The ancient imperial examination system in China originated from the Sui Dynasty. After the Sui Dynasty unified the whole country, in order to adapt to the development and changes of feudal economic and political relations, expand the requirements of the feudal ruling class to participate in political power, and strengthen centralization, Emperor Wendi of Sui delegated the power of selecting officials to the central government, abolished the nine-grade system, and began to choose officials by means of examinations. He ordered "three-year-olds from all States" to take the exam, and those who passed the exam could be officials. According to historical records, in the first month of the third year of Emperor Wendi's reign (583), he wrote a letter to "Virtue". In July of the 18th year of Kai (598), the Imperial Examiner was appointed "conscientious" and "fair-minded" as the general manager and secretariat. In April of the third year of Yang Di the Great's great cause (607), he ordered all the officials in the civil and military departments to be filial and virtuous, honest and upright, resolute and upright, persevering in the Constitution, being excellent in character and learning, being beautiful in literature and talent, and being able to achieve great things. In the first month of the fifth year of the Great Cause (609), all counties were ordered to take four imperial examinations: erudite and talented, arrogant and strong, detached and equal, diligent and prudent, and upright and not avoiding strong defense. During the great cause years, Yang Di also established Ming Jing, Imperial Examination and Imperial Examination, which marked the official birth of the imperial examination system.
Tang Dynasty —— Perfection of the Imperial Examination System in Ancient China
After the demise of the Sui Dynasty, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty inherited the talent selection system handed down from the Sui Dynasty and further improved it. As a result, the imperial examination system gradually improved. Tang Taizong, Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong are key figures in improving the imperial examination system. Examination subjects in the Tang Dynasty are divided into two categories: regular subjects and system subjects. The exams held in stages every year are called regular classes, and the temporary exams held by the emperor are called making classes. There are more than 50 regular subjects such as Scholar, Ming Jing, Jinshi, Gentleman, Faming, Zi Ming and Shu Ming. Among them, Faming, Shu Ming, Ziming and other subjects are not taken seriously. Scholar and other subjects are not often held, and the scholar subject was very demanding in the early Tang Dynasty, and then it was gradually cancelled. Therefore, Ming Jing and Jinshi became the main subjects in the Tang Dynasty. After Tang Gaozong, Jinshi is particularly important. Many prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty were mostly literati. There are two sources of candidates for regular courses, one is students and the other is rural tribute. Subjects who were born in the capital and state and county academies and sent to Shangshu Province are called students; Not by the school hall, but by the state and county examination first, and then sent to Shangshu Province, the candidates are called "xianggong". Candidates who pay tribute to Beijing from rural areas are collectively referred to as juren. The state and county exams are called solution exams, and the provincial exams of Shangshu are generally called provincial exams, or they are not tested. Ritual exams are held in spring, so they are also called Chunwei, which means examination room. At first, Ming Jing and Jinshi were just trying strategies, and the content of the exam was Jing Yi or current affairs. Later, although the examination subjects of the two subjects changed, the basic spirit was that scholars paid more attention to poetry and fu, and Ming Classics paid more attention to classics and ink meaning. The so-called paste is to open a page of scripture at will, cover the left and right sides, only open a line in the middle, and then cover the three words with paper paste for participants to fill in. Mo Yi is a simple written test of biblical words. As long as you are familiar with classics and annotations, you can try, while poetry and prose need to be literary. It is very difficult to be the first in the middle school, so there was a saying at that time that "30-year-old students learn classics and 50-year-old students learn less". The final exam was originally presided over by the official minister and foreign minister, and later presided over by the assistant minister of does, and was called "Quan Zhi Gong Ju". Jinshi is also called "climbing the dragon gate", and the first name is the champion or champion. People in the same list should chip in to hold a celebration party, and let the two teenagers in the same list go to the famous garden to explore famous flowers, called flower-exploring messengers. We should collectively go to the apricot garden to attend a banquet, which is called a flower-exploring banquet. After the banquet, they all went to Jean Temple to write an inscription for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to show their glory, so they called the China scholar "the inscription for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda". Jiao once wrote the poem "After Graduation": "Proud horseshoe disease, I have seen Chang 'an flowers." Therefore, the spring breeze has become synonymous with Jinshi and it. Deng Ke is often the first, and it is also tested by the official department, which is called the selection examination. Only qualified people can be awarded official positions. Liu Zongyuan, a great scholar in the Tang Dynasty, was awarded "Jixiantang Orthography" because of his erudition. If the official department fails in the exam, it can only go to our department as an adjutant, and then strive to get an official position officially appointed by the state. After Han Yu's Jinshi exam, he failed three times, so he had to be the adjutant of our times before he entered the officialdom. The draft in the Tang Dynasty depends not only on the test results, but also on the recommendations of various people. As a result, candidates rushed to the doors of officials and dedicated their masterpieces to them, calling them papers. What is thrown to does is called official paper, and what is thrown to dignitaries is called writing paper. Throwing papers really makes talented people show their talents. For example, Bai Juyi's poem "Give Grass to the Original" to Gu Kuang was highly praised by the old poet. However, there are also many people who practise fraud and deceive the world. Emperor Taizong attached importance to the cultivation and selection of talents. After he acceded to the throne, he vigorously expanded the scale of Chinese studies, expanded schools and increased the number of students. In February of the first year of Wu Zetian, the queen personally "asked to pay tribute to Luocheng Hall", which was the beginning of the imperial examination in China, but it did not form a system in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, martial arts also appeared. Wushu began in 702 AD when Wu Zetian was in Chang 'an for two years. Ying Wuju candidates are "xianggong", Ministry of War examination. The examination subjects include horse shooting, step shooting, flat shooting, carbine, weight wrestling and so on. "The person who ranks highest is awarded an official position and then promoted to the next level." In the Tang Dynasty, the most famous martial arts champion was Guo Ziyi. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, poetry and prose fu became the main examination content of Jinshi. During his reign, he personally interviewed candidates for imperial examinations in Chang 'an and Luoyang Palace for eight times and admitted many talents. During the Kaiyuan period, senior officials were appointed to preside over the examination, which improved the status of the imperial examination and later became customized.
Qing Dynasty —— The Death of the Imperial Examination System in Ancient China
The imperial examination system in the Qing Dynasty was basically the same as that in the Ming Dynasty, but the policy of ethnic discrimination was implemented. Manchu enjoys all kinds of privileges, and it is not necessary to pass the imperial examination to be an official. Before Yongzheng, the imperial examinations in Qing Dynasty were divided into two lists: Manchu and Chinese. The standard-bearer enjoys a special advantage in the provincial examination and the general examination, and only one translator is tested, which is called the translation department. In the future, although Manchu and Chinese took the exam together, Han people still took the most exams.
The imperial examination system developed to the Qing dynasty, and it declined day by day, with more and more disadvantages. Although the Qing rulers cheated on the imperial examination center in hell to pay, due to the defects of the imperial examination system itself, cheating became more and more serious, and the imperial examination system eventually died out.
1905 On September 2, the Qing government ordered all imperial examinations to be stopped from 1906, and then ordered all provinces to take charge of school affairs, and set up departments in February of the same year. It has existed in China for more than 1000 years, and the imperial examination system, which had a great influence on the traditional feudal society, was completely abolished.
One system has existed for more than 1000 years and has not been replaced by other systems, which shows its own superiority and rationality of existence. This was an advanced method of selecting talents at that time, with no credit, only hard work.
During the Han Dynasty, the feudal system in China gradually improved. At first, the rulers adopted the methods of expropriation and recommendation. Local officials or aristocratic families recommend talents to superiors or even the central government, and those who are recommended are often aristocratic children. The recommendation standard is noble family background. "A scholar doesn't know books, but a filial father doesn't live." . Wei and Jin Dynasties implemented the system of "Nine Grades Being Right", which divided talents into nine grades for evaluation, but the main basis was still family background, supplemented by morality, literature and talent. The size of the presiding judge is also a noble family. "There is no poverty in the top grade and no home in the bottom grade." So from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Cui, Lu, Wang and Xie in the north and Zhu, Zhang, Gu and Lu in the south occupied an important position in the imperial court, and even the emperor Lao Zi had to give in to them by three points. This kind of door-to-door politics has caused an insurmountable gap between aristocrats and civilians and blocked the promotion of outstanding talents among ordinary people. After the Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination system was implemented to recruit talents. "After ten years of hard work in front of the window, they are famous all over the world." The children of Su Han's family were also able to enter the official career by studying the imperial examination, which broke the situation that aristocratic families monopolized the right to be an official, and the country had a broader world for selecting talents. Moreover, one person changed his position with a scholarship, which encouraged ten or a hundred people to study hard and improved the cultural quality of the whole nation. Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty were the periods when China's feudal society reached its peak and the imperial examination system gradually improved. At that time, a splendid culture was created, in which the imperial examination system contributed. In the Yuan Dynasty, ethnic minorities occupied the Central Plains. At first, the rulers didn't understand the function of the imperial examination, but later they realized it and resumed its use. Although Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had little education, he knew very well that the implementation of the imperial examination was conducive to consolidating his rule. He took part in the imperial examination soon after he acceded to the throne. So did the rulers of the Qing Dynasty.
Judging from the whole feudal society, it was not long before scholars dared to talk about practicality. Therefore, most imperial examinations with Confucianism as the guiding ideology are not divorced from reality.
In the 4th year of Bao You in the Southern Song Dynasty (1256), it was the top-ranked subject in Wen Tianxiang, with 586 words in examination questions. The last few words said: "The sky is getting better, people's livelihood is weak, talents are scarce, and troops are weak. Heze is not peaceful, and its edges are riddled with holes and thorns. Isn't it enough to resist the world? " Has the implementation of inhibiting chemical cutting not yet arrived? "The topic clearly pointed out the grim situation of the country, and asked scholars to make suggestions and resolve the crisis.
During Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty (1902), he took the Fujian Provincial Examination (examiner), and the examiner was Xu Yingzhen, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. There are three topics this time: the theory of employing people in Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, the theory of Gou Jian's thought and courage, and the theory of Zi Gong's mission to foreign countries. The first topic comments on history, which has the significance of making the past serve the present. The second topic is of great practical significance. At that time, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War and the Battle of Eight-Nation Alliance, and suffered the humiliation of land compensation. He advocated carrying forward Gou Jian's spirit of hard struggle and swearing for national humiliation, which was closely combined with the situation at that time. The third topic is very interesting and brilliant. Zi Gong is a student of Confucius, who is good at managing money and doing business. Why couldn't the Han Dynasty send people like Zi Gong to the Xiongnu to do business, so as to benefit both sides of economic exchanges and achieve long-term stability in the border? The next exam (taking the Jinshi exam) was held in Kaifeng, because the Gong Yuan in Beijing was damaged by Eight-Nation Alliance and has not been repaired. President Sheng Xuanhuai gave a report entitled "On the Nationalization of Railways". This was a hot topic at that time and later became one of the fuses of Wuchang Uprising.
China's imperial examinations have always been guided by Confucianism. Confucianism, starting from Confucius, is to teach the world to apply it. The essence of Confucius' thought lies in The Analects. If the Analects of Confucius has no practical function, it is impossible to say that "half of the Analects can rule the world". Confucianism has been constantly reforming, and every reform is related to the ideology and politics at that time. Therefore, it is one-sided to say that Confucianism is divorced from practical application. In feudal society, it is also true that literati dare not comment on current events. However, once the network is relaxed, the situation has changed. During the reign of Daoguang, the voice of practical use soared, and thinkers such as Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan emerged, taking the lead in creating a generation of ethos.
Talented people like Li Bai and Du Fu failed to get into Jinshi, so some people think that the imperial examination is unfair. In fact, the imperial examination system has been implemented in China for more than 1000 years. The purpose is to let Jinshi pass the unified examination, select the best candidates and distribute them to officials at all levels, so as to realize the elite selection mechanism of the principle of learning to become officials.
First of all, the admission rate of imperial examinations is very low. Except Cohen, all subjects are held once every three years, and only one or two hundred people have passed the provincial examination. After the national examination, more than 300 people will be selected, and most of them will fail. How can such an admission rate reach what Tang Taizong said: "Those who fall into my trap are the best heroes in the world"? Secondly, some people deliberately take the "shortcut to the south" and are unwilling to take the imperial examinations step by step. Third, the imperial examination elected officials, not poets. Of course, poets and writers who meet the conditions of selecting talents and appointing talents in the imperial examination can also be selected. Among the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, except Su Xun, the other seven were all literati. Generally speaking, the imperial examination is fair on the whole, but it cannot be completely fair.
From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was implemented for more than a thousand years, and various systems were relatively perfect. For example, when entering the examination room, you have to go through a rigorous search, search the outside, check the utensils (ink and ink), and cut the lunch and dry food brought in. It is difficult to bring it into the room. It is not easy to buy off the examiner. Every time the examiner takes three or four exams, as long as he meets an honest man who doesn't want money and exposes you, he will be convicted of a felony. Moreover, the articles of the exam should be published, called "Mo", and the printed books should be published and sold to the participants as model essays. This was done by Mr. Ma Er in The Scholars. The article is not decent, it can't be sold, and it will be troublesome to print it. The imperial court used heavy penalties for cheating in the examination room, and it is not uncommon for people to be sentenced to death. During the Xianfeng period, Bai Jun, a university student, was beheaded for cheating in the examination room. Lu Xun's predecessors were also discredited and jailed because of their involvement in the imperial examination case. Therefore, except for those who occasionally take risks, most people dare not try their own methods, and cheating in exams is rare.
The top scholar in the imperial examination, as well as the scholars and juren, are mostly handsome people in the present society who can do something quite well. During more than 260 years in the Qing Dynasty, there were 1 12 imperial examinations, among which 1 12 won the first place, which produced many talents. For example, Bi Yuan, the top scholar of Gan Long Chen Geng Branch, has profound attainments in Confucian classics, history, philology and epigraphy. He presided over the compilation of the 220-volume Mirror of Continuing Education. Xianfeng Chen Bing champion Weng Tonghe, military commander and minister. He was the imperial teacher of Tongzhi and Guangxu Dynasties. He resolutely fought the main battle in the Sino-Japanese War and resolutely supported Emperor Guangxu in the Reform Movement of 1898, so that he was ousted by Empress Dowager Cixi. His courage was praised and admired by people at that time. Mao Zedong said that when it comes to modern industry in China, we should not forget four people. One of these four men is Zhang Jian, one of the founders of China's national industry and the champion of Guangxu Wu Jia Branch. There are also lucky winners. When Guangxu returned to the palace for the exam, it was the 70th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Shoupeng Wang, a scholar, was named Geely (according to ancient legend, Peng Zushou was 800 years old), so he won the top prize. The second-place students in the three subjects of Qianlong, Hehong, and, are all famous scholars, but the top scholar is not so good. Some people ridiculed the examiner as blind as a bat, saying that all three top scholars were lucky, but this is a minority after all.
In fact, the biggest injustice of the imperial examination is that there are some unreasonable restrictions on students. If you want to have a meal, you can take part in the imperial examination and get the first place, such as Lv Mengzheng in the Song Dynasty and Fan Jichang in the Ming Dynasty. However, some occupations are regarded as "cheap jobs", such as shaving hair and singing opera, and children and grandchildren can't take the scientific examination. This is an unreasonable provision and a serious injustice of the imperial examination system.
The imperial examination system itself has many disadvantages. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were not so many restrictions. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the interpretation of Confucian classics should be based on Zhu's Notes on Four Books, and should not go beyond people's thoughts. The Ming and Qing Dynasties also stipulated that the style of the imperial examination was eight-part essay, which was rigid and bound people's minds, both of which were criticized by the world.
The most fatal weakness of the imperial examination system is that the talents it selected in the middle and late Qing Dynasty could not meet the needs of the country and society. During the reign of Tongzhi and Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, some bureaucrats carried out the Westernization Movement and founded some new enterprises, such as China Merchants Bureau and Telegraph Bureau. These enterprises should be managed by western production technology and management methods, but the scholar who was born in the imperial examination is very unfamiliar with these things and can't do the job. Western schools train talents in this field. They include primary schools, middle schools and universities, and all kinds of specialized disciplines are complete, which is obviously superior to our imperial examination system. If we are still stereotyped scholars and strategists, where will new talents come from? In addition, after the spread of western learning to the east, various natural sciences, such as physics and chemistry, have spread all over the world. Our intellectuals are at a loss, ignorant and talk about poetry all day. How can they keep pace with social development? Therefore, people of insight in our country criticized the imperial examination and put forward "abolishing the imperial examination and rejuvenating the school", which is completely correct. This is not only an idea, but also has been put into practice. 1895, Beiyang minister Wang Wenshao founded Beiyang West School (predecessor of Beiyang University) in Tianjin; 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai founded Nanyang Public School (predecessor of Jiaotong University) in Shanghai. Later, new schools were established in various provinces. In this case, 1905 officially abolished the imperial examination and replaced it with a school, which is logical and inevitable. At this point, the imperial examination completed its historical mission.
China's imperial examination system mainly shows three characteristics: saints can govern the country and use it for us; Objective standards and fair competition; Legislative protection, stable continuation. Its function and value are mainly embodied in: unifying value and continuing culture; Promote education and cultivate talents; It has stabilized politics and promoted development. Its negative effects are as follows: school education is divorced from society, with single content and extreme stylistic requirements. In a word, because of the imperial examination, there was a stable continuation of China bureaucracy, and because of the imperial examination, there was a tortuous development of China's history and culture.