be open and aboveboard(zhèng dà guāng míng)

be open and aboveboard

It's an idiom to be fair. It comes from Zhu Xi's collection of official documents of Zhu Wen, Volume 38, a reply to Zhou Yigong, a great master of the Song Dynasty: "if fan Gong's heart is up to him, then he will be upright and bright, and there will be no old grudges, and the meaning of" Pai "is really the country." It means to be frank and honest.

In the main hall of Qianqing palace, there is a plaque written by Emperor Shunzhi of Qing Dynasty. Because of its special historical significance and the continuous rendering of film and television works in recent years, it has become a major symbol of the Qing Dynasty.

The origin of plaque

It turned out to be written by Emperor Shunzhi. The stone inscription of Kangxi was painted on the stone. The original trace was hidden in the imperial book of the National Palace Museum. The inscription of Qianlong was hung in Qianqing palace. Later, when the Jiaqing Dynasty was on fire, the plaque was burned down. Emperor Jiaqing ordered people to copy it again. Now, it should be from that time. In the main hall of Qianqing palace, there is a plaque written by Emperor Shunzhi of Qing Dynasty. Behind the plaque is the "Jianchu box", which determines the fate of the prince. at that time, the struggle between princes for the throne was quite fierce. In order to alleviate this contradiction, the Yongzheng Dynasty began to adopt the method of secretly establishing the crown prince, that is, the emperor did not publicly establish the crown prince during his lifetime, but secretly wrote out the documents of the chosen heir to the throne in duplicate, one of which was placed beside the emperor, the other was sealed in the "Jianchu box" and placed behind the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming". After the death of the emperor, the ministers at his command took down the "Jianchu box" and compared it with a copy that the emperor had hidden around him. After verification, he announced his successor to the throne. Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing, Emperor Daoguang and Emperor Xianfeng all ascended the throne according to this system. In the late Qing Dynasty, because emperor Xianfeng had only one son and Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu had no son, this method of secretly establishing a crown prince lost its significance. When you enter Qianqing palace, the first palace in the Forbidden City, a majestic and magnificent building is immediately displayed. This magnificent palace, which has just been renovated in recent years, is magnificent and dazzling. As long as people look up, they will see a huge plaque hanging in the middle of the hall. This is a moto paper plaque with four big white characters - "just and bright". With the passage of time, the White has become yellow now. These four powerful characters are the first emperor in the Forbidden City, Shizu Shunzhi, who lived in the Forbidden City after the Qing Dynasty came to power in the Central Plains. After that, Emperor Kangxi made some stone inscriptions. What is hanging here is another copy of Emperor Qianlong. The four words "righteous and bright" come from the book of changes: "great is strong." "Zhengda, and the love between heaven and earth can be seen." (Zhouyi · Dazhuang · Yuci) "just in the right, the emperor without guilt, bright also." That is to say, to make the throne stable, we must follow the example of heaven and earth, conform to human feelings, so as to show that their rule is just and bright, which shows that the feudal emperors have good intentions. The plaque has a history of more than 300 years. there is an anecdote about the emperor's secret system of establishing a crown prince in the Qing Dynasty. According to records, Emperor Kangxi reigned for 60 years (61 years). It was stipulated in the Qing Dynasty that the new emperor took over the throne and changed the chronology the next year). He had thirty-five sons. Which prince should the throne pass to? At that time, there was an extremely sharp and complicated struggle for power within the royal family. In the Qing Dynasty, there was no clear system of establishing a crown prince, nor did it carry out the traditional system of establishing a chief of the Han Emperor. It was not until Emperor Kangxi was 22 that he decided to establish the crown prince. However, Emperor Kangxi, who ascended the throne at the age of eight, was brilliant on many issues, but he was indecisive and suspicious on the issue of establishing a crown prince. As a result, he was uncertain about who to establish as the crown prince, and he could not agree on what to do, which lasted for a long time. In the end, he could not be sure, resulting in a long-term quarrel and fraternity between the princes. In this struggle of seizing power, Yin Zhen, the fourth son of the emperor, finally took the lead. He was Emperor Yongzheng. There are still different opinions about Emperor Yongzheng's coming to power. This case is related to the internal secrets of the court, which has been difficult to verify for a long time, but it is still inconclusive. However, there is a clear historical fact, that is, in the first year of Yongzheng (1723), a new hereditary method was established, which is the system of "secret establishment of reserves" in history.

Secret construction and reserve

According to this system, the Emperor himself wrote the imperial edict in duplicate and sealed it in a special box. One of them was placed behind the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming" in Qianqing palace, and the other one was kept secret by the Emperor himself, so that after his "return to heaven", the Edict and the edict behind the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming" could prove each other and then come into effect. Therefore, to make such a provision is likely to be a preventive measure taken by Emperor Yongzheng himself after his successful plot to seize the throne, summing up his own past experience, and preventing future fighting for the throne between princes. In this way, although there was no system to establish a prince in the Qing Dynasty, the emperor had already planned who would succeed him. Since the establishment of the secret reserve system and the adoption of a contract style imperial edict with two relative proofs, it was avoided that someone would make trouble or some powerful officials would interfere in it secretly, so as to ease the struggle of imperial power and consolidate the rule and the political situation of the whole country at that time, It played a certain role. The crown prince status of Hongli, the son of Yongzheng, was determined in the first year of Yongzheng, and the method of the above-mentioned sealed box was used for the first time. According to historical records, one day in August of the first year of Yongzheng, Emperor Yongzheng summoned princes, ministers and civil and military officials in the xinuange of Qianqing palace. He said to them that Kangxi was "physically and mentally depressed" because of the problem of establishing a crown prince. Then he announced the edict: "today, my sons are still young. We must be careful about the establishment of a crown prince. Although it can't be held, we have to plan ahead. Today, I'd like to seal this matter in person and hide it in a box. After the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming" written by Emperor Zhengzhong of Qianqing palace, it's the highest place in the palace in case of any danger. All kings and ministers should know about it. " Emperor Yongzheng died on August 23, 1735. After checking the two imperial edicts, Emperor Qianlong became the first emperor to take over the throne after the establishment of the secret crown prince system. Emperor Qianlong highly praised his father's practice, saying that it was "heartfelt" and "well known by all the subjects in the world". Emperor Qianlong's Secret establishment of a crown prince Emperor Qianlong once established a crown prince in secret twice. The first time was held on the second day of July in the first year of Qianlong's reign. Unfortunately, the crown prince Yonglian died early after he was only three years old. Thirty five years later, Emperor Qianlong opened the casket of the imperial books collected in the 38th year of Qianlong on September 3, the 60th year of Qianlong, and announced the secret decree of abdication to Emperor Jiaqing. After that, the emperors of Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng all ascended the throne according to this method. Today, the secret edicts of Li Chu in Yongzheng, Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties have all disappeared. The only one that is still in good condition is the book of Li Chu in Manchu Chinese written by Emperor Daoguang on June 16, the 26th year of Daoguang. Two lines of Chinese characters are written on it: "Yixin, the sixth emperor's son, was granted the title of Prince, and Yichen, the fourth emperor's son, was established the title of Crown Prince". Next to the last line of Chinese characters is the book "Yichen, the fourth emperor's son" It was written in Manchu. This edict is now kept in the first historical archives of China. After emperor Xianfeng, the rule of the Qing Dynasty has been in a state of decay and decay; with the invasion of imperialism, China has gradually become a semi feudal and semi colonial society. For some reason, later emperors had few or no sons, while emperor Xianfeng had only one son. Before his secretary established a crown prince, Emperor Xianfeng died, and Emperor Tongzhi had no descendants. As a result, the system gradually lost its historical significance and ceased to exist. Today, people visit the Palace Museum, stop in front of the Qianqing palace, pay attention to this historical relic, and review the historical anecdote of this secret system, which is beneficial to understand the internal struggle of imperial power under the feudal autocratic system.

Chinese PinYin : zhèng dà guāng míng