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Unless otherwise specified, the descriptions of sources in this section are extracted from Pierre-Etienne Will and collaborators, Handbooks and Anthologies for Officials in Imperial China: A Descriptive and Critical Bibliography, 2 vols., Leiden: Brill, 2020
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Description
documentTypeBook
TitleGongmen guobao lu 公門果報錄 [A Record of Retributions for Yamen Personnel]
Topic4.1 Magistrates handbooks: General
Historical periodLate Qing (1797-1911)
CountryChinese
AuthorSong Chuwang 宋楚望(comp.)
CollectionGuanzhen shu jicheng 官箴書集成
Number of volume9
Publication typeWoodblock
Comment

A significantly abridged version of Chen Hongmou’s Zaiguan fajie lu (q.v.). Deng Huaxi’s pref. says that the work was re-engraved at the suggestion of a clerk in his office who owned an old copy. Song Chuwang’s pref. claims that the admonitions to clerks in Chen’s original work are almost like those in Huanhai cihang (q.v.) for officials, but that the work may be a little above the capabilities of the less educated clerks. His own selection concentrates on entries emphasizing retribution (因果報應) in clear language. The format of each entry is the same as in the original work. Among Chen Hongmou’s 308 entries Song has selected 6 items from the general statement (總論), 20 from “Records to emulate” (法錄), and 24 from “Records for warning” (戒錄). The last two sections in particular emphasize the kind of wrongdoing committed by officials, clerks, runners, and other government functionaries in connection with the criminal justice system at local level. Among the issues considered are abuses committed by prison officials, corruption by judicial officials and their subordinates, and the excessive use of torture and punishment. It is unclear at what point the two supplements found in the 1892 and 1893 eds. were appended: (1) Xulu 續錄 (placed after the postf.), including 9 further entries, some about events dating from the first half of the nineteenth century and dealing with such topics as homicide investigation, disaster relief, and the infliction of criminal punishments; (2) Zuozhi guobao fajie lu 佐治果報法戒錄, given as appendix (附錄), featuring 20 anecdotes about private secretaries, introduced by a statement by Xiong Hongbei (see under Baoshan tang juguan geyan) on the secretaries’ crucial importance to government. The work ends with a recipe to cure the wounds inflicted during official beatings (杖瘡方). Shi Chengzu’s postf. says that when he was magistrate of Lianshui 漣水 (Andong 安東, Jiangsu) in 1803 he was able to examine a copy of Gongmen xiuxing lu (q.v.) in 1 j., composed of extracts from Zaiguan fajie lu, printed while Song [Chuwang] was prefect of Changzhou 常州; he edited it and printed (刊訂) a number of copies for distribution to the subaltern personnel (庶人), and hoped to further circulate it among his colleagues.

SubjectLaw
LanguageChinese
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