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Bao Zheng

Updated:Aug 04,2025 16:49 PM Anhui, China 2024

Bao Zheng (999—1062), courtesy name Xiren, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, was a renowned upright official and a politician in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
In the 5th year of Tiansheng Reign (1027), he passed the highest-level imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. During those years in civil service, Bao proposed a series of reform suggestions in politics, economy, and military affairs. He was known for his honesty, fearlessness, strict law enforcement, and incorruptibility.
Bao Zheng once served as the prefect of Duanzhou (today’s Zhaoqing) in the south, a prefecture famous for its high-quality inkstones. When his tenure was up, Bao left the place without a single inkstone in his possession.
During his tenure as the magistrate of the capital city of Bian (today’s Kaifeng), Bao initiated several material administrative reforms, thereby bypassing the city clerks who were believed to be corrupt and in the pay of local powerful families. In his lifetime, Bao gained the name “Iron-faced Judge” and it was also said among the public that his smile was “rarer than clear waters in the Yellow River”.
Due to his reputation, Bao’s name became synonymous with the idealized “honest and upright official”, and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature. The work he left is Bao Zheng’s Memorials to the Throne.

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