Biography
According to History of Song, Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29 he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song Dynasty.
After passing the imperial examination in 1027, Bao deferred embarking on his official career for a decade in order to care for his elderly parents and faithfully observe proper mourning rites after their deaths. From 1037 until his death in 1062, Bao successively held several offices at the imperial court and in provincial locations.
While at the post in Duanzhou, renowned for its inkstones that are perfect as gifts, he discovered that previous prefects always collected more inkstones than allowed. Bao Zheng stopped the practice and left without a single inkstone in his possession once his tenure was over.
In his lifetime, Bao was renowned for his filial piety, his stern demeanor, and his intolerance of injustice and corruption. Due to his fame and the strength of his reputation, Bao's name became synonymous with the idealized "honest and upright official" (qing guan 清官), and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature. Bao was also associated with the god Yanluo (Yama) and the "Infernal Bureaucracy" of the Eastern Marchmount, on account of his supposed ability to judge affairs in the afterlife as well as he judged them in the realm of the living.
He had 30 high officials demoted or dismissed for corruption, bribery, or dereliction of duty. He also had Zhang Yaozhuo, uncle of the high-ranked imperial concubine impeached 6 times. In addition, as the imperial censor, he avoided punishment despite having many other contemporary imperial censors punished for minor statements.
Bao had 3 wives in his life, named Lady Zheng, Lady Tung and Lady Sun. He had 2 sons, Bao Ye (包繶) and Bao Suo (包綬). Bao left this warning for his family: "Any of my descendants who commits bribery as an official shall not be allowed back home nor buried in the family burial site. He who shares not my values is not my descendant." Despite his high rank in the government, he led a modest life like a commoner.
His burial site in Hefei contains his tomb along with the tombs of family members and a memorial temple. It was built in 1066.
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