Introduction to the Neixiang Ancient County Government Office
The Neixiang Ancient County Government Office is the most intact one at present among the ancient government offices in feudal China.It was built in the 8th year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty (1304).The existing buildings were built in the 20th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1894).Since the opening to the world in 1984, it has attracted many visitors from home and abroad with its special history, science, art value and charm.And it wins the honor in the saying:“The head of the dragon is in Beijing and the tail in Neixiang.”The State Council proclaimed it to be a national specially-protected important relic in Nov.1996.The screen Wall is the first building of the office complex;it is composed of blue brick sculptures.The strange kylin-like beast at the center of the Screen Wall is a legendary greedy animal.It could eat many treasures.In the picture, it does not seem to be satisfied with treasures under its feet and around it, and still opens its mouth to swallow the sun.As a result of punishment, it falls down a cliff and broke to pieces.The Screen Wall was made to warn the officials against bribery and breaking the law by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.Facing the wall, there is an honorific arch called “Xuanhua Archway”.On the lunar 1st and 15th day of every month, the country magistrate propagated the imperial words and taught the countrymen here.The gate has three rooms with a paway in the middle.A drum for voicing grievances stands in the east room.This gate is the first gate for doorkeeper to announce the night watch and guard the comers and goers.Entering the gate, we can see the Yinbin House, the Yashen Hall and Sanban Yard on the east; on the west are the board house and prison built in the Qing Dynasty, which is only one remaining in China.The Ceremony Gate, the second gate, stands in the middle of the 100-meter paway from the gate to the hall.The middle door was only opened on the first day when new officials aumed their office or the higher officials came.People would
come and go through the small door on the east side, the“living gate”.The west one, called the “death gate”, was for the criminals sentenced to death.Through the Ceremony Gate, the grand building before us is the governmental hall.And Li, Hu, Li houses are on the east side of the west side.These six houses are administrative offices at that time.The county magistrate’s office stands in the east of the hall, Zhubu’s in the west.The county magistrate iued orders, held some important ceremonies and heard cases in this hall.The doorkeeper’s room stands behind the hall.In fact, He was the only person between the government and the common people.Whatever the common people have problems with law, they firstly asked the doorkeeper for help.Some doorkeepers often asked for money for their service, so the doorkeeper means the short way to succe.There is a screen door behind the doorkeeper’s room from which we can enter the second hall.The second hall is also the Qinzhi Hall.It says that Qin Zijian often played the strings, but he governed Shanfu County well with ease.Some local officials named the second hall as Qinzhi hall in order to match their own talents and abilities with those of Qin Zijian.Here is the Fuzi Yard, a place for the head’s private advisers.They helped to govern the county and kept a close and equal relationship with the head.People including the head called them Laofuzi respectfully.So their office was called Fuzi Yard.The third hall is the office for the head, and secret affairs also took place here.The hall has two side yards.The left one is the Donghuating Yard, and the right one is the Xinhuating Yard.They were the living places for the head and his families.The garden behind the hall was for the head to have fun or escape from some boring affairs.All horizontal inscribed boards and post-couplets of the buildings are famous with their concisene and deep meaning.The most famous one is “no honor for being an official, no disgrace for losing the position; don’t say an official usele, the local depends on him; food from the common, clothes by the common, don\'t think the common can be cheated, you are also a common”.It was written by Gao Yiyong, the
head of the county, in the 19th year of the Emperor Kangxi.As a local official, the writer regarded himself as an equal to the common and took the common as the parents of food and clothing.Once Jiang Zemin noticed the couplets in a report from the Nan Yang city and asked the General Office of the Central Committee to trace their origin.In the new century, the Neixiang Ancient Official Residence has won great fame outside Henan Province.Together with the Imperial Palace in Beijing, the Governor Bureau of Zhili in Baoding, and Huozhou bureau in Shanxi Province, the international route of the Four Ancient Government Offices of China will be introduced to the world.We believe that the world will know Neixiang County better.
