况钟形象的历史变迁

The Historical Transformation of Kuang Zhong’s Image

“青天况钟”这一历史形象是在真实的况钟其人基础上,由历代大传统和小传统合力塑造而成的理想官员典范。况钟生前以吏干称著,兼有清正之声,但亦有“刀笔余习”之讥评。明中叶之后,况钟形象的负面色彩日益淡化,而“况青天”形象在官方和民间越来越高大,成为清正、清明、清廉、清敏四大要素兼备的清官典范,与包拯、海瑞并列古代“三大青天”。这是一笔需要辩证对待的历史文化遗产,应拒绝抽离历史条件而无限拔高,理解况钟政声产生的环境氛围,为今天培育优质治理环境提供借鉴。

The historical image of"Qingtian Kuang Zhong"is a model of ideal officials shaped by resultant forces of both big and small traditions throughout history on the base of an authentic Kuang Zhong himself.Before he died,Kuang Zhong was famous for his administrative capacity and his reputation of integrity,but he was also negatively criticized for his brutal style in administrating.After the middle of Ming dynasty,the negative color of Kuang Zhong’s image gradually faded away,while the image of"Qingtian Kuang"was becoming higher and higher officially and unofficially,and finally turned into a model of ideal officials with all the four important elements of honesty,wisdom,purity,and talent integrated into one,which can be paralleled with the images of Bao Zheng and Hai Rui as the"Three Qingtians"in ancient China.This is a historical heritage which should be treated dialectically by understanding the environmental atmosphere in which Kuang Zhong’s reputation as an ideal official was generated,refusing to raise the level infinitely by taking away the historical conditions,and providing reference for the cultivation of high-quality governance environment today.