A work of the “merit and demerit” genre. It is composed of two parts: (1) Dangguan gongguo ge 當官功過格, with 68 entries on merit (j. 1) and 46 on demerit, followed by a two-page text titled “Admonition to magistrates” (縣令箴) (j. 2); (2) a short second part at the end of j. 2 featuring Lü Kun’s 呂坤 Xiangxing yaoyu 祥刑要語, a text insisting on a moderate use of torture and beatings (elsewhere found under the title Xingjie 刑戒). The individual entries in the main text only indicate at the end that the action (or absence of action) or behavior referred to earns merits (算功) or demerits (算過), without providing a precise figure. The commentaries after each entry, which introduce historical examples, are much longer than the entry itself. Every area and detail of local administration is covered. As put in Xu Chongli’s colophon, the work aims at helping officials to accrue “few demerits” (寡過). Zhang Pengge was also the author of a Shenjing lu 身鏡錄 and a Shijing lu 士鏡錄. According to Sui Renpeng’s pref., he used to discuss the latter work with his students as an educational official in Sichuan, and it had already received commentaries; by contrast, Zhijing lu tended to be neglected, hence Sui’s decision to write its commentaries, the work being thought useful to imbue idealist literati with proper values once in office. In his own pref., Zhang Pengge alludes to the tradition of gongguo writings going back to Yuan Huang (see under Dangguan gongguo ge), but criticizes its Buddhist orientation: according to him people who follow the latter tend to do good and avoid evil in order to bring their own happiness and avoid misfortune, rather than to act for the public good (公) and with sincerity (誠). Zhou Binghuang says that he discovered a worn-out copy of the work in an “old trunk” and decided to republish it with two or three “comrades” (同志) after having corrected the numerous errors that marred the original ed.; for him the text could be used as “a brightr lamp and a secret talisman” (陽燧陰符) in governing the people.