Highlights of collections of Weifang Museum - Record of City Reconstruction by Zheng Banqiao of the Qing Dynasty

Weifang has a long history and rich cultural heritage, particularly noted for its paleontological fossils. After research, validation, and expert evaluation, Weifang Museum selected four major treasures of the museum, one of which is the Record of City Reconstruction (Xiucheng Ji), a calligraphic work composed and inscribed by Zheng Xie of the Qing Dynasty.

This artifact dates back to the thirteenth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1748), when Zheng Banqiao, the magistrate of Wehsien, sought to assist the impoverished people by implementing the "work-for-relief" measures. He recruited the starving populace to repair the Weihsien city wall, instructing local gentry to provide meals. Zheng Banqiao personally wrote Record of City Reconstruction to mobilize the populace. and after the repairs were completed, a stele was carved and embedded into the Weihsien city wall.

According to the Draft Chronicles of Weihsien, the city repair project initiated by Zheng Banqiao saved over ten thousand victims.

The calligraphic work is mounted as a set of four vertical scrolls, with each painting core measuring 50 centimeters in height and 24 centimeters in width. The stone carving measures 55.7 cm in height, 135.7 cm in width, and 12.6 cm in thickness. Both the ink work and the stone carving are currently housed in Weifang Museum. The entire work, composed in running script, contains 225 characters with a fluid and graceful brushwork that flows like clouds and streams.

This cultural relic is not only of profound ideological and artistic value but also sets a model for later generations of a local official who wholeheartedly served the people and upheld integrity in office. As a rare treasure, it is the only surviving work by Zheng Xie documenting a city reconstruction project throughout his life. It holds significant value not only for the research on his political career and artistic achievements but also for the study of Weihsien's urban construction history.