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Bao Zheng is today respected as a symbol of justice in China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and have enjoyed sustained popularity. Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29, he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty. He is famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time. He upheld justice and refused to yield to higher powers.<br/><br/> After his death, Bao Zheng's stories were retold and preserved particularly in the form of performance arts such as Chinese opera and pingshu. Written forms of his legend appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in the form of Qu. In Ming Dynasty times the novel Bao Gong An increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends. The Qing Dynasty novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants also added a wuxia (martial arts literature) twist to his stories. In opera or drama, he is often portrayed with a black face and a white crescent shaped birthmark on his forehead. In most dramatization of his stories, he used a set of guillotines, given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals.
Bao Zheng is today respected as a symbol of justice in China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and have enjoyed sustained popularity. Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29, he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty. He is famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time. He upheld justice and refused to yield to higher powers.<br/><br/> After his death, Bao Zheng's stories were retold and preserved particularly in the form of performance arts such as Chinese opera and pingshu. Written forms of his legend appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in the form of Qu. In Ming Dynasty times the novel Bao Gong An increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends. The Qing Dynasty novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants also added a wuxia (martial arts literature) twist to his stories. In opera or drama, he is often portrayed with a black face and a white crescent shaped birthmark on his forehead. In most dramatization of his stories, he used a set of guillotines, given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals.
Sima Guang was born in 1019 in present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi to a wealthy family, and obtained early success as a scholar and officer. When he was barely twenty, he passed the Imperial examination with the highest rank of jinshi ('metropolitan graduate), and spent the next several years in official positions.<br/><br/> In 1064, Sima presented to Emperor Yingzong of Song a book of five volumes, the Liniantu or 'Chart of Successive Years'. It chronologically summarized events in Chinese history from 403 BCE to 959 CE, and was something like a prospectus for sponsorship of his ambitious project in historiography. These dates were chosen because 403 BCE was the beginning of the Warring States period, when the ancient State of Jin was subdivided, which eventually led to the establishment of the Qin Dynasty; and because 959 CE was the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period and the beginning of the Song Dynasty.<br/><br/> In 1066, he presented a more detailed 8-volume Tongzhi or 'Comprehensive Records', which chronicled Chinese history from 403 BCE to 207 BCE (the end of the Qin Dynasty). After Yingzong died in 1067, Sima was invited to the palace to introduce his work in progress to Emperor Shenzong of Song. The new emperor confirmed the interest his father had shown, maintaining his support for compiling this comprehensive history for decades until it was completed in 1084.