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Guanzhen 官箴

Mar 21, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Guanzhen 官箴 "Admonitions to state officials", also known as Lüshen guanzhen 呂氏官箴, Lü sheren guanzhen 呂舍人官箴 or Lü Ronggong guanzhen 呂榮公官箴, is a handbook for officials compiled during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Lü Benzhong 呂本中 (1084-1145), original name Lü Dazhong 呂大中, courtesy name Juren 居仁, style Ziwei 紫微 or Donglai 東萊. Lü himself had served for many years as an official in the local government and had also written some books on education, like the Chunqiu jie 春秋解, Tongmeng xun 童蒙訓 or Shiyou yuanyuan lu 師友淵源錄.

His short book Guanzhen is an admonition (zhen 箴) to officials to behave pure, prudent and diligent. Lü's arguments are supported by many examples from history. It is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

There is another book with the same title from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644), written by Zhu Zhanji 朱瞻基 (1398-1435), who is nobody else than the Xuande Emperor 宣德 (r. 1425-1435). His book came into being after the suppression of the rebellion of Zhu Gaoxu 朱高煦 (1380-1426), the Prince of Han 漢, and the appointment of grand coordinators (xunfu 巡撫) for the supervision of the provinces. The Xuande Emperor especially selected nine persons who were entrusted with the arrangement of bureaucratic rules for all important state offices, from the Chief Military Commission (dudufu 都督府) to the Confucian schools (ruxue 儒學).

These are arranged in 35 chapters. All officials were admonished to be assiduous in government affairs, to be incorruptible, to have a sense of responsibility and to do their duty. The book was finished in 1432 and was reprinted in 1538. It is finished by several laudatory and instructive poems written in the name of the emperor.

This book is described in the catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要, but not included in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 corpus.

Sources:
Chen Zhonghai 陳忠海 (2019). "Gudai de guanzhen yu guanjie 古代的官箴與官戒", Zhongguo fazhan guancha 中國發展觀察, 2019 (3).
Li Chenli 李晨麗 (2017). "Lun Songchao guanzhen de bai nian lishi huisu ji shenceng yuanyin chutan: Yi Lü Benzhong Guanzhen wie qierudian 論宋朝官箴的百年歷史回溯及深層原因初探——以呂本中《官箴》為切入點", Fazhi bolan 法制博覽, 2017 (1).
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 1429.
Liu Xiaomeng 劉曉蒙 (2016). "Siku quanshu zong de guanzhen shu yanjiu: Lun gudai guanyuan de zhiye daode 《四庫全書》中的官箴書研究——論古代官員的職業道德", Fazhi bolan 法制博覽, 2016 (11).
Liu Xin 劉欣, Lü Yajun 呂亞军 (2019). "Songdai lixue de zhengzhi shijian: Yi Guanzhen wei zhongxin de kaocha 宋代理學的政治實踐:以“官箴”為中心的考察", Sixiang zhanxian 思想戰綫, 2019 (1).
Pei Chuanyong 裴傳永 (2018). "Kan guanzhe zhi guijian: Lü Benzhong Guanzhen yanjiu “有官者之龜鑒”:呂本中《官箴》研究", Lilun xuekan 理論學刊, 2018 (11).
Song Jing 宋晴 (2018). "Songdai guanzhen zhong de lizhi sixiang chutan 宋代官箴中的吏治思想初探", Jiamusi Zhiye Xueyuan xuebao 佳木斯職業學院學報, 2018 (10).
Su Pinxiao 粟品孝 (2007). "Lü Benzhong Guanzhen chu zi Tongmengxun yuanben kao 呂本中《官箴》出自《童蒙訓》原本考", Wenxian 文獻, 2007 (10).
Zhang Hong 張宏, Yang Changyu 楊昌玉 (2016). "Cong Lü Benzhong Guanzhen zhong xue wei zheng zhi de 從呂本中《官箴》中學為政之德", Lingdao zhi you 領導之友, 2016 (6).