In the costume TV series of the Qing Dynasty, we can often see the following famous scenes, a certain imperial princess made a mistake, or the conspiracy was exposed and discovered, and the emperor immediately became angry: "Pull me to the Zongren Mansion!" This immediately made the princesses who had made mistakes change their faces and kneel down to beg for forgiveness. How terrifying was the Zongren Mansion, and why didn't they go there? Let's take a good look at what this clan mansion is doing.
In ancient China, imperial power as the supreme existence, and those imperial relatives also have a lot of real power, often as a mighty or forcible occupation of the people's land, or forced the people's women, the local judicial organs are difficult to govern, the history does not know how many upright officials and these people clashed, such as the famous Han Dynasty's strong ling Dong Xuan, the late Han Dynasty invented the five-color stick autocracy of various disobedience, and the Northern Song Dynasty's Kaifeng province Yin Bao Qingtian. However, more local officials turned a blind eye to the violations of the royal family, resulting in a great contradiction between the people and the imperial court.
Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was well known for his anti-corruption, decided to set up a special institution for the jurisdiction of the members of the imperial family and their families, and in 1370, Zhu Yuanzhang built the Dazong Zhengyuan, which was renamed Zongrenfu in 1389. Who is in charge of the Dzongren Mansion? Under the jurisdiction of Zongren Ling, Right Zongzheng, and Zuo Zongzheng, during the Ming Dynasty, they were all Zhengyipin officials, and it was obvious that the work of the Zongren Mansion was easy to offend people, so they were often also held by relatives of the emperor, such as The Chengzu Zhu Di, who served as the Right Emperor when he was still the King of Yan.
In the Qing Dynasty, the highest officials of the Zongren Mansion were still Zong Ling and Zong Zheng, who were borne by prince Junwang and Belle Beizi respectively. Therefore, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the members of the imperial family committed crimes, and generally handed over to the Zongrenfu for adjudication and punishment, and then handed over to the Punishment Department for enforcement, which first reflected their own law enforcement justice, and secondly, played a role in protecting the imperial family.
So what is life actually like in the Zongren Mansion? In fact, those who make mistakes will not be subject to too many punishment measures, the most commonly used in the clan government is nothing more than palm mouth and staff punishment, but it is usually only used for low-level palace women, the so-called "punishment can not be a doctor", the same is true for members of the royal family.
Therefore, the most common is claustrophobia, locking you in a house, but still eating and drinking, inside the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi expedition to Geldan, the prince Yinrong actually made a dragon robe, provoked Kangxi to be angry, imprisoned, and from then on Yinrong became crazy, not because Yinrong was abused, and he was in a small range and could not go out.
Since the Zongren Mansion was not as harsh as it thought, why would those princes be so afraid of the Zong ren Mansion? Because imprisoning the Zongrenfu is also the most severe punishment for the clans in addition to the death penalty, generally speaking, the ministers make a mistake, usually they are demoted or deducted from their salaries, but when they are imprisoned in the Zongrenfu, it means that your future is completely ruined, and it is basically impossible to get out. It's understandable that they're so scared.
Similarly, the clan government not only has the function of punishing the clan, but also compiles a jade butterfly list for the clan, records the children of the clan, the dates of birth and death, and assists them in dealing with the matter of title and burial, but also helps the distant clan children to find work, and all the clan members state their requests, report to the emperor on their behalf, introduce talents, and so on.
The Qing Dynasty's Zongren Mansion was occupied by the great powers in Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing, which was immediately occupied by the great powers at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and with the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the Zongren Mansion also withdrew from the stage of history.