First, the change of the ancient official selection system.
1. Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties: Hereditary system, also known as Shiqing Shilu system, prevailed in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. At the end of primitive society, after the demise system of "the world is public" was destroyed, the hereditary system of "adults take it as a gift" appeared. Hereditary system is characterized by the unity of kingship and clan power. It determines the appointment of government officials at all levels through family blood relationship, and determines the rank and rank according to blood relationship. Anyone who sets up titles and official positions has enjoyed fiefs and fiefs from generation to generation. From the perspective of historical development, it is historical progress, and its root lies in the development of productive forces.
2. Qin State: The title was awarded with military exploits, which broke the hereditary title system of slave owners and nobles and was conducive to the growth of the emerging landlord class.
3. Han Dynasty: The Han Dynasty established a set of official selection system for selecting talents, in which inspection is election, which is a bottom-up system for selecting talents as officials and the most important way for selecting officials in the Han Dynasty; The early inspection system was based on "village election" and paid attention to the villagers in order to judge the authority of a scholar's ability and political integrity. With the gradual decay of the official selection system, a group of rich children who have been officials for generations and controlled the central or local political power have emerged, and aristocratic landlords who have been officials for generations have also formed and developed. In the later period, eunuchs mastered the power of employing people, and the system of selecting officials became more decadent, resulting in "a scholar who doesn't understand books;" Cha Xiaolian, father separated. In addition, the Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty recruited talented people to accompany officials to Beijing and awarded them official positions.
4. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties: Implementing the Nine-product Zhengzhi system and attaching importance to family background. The establishment of Zhongzheng officials not only retained the tradition of rural appraisal in the Han Dynasty, but also changed the situation that celebrities in the late Han Dynasty talked about the countryside for advice and local clans manipulated elections, and placed the power of evaluating and selecting officials under the central government. This has played a certain role in putting an end to cronies' interference in politics and breaking the door valve. Especially in the early stage of implementation, it played a positive role in consolidating the Cao Wei regime. At first, this system was dedicated to unifying the election of officials in the imperial court and the discussion in the countryside. This is the continuation of the tradition of selecting officials in Han Dynasty and the inheritance of Cao Cao's employment policy. However, at the turn of Wei and Jin Dynasties, officials of all sizes were monopolized by "gentry" in all counties. They are partial to the gentry when evaluating grades, and the division of nine grades has deviated from the principle of "regardless of family status" In the following 300 years, there was a situation that the gentry monopolized the political power, and the Nine Grades System was always a bureaucratic selection system to protect the hereditary political privileges of the gentry. Therefore, after the decline of the gentry, the nine-product system was completely abolished.
5. The imperial examination system: (1) Historical evolution: Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty abolished the Nine-grade Zhengzhong system and began to select officials by subject examination; When Yang Di was in the Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination system was formed. The Tang Dynasty inherited and improved the imperial examination system: during the Zhenguan period, examination subjects were added, mainly Jinshi and Mingjing; During Wu Zetian's reign, the number of candidates in imperial examinations increased, and martial arts and palace examinations were initiated. During the Kaiyuan period, senior officials were appointed to preside over the examination, which improved the status of the imperial examination and was later customized. The imperial examination system in the Northern Song Dynasty developed further than that in the Tang Dynasty: the examination was divided into three levels: provincial examination, provincial examination and palace examination, and the imperial examination procedure was strict. Jurors have to pass the examination of the Ministry of Rites to qualify, and the admission right is directly controlled by the emperor, and the court examination has become a custom; Examination subjects gradually decreased, and Jinshi became the most important subject; The system of pasting names is implemented, that is, the name and place of origin are sealed on the test paper to prevent the examiner from cheating; The admission quota is greatly increased compared with that of the Tang Dynasty. The Ming dynasty followed the imperial examination system of the previous generation. In order to strictly control the thoughts of scholars, the imperial examination papers only put forward propositions from the four books and five classics of Confucianism, allowing only the views of Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism and not giving full play to personal opinions; The style of the answer sheet is strictly regulated and divided into eight parts, which are called "eight-part essay". The stereotyped writing system of taking scholars has seriously bound people's minds. At the beginning of the 20th century, due to the drastic changes in the domestic situation, the feudal imperial examination system could not meet the needs of the situation. 1905, the Qing government abolished the imperial examination system.
(2) Evaluation: The emergence of the imperial examination system is essentially the product of social and economic development and changes in class relations. Positive influence: the public examination attracted many poor scholars to enter the political power, which was conducive to expanding and consolidating the political foundation of feudal rule and changed the situation in which nobles dominated the political affairs in the early feudal period; The majority of ordinary landlords entered the imperial examination and became officials, which injected vitality and vitality into the feudal regime. Since then, the selection of officials has an objective basis for the level of cultural knowledge, which is conducive to the formation of high-quality civil servants; Reading, examination and being an official are linked together, and power, position and knowledge are integrated, which has created the tradition of respecting teachers and attaching importance to teaching and the atmosphere of diligent study in the Chinese nation; E. It has promoted the prosperity of literature, for example, in the Tang Dynasty, the selection of scholars by poetry and fu has promoted the prosperity of Tang poetry. Negative influence: the implementation of stereotyped writing in Ming and Qing Dynasties has seriously bound candidates from content to form, which has made many intellectuals not talk about practical knowledge or bound their thoughts; The style of study divorced from reality brought by stereotyped writing has a very negative impact on the development of academic culture; The imperial examination system in the late Qing Dynasty seriously hindered the development of science and culture, which was one of the important reasons for the backwardness of natural science in modern China. The imperial examination system is not conducive to knowledge innovation and the cultivation of innovative talents; Eight-legged essay writers in Ming and Qing Dynasties were loyal servants trained by feudal rulers, which seriously restricted the growth of talents and was an important means for rulers to strengthen autocratic imperial power.
Second, the changing law of the official selection system in ancient China.
Whether the selection of officials and personnel in ancient times was appropriate or not was directly related to the rise and fall of society. Therefore, the system of selecting officials is an important measure to ensure and consolidate the ruler's rule; The system of selecting officials in the past dynasties mainly played a positive role in consolidating the rule in the early stage of implementation, but in the later stage of implementation, these systems gradually influenced and hindered the development of society; The main criteria of the official selection system have gradually developed from family background, property and family background to knowledge, the selection method has gradually become rigorous and scientific, and the standards have gradually become open, fair and objective; The imperial examination system, which influenced China for the longest time, was also the most advanced way of selecting officials in the world at that time. The imperial examination system before the Ming Dynasty promoted the development of China's educational and cultural undertakings, and enthusiasm was dominant. However, the negative role of the imperial examination system after the Ming Dynasty dominated and became an ignorant policy, which hindered social progress and the development of cultural undertakings.
Three, some enlightenment to the ancient talent selection system in China.
1. In the long-term development of feudal society in China, in order to consolidate their dominant position, rulers of all dynasties attached great importance to training and selecting talents, and gradually established the system of selecting officials by examination. Although in different historical periods, the standards, methods and ways of selecting talents by rulers are different (mainly divided into moral integrity and family status), they have the same historical role, that is, they have a great role in maintaining the dominant position of the landlord class and promoting the development of feudal society.
2. In the Han Dynasty, the realization of feudal unification urgently needed an official selection system to make centralization work normally, and the checkpoint system came into being in the Han Dynasty. However, because the Han Dynasty was still in the primary development stage of feudal society, the procuratorial system as a system for selecting talents was far from perfect. After a long period of division, the rulers of Sui and Tang Dynasties implemented the imperial examination system for long-term stability. The core of this system is to select talents, which will be followed by later generations.
3. The imperial examination system was founded in Sui Dynasty and perfected in Tang Dynasty; It developed in Song and Yuan Dynasties; During the Ming and Qing dynasties, various disadvantages were increasingly exposed. We must evaluate its function from two aspects. The positive aspects are: completely breaking the monopoly of bureaucratic aristocratic families in selecting officials by seniority, opening up the way to be an official in a larger social scope and expanding the social foundation of political power; It combines the official selection system with the education system, which is very conducive to improving the overall cultural quality of officials and performing the function of managing the country more skillfully and reasonably. It has a far-reaching influence not only in China, but also in the world. Korea and Vietnam have long implemented the imperial examination system, and the civil service examination system established in Britain and the United States has also been influenced by the imperial examination system. The imperial examination system spread to Europe and America in the west and influenced the world, which was a great contribution of China to world civilization. The negative aspects are: this system developed to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and after stereotyped writing appeared, it went to extremes, which greatly suppressed the creativity of intellectuals, suppressed the development of science and technology, and hindered the progress of society.
4. Talents are the precious wealth of the country. Perfecting the examination system is conducive to selecting talents. People with both ability and political integrity will prosper, and nepotism will lead to the decline of the country. It is necessary to establish a scientific and correct view of talents, respect knowledge and respect talents.