Essay #1: Analysis of Proclamations of The Hongwu Emperor In this week’s reading, the two proclamations written by Zhu Yuanzhang show the Ming Dynasty’s first emperor’s deep concerns regarding political and social problems in late fourteenth century. In the first part: An Imperial Edict Restraining Officials from Evil, the emperor criticized many government officers’ corruption phenomena as well as analyzed people’s psychological changes when committing crimes. In the second part: Dismissal of Excessive Local Staff Because of Their Crimes, the Ming ruler showed his hatred, but helpless in preventing from officers’ laziness and indiscipline. Both proclamations were intended to deter criminals and build a more positive and prosperous new dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang straightforwardly pointed out his expectations to his officers in his first proclamation: they should be honest and incorruptible, and he started his argument
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The riffraff interrupt agricultural activities and arrest innocent farmers for no reason. Zhu showed his extreme anxiety to the huge scale of idle officers, and he could not find a solution to that: “in the morning I punish a few; by evening others commit the same crime. I punish these in the evening and by the next morning again there are violations” “The harsher the punishment, the more violations”(p.5). What’s more, there also exists a great contradiction between his punishment to crimes and his social and historical evaluation. He sighed that “people may regard him as a tyrant if laws are harsh, while the society will disorder if laws are lenient, and people will criticize him an incapable emperor” (p.5). Eventually, he found a method to satisfy both sides, so the only thing he could do is to warn evil persons to be cautious, but no substantial alternations in
The riffraff interrupt agricultural activities and arrest innocent farmers for no reason. Zhu showed his extreme anxiety to the huge scale of idle officers, and he could not find a solution to that: “in the morning I punish a few; by evening others commit the same crime. I punish these in the evening and by the next morning again there are violations” “The harsher the punishment, the more violations”(p.5). What’s more, there also exists a great contradiction between his punishment to crimes and his social and historical evaluation. He sighed that “people may regard him as a tyrant if laws are harsh, while the society will disorder if laws are lenient, and people will criticize him an incapable emperor” (p.5). Eventually, he found a method to satisfy both sides, so the only thing he could do is to warn evil persons to be cautious, but no substantial alternations in