China - A Great Country in the East 2: Eminent Figures in Chinese History

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ China - A Great Country …igures in Chinese History / China - A Great Country in the East 2: Eminent Figures in Chinese History.iso / a20.swf / buttons / DefineButton2_8 / 1.png

Portable Network Graphic | 2003-01-14 | 64KB | 869x208 | 8-bit (256 colors)

Labels: black | darkness
OCR: Duke Bao: the Upright Judge Duke Bao, or Bao Zheng, was the most renowned judge in the Song Dy- nasty. One of the most famous stories in Peking Opera about Duke Bao is called Execution of Chen Shi-mei. The story goes like this: a poor scholar named Chen Shi-mei marries a woman named Qin Xiang-lian, who endures many hardships to advance his career. Coming in first in the imperial examinations, Chen conceals the fact that he has a wife back home in order to marry the emperor's daughter. The deserted Xiang-lian comes to the capital to look for him, but is rejected by Chen. In order to protect his position Chen hires an assassinto kill his first wife and his two children. The killer, however, changes his mind when he hears the true story. Then Xiang-lian brings suit against her husband in Bao's court. Judge Bao becomes the champion of the wronged woman after he examines the evidence and conducts an investigation. Disregarding pressure from the emperor, Bao insists on prosecuting the case, and the faithless Chen is eventually executed under the fodder chopper. This story shows how strictly Bao Zheng enforces the law. His exploits as a judge have gained him immortality.