河南导游资格证考试-内乡县衙·景点介绍.doc

Welcome to Yamen in Neixiang CountyLadies and Gentlemen, after an hours drive, we have now arrived at our destinationYamen in Neixiang County. It was the most well preserved government office of county level in feudal China. We have the famous saying: “Beijing is the dragon head while the dragon tail is in Neixiang.” It is also one of the important cultural relics of state level.Yamen in Neixiang CountyIn front of us the building with blue relief sculpture facing us is called screen wall. In the middle of the screen, there is a strange beast called “Tan (greedy)”, and now you wonder why it is named “Tan”? It was said to be a greedy beast that could swallow gold and silver treasure in the legend. From the picture, we can see it is around by treasure everywhere. But he was still opening his mouth widely intending to swallow the sun in the sky. However, in the end he fell off the cliff, having the body smashed into pieces. This picture was first created by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder f the Ming Dynasty, in order to warn the government officials not to take brides and break the law. Tan (greedyJust opposite the screen wall is a gateway, “Xuan Huafang”. On the first day and the fifteenth day of each lunar month, the governor of the county would announce the imperial decrees and give instructions to people here.Xuan Huafang（the North） Xuan Huafang（the South）Now we are in the main entrance. It consists of three rooms. From the main entrance to the first hall, there is a long passage about 100 meters. Halfway there is another gate right in the middle called “Yi Men”, the second main official entrance. It used to be open only on the day when new governor took his place or when higher officials came to visit. On both sides of the second gate, there are two small doors, the one on the east is called “life door”, and the one on the west is called “death door”. The “death door” was used only by the criminals when they were sentenced to death and were going to be killed.“Yi Men”Passing through Yi Men, we can see a grand building here in front of us. That is the great hall. Along the two sides of the passage are the offices of the six administrative bodies of the old government. On the east side are the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites. On the west side are the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Punishments and the Ministry of Industry. The great hall was the place where the governor of the county announced the government orders, and also some important ceremonies were held here and some important and serious criminal cases were tried here. Right in the middle of the hall, there is a special facility called “Nuange” used for trying the case. In the middle of it, a trial desk was placed, and on the desk, the four treasures of the study and the red and green bamboo pieces used for trail could be found. On the front side of the screen, there is a “picture of seawater, tide and the sun”, meaning that an official should be as clear as the sun and the moon and as clean as seawater.NuangeWalking through the great hall, we can see a house behind, which was called doorman house. The men who guarded the house was called “doorman” who was the county governors relative or people who were close to him. Actually they acted as the governors eyes and ears. It was the only way for the officials to have dialogues with the common people. As time went on, some of the doormen became deceitful and they began to take brides and “doormen” changed into “door way”. So now in China people often say “go through door men” means you have to find a “big person” to help you when you want to have some official things done.Now we have come to the second hall. It was the place where the county Magistrate dealt with small cases. Please look at these famous couplets, which means before law everyone was equal. So the judges should pass the fairest judgment on people. Now look at this hanging flat board. The three big Chinese characters mean that you rule your county by playing a Chinese musical instruments “Qin” instead of going here and there to settle everything by yourself. Later people use this metaphor to praise those leaders who know their subordinates well enough to assign them jobs commensurate with their abilities. In order to show their intelligence and wisdom, the officials at that time named the second as “Qinzhi Hall”.the second hallQinzhi HallFinally lets go to the third hall. It was the place where county governor did his daily work. If the cases he dealt with were of great importance, he would do it here. And on both the left and right, there were two side-yards where the county governors family lived. There was also a garden behind. It was here that county governor enjoyed his free life and got away from his governmental affairs. As we can see now, there are many succinct couplets with rich intension here. But this one before the third hall was the most famous. It was written by Gao Yigong, a county governor in Neixiang county, which means that being the local officials, we regarded the common people as our parents. We worked for tem voluntarily and willingl