王成 / Wang Cheng (Western Han Jiaodong Xiang)

Overview

王成 / Wang Cheng enters the wiki through Hanji 419 as the Jiaodong xiang whose reported local achievements won 汉宣帝’s praise before later review exposed the report as false. This page uses a Western Han semantic suffix to distinguish him from 王成, the later Li Gu student.

Current Profile

Hanji 419 presents Wang Cheng as a compact case of official-performance fraud. In March 67 BCE, Xuan publicly praises him for local prestige and for supposedly bringing back more than 80,000 displaced people, grants him Guannei Hou rank, and gives the attached stipend. Wang Cheng dies before further reuse, but a later court review of commandery and kingdom administration finds that his reported achievements were inflated to deceive the ruler.

The episode’s interpretation makes Wang Cheng important less for a long biography than for the information-system failure around him. Qin-Han assessment through 考课 and 上计 made written performance consequential for promotion and reward. Once the emperor had publicly certified Wang Cheng as a good official, officials who knew more had reason to avoid embarrassing the ruler, allowing false merit to damage bureaucratic norms even after the individual case ended.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han Jiaodong xiang remembered in this source for fabricated local-performance reporting.
• Recipient of an imperial commendation, Guannei Hou rank, and stipend after claiming major return of displaced people.
• Exposed only after later administrative review, not during the initial reward process.
• Case showing how reported achievement can outrun ground truth when central assessment depends on documents.
• Negative example whose false merit is read as damaging official culture beyond his own career.

Evidence

Reward and status:

• Hanji 419 says Wang Cheng was praised as Jiaodong xiang with local prestige.
• Hanji 419 says Emperor Xuan credited him with returning more than 80,000 displaced people.
• Hanji 419 says Xuan granted Wang Cheng Guannei Hou rank and stipend.

Fraud and institutional meaning:

• Hanji 419 says a later review by the chancellor and yushi found that Wang Cheng exaggerated achievements in reports to win imperial trust.
• Hanji 419 says the host reads the case as a warning that premature imperial praise can suppress later correction.
• Hanji 419 says the false-reputation example encouraged mediocre officials to chase empty name through similar reporting.

Qualifications

This page is source-scoped to Hanji 419. It does not reconstruct Wang Cheng’s full biography, the original Jiaodong population records, the precise administrative review document, or the exact knowledge held by court officials before the exposure. The host’s claim that officials stayed silent to avoid embarrassing Xuan is preserved as an interpretation of the incentive environment.

What Changed

• Created from Hanji 419 as the Western Han Jiaodong official whose false performance report becomes an information-failure case.

Relationships

• Emperor Xuan of Han / 汉宣帝 / 刘询 / 刘病已 - ruler who initially rewards and publicly praises Wang Cheng.
• 政绩述职造假 / Administrative Performance Fraud - concept directly grounded in Wang Cheng’s false achievement report.
• Court Feedback Collapse / 君臣反馈失灵 - related because correction becomes harder after the ruler has publicly committed to a positive judgment.
• Merit-Based Reward and Punishment / 因功赏罚 - contrast concept because Wang Cheng’s reward appears merit-based until the underlying information is found false.
• Asymmetric Information - broader information problem between local facts, official reports, and central decisions.
• 王成 / Wang Cheng (Li Gu student) - distinct later-Han figure with the same Chinese name.