A Study Of The Punishment Of Officials In The Song Dynasty Of Emperor RenZong

In the Song Dynasty,officials were often punished by the government for corruption,dereliction of duty,loss of personal morality and other reasons by restricting personal freedom,position demotion.That is,punishments restricting personal freedom such as Ju’Zhu(居住),An’Zhi(安置),Bian’Guan(编管),Ji’Guan(羁管),Jin’Gu(禁锢);Position penalties such as Zhui’Guan(追官),Chu’Ming(除名),Luo’Zhi(落职),Duo’Zhi(夺职),Lei’Ting(勒停).Punishing officials not only involves the changes in various systems when the imperial court is ruling officials,but also reflects the development of the political situation of this era to a certain extent.The focus of this paper is on the punishment of officials during the reign of Song Renzong.Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty,the punishment of erring officials has undergone a process of change from sparse to dense,from strict to loose.This process was closely related to the changes in the political situation of the Song Dynasty.In addition,the reasons for punishing officials during the reign of Song Emperor Renzong show diverse characteristics,which shows that the Song court was very strict about the officials’words and deeds.Among them,officials’corruption and dereliction of duty were the main objects of concern,which promoted officials’compliance with their duties and improved administrative efficiency;meanwhile,officials’compliance with rituals and laws was also valued by the Song court,because officials represented the image of the court to a certain extent.From the strength of punishment of officials under Song Emperor Renzong,compound punishment gradually replaced death penalty.This reflects the preferential treatment of officials during the reign of Emperor Renzong on the one hand,and the changes in the punishment of officials on the other.In terms of the situation of officials after punishment,as far as career paths are concerned,the Song Emperor Renzong’s reign,as a whole,treated punished officials with a benchmark of leniency and preferential treatment,and most of the punished officials could be Xufu(叙复).After being punished,the officials would do something in their localities,either to promote the development of local education,or to build cities and water resources,or to strengthen their defense capabilities against thieves.