Stories, Images and Law Publicity: Focus on Shengyu Xiangjie issued in Qing Dynasty

Abstract: To reform the customs as well as to civilize his people, the Kangxi Emperor had issued Shengyu Shiliu Tiao. Trying hard to publicize it, officials created a large number of books to explain it. Liang Yannian, the magistrate of Fanchang Anhui at that time, published a book, Shengyu Xiangjie (《圣谕像解》), with an attempt of introducing the sacred edict to poorly-educated people in a way of anecdotes and images. The book largely involves laws, crimes and litigation. It, following the pattern of Yangzheng Tujie and Renjing Yangqiu, referred to stories in classical book to explain the edict by means of pictures, by which the book had become a complex of images, stories and li (" 理”) in an intertextual and dialogical way. However, after issued, the book failed to achieve the publicizing task as expected. The exquisite design made the book hard to get and limit its spread. Until late Qing, the introduction of lithography and a decline in cost of printing re-brought the book to the public. However, books of popularizing and visualizing interpretation helped people understand moral rationales and related laws, but the obscure attitude of the emperor and officials on the legal knowledge dissemination limited the effect of legal publicization.