on the east and west sides in front of the lobby, which are the six departments of officials, households, soldiers, criminal workers, and each department occupies 3 rooms, which handle various official documents and other affairs that are compatible with the six departments.

In ancient China, there was no distinction between local administration and judiciary, and the local chief executive was also in charge of judicial trials and social security. The Song Dynasty also stipulated that local administrative officials must try cases in person until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The governor generally does not directly hear various cases. The only court hearing in the lobby of the Zhili governor's office was actually the governor himself.

In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China. The coalition forces of Britain, France, Germany and Italy invaded Baoding south, burned, killed and looted wantonly, set up a joint army office, and established a so-called military law office, and arrested Zhili governor Shi Tingyong (nursing Zhili governor), city guard Wei Kuiheng, Huai army commander Wang Zhankui, and inspector Shen Jiaben. The chiefs of the four kingdoms sat in the lobby of the Governor's Office majestically, imitating the way Chinese officials tried criminals, tied Tingyong, Shen Jiaben, Kui Heng, Wang Zhankui and others with ropes, and knelt in the lobby for trial. The so-called "international trial" was held. They used the terms of the Qing Dynasty to treat "heinous" criminals, and in the name of conniving with the Boxer Regiment, they took Ting Yong and three others to Baoding Fenghuangtai to show the public. It is a great disgrace to a government and an entire nation.

Then enter the second hall through the patio on both sides of the lobby. The second hall is also called "Tuisi Hall", "Sibu Hall", or "Qinzhi Hall". . In the middle of the second hall hangs a plaque of "Zheng Su Feng Qing", under which there are three screens, and the middle of the screen is carved with a unicorn pattern. Display the official title. The east room is the conference hall, and the west room is the announcement hall, where the governor and his staff discuss matters.

Passing through the second hall, there is a courtyard about 6 meters wide. The courtyard is separated by a flower wall to the north, and there is a hanging flower gate in the middle, also known as the inner house gate. The two courtyards further inside are the places where the governor and his family are active, collectively called the inner house.

(East Flower Hall)

The row of five tile-roofed houses on the front is Santang, also known as the official residence. The Governor's usual office and review of official documents are all in this hall. There are two rooms on the east side of the main hall, which are called inner signing rooms, which are the places where the governor usually reviews communications and handles official affairs.

(inner house gate)

Pass through the hall of the third hall and enter the courtyard of the fourth hall, which is the living area of ​​the governor's family. There are five main rooms in four halls, and two side rooms on each side. It is a place for the governor to share family happiness with his family during his spare time in government affairs.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, many buildings on the east and west roads were rebuilt or demolished.

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The governor of Zhili can be said to have a high position and power, but as far as the governor's office is concerned, its buildings belong to the branch of palace buildings. The wooden structure of the building does not use the luxurious dougong and gable roofs, but the simple and small hard gable roofs. The Governor's Office not only has the requirements of the hierarchy, but also has the traditional triad and quadrangle courtyards in the north that are friendly to the people.

I have seen many private courtyards and government offices, which are much larger than the Governor's Office. Some people even say that the Governor's Office is "slightly better than the earth temples in the countryside." In a traditional society where the ruler advocates frugality and governs the country by virtue, application is the ultimate goal of architecture.